In Science this term, Year 4 have been learning about the human digestive system and the organs that play a vital role in processing and absorbing nutrients from food.
We put our scientific knowledge into practice by creating a model digestive system to show what happens to food as it travels through our body.
We used a bag to represent the stomach, where food is turned to mush, and then used a pair of tights and a tea towel to represent the intestines, where our body absorbs liquid and nutrients.
We worked through the key processes that happen when we eat and digest food, including what happens to waste products. It was messy, but it was a lot of fun!
We’ve also been learning about the importance of looking after our teeth and created informative posters to help other classes understand why keeping our teeth clean is so important.
We explored the different types of teeth and their functions, discovering that incisors cut and chop, canines rip and tear, and molars crush and chew food. We also compared the teeth of different animals and investigated why herbivores, carnivores and omnivores have different types of teeth depending on the food they eat. It was fascinating to see how an animal’s teeth are specially adapted to its diet!
Incredible Insects and Non-Chronological Reports
In English, Year 4 have been developing their non-chronological report writing skills. We began by identifying the key features of non-chronological reports and explored examples based on a variety of rainforest animals.
We then turned our attention to dung beetles and used what we had learnt to write our own reports. We started by making notes on the facts we already knew before carrying out further research to discover even more fascinating information.
We particularly enjoyed finding additional ‘Did You Know?’ facts to include in our writing and worked hard to organise our information using headings, subheadings and factual language. Our finished reports demonstrated just how much we had learned about these remarkable insects.
Fantastic Fishcakes in DT
In Design and Technology, we became chefs and put our food preparation skills into practice by making fishcakes. We learned how to prepare ingredients safely, including using the bridge cutting technique to protect our fingers while chopping. We peeled and prepared potatoes, carefully combined our ingredients and cooked our fishcakes in the practical room.
Once they were cooked, we taste-tested and evaluated them, considering what had gone well and how we might improve them next time. The fishcakes were so popular that they were eaten before there was time to take many photographs of the finished product! During our evaluation, we discovered that using cornflakes instead of oatcakes created a crispier coating and helped the fishcakes hold their shape more effectively. This was such a successful improvement that we may even adapt our recipe next year to include cornflakes instead!
It has been a busy and enjoyable term full of hands-on learning, and we are incredibly proud of the effort Year 4 have shown across all areas of the curriculum.
