Oak BLOG - Year 4
Summer 2
Sports Day
Friday 27th June 2025
Despite the warm weather, Oak Class welcomed the opportunity to sprint, stack, jump and dribble their way through sports day - most importantly they all had fun and demonstrated great sportsmanship when cheering their peers along!
Summer 1
Book Club
Oak Class enjoyed their Book Club session outside in the sunshine, promoting their love of reading.
History - Tower of London Trip
At the start of the summer term, we began our crime and punishment topic by visiting the Tower of London, which was a prison from 1100 until the 1960s. We learnt that Ranulf Flombard was the first prisoner in the White Tower and he was also the first prisoner to escape. He had an elaborate plan to give the guards too much wine, smuggle in a rope to shimmy down and escape on to a waiting horse, as there was no moat or fortress around the White Tower at that time. We looked at different prison cells and realised they weren't the cold and damp rooms we thought they would be but actually spacious, well-equipped rooms with a fireplace. This is because the Tower of London was a palace before it was a prison. We visited the site where historians believe famous people from the past such as Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey were executed. There were only 22 people executed in the grounds of the Tower, others were executed outside the Tower walls as a form of entertainment and humiliation! We had an amazing day and were all totally exhausted on the way home... some of Oak even slept!
Spring 2
DT - Buzzer games
In DT, we designed and created a buzzer game. We safely shaped our wire and worked out how to attach it to our decorated boxes. In addition, we also used our science knowledge of electricity to make complete circuits using batteries, wires and buzzers. Finally, we attached the circuits to our boxes, made loops and handle with a large paperclip and tested our games!
Science - Teeth
We set up a fair test to investigate the causes of tooth decay. We submerged 7 hard boiled eggs in 7 different liquids and left them for one week. The eggshell represented the enamel of our teeth. The investigation simulated what would happen if we did not brush our teeth and left the liquids on them. After 8 days, we removed each egg and observed what had happened to the egg shells....there were a few surprises! Which liquid do you think caused the most decay (damage) to the eggshell?
World Book Day
Oak Class thoroughly enjoyed dressing up as a character from their favourite book for World Book Day! Our class book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and all our activities for the day were based around the book. We created and wrote potions, listened to chapters of the book being read, drew Hogwarts with the help of the Harry Potter illustrator and even made our own wands! In the afternoon, we attended a workshop with 'Book Man', where we created human statues based on props from the stories that he had lost. It was the most fabulous day!
PE - Gymnastics - Bridges
In gymnastics this week we created bridges, firstly on our own and then with a partner. Our inspirational gymnast is Max Whitlock, with fourteen medals and six titles in Olympic and World Championships, Max is the most successful gymnast in British history!
French Speaking
We spoke in French to explain to our partner what we did and did not have in our pencil case, before sharing with the class.
Spring 1
Oak Class assembly
Thank you to all the parents and adults who filled the hall on Friday, for Oak Class assembly. We thoroughly enjoyed presenting our learning and singing our class song!
Science - Electricity
In our lessons this week, we have been investigating which materials are conductors and which materials are insulators. To do this, we created a simple electrical circuit and tested each material that we had chosen. Some of items that we chose were; a pencil, a ruler, a rubber, some scissors, a glass, a spoon and a 10p. These items were made of different materials such as, felt, plastic, rubber, wood and metal. We found that items made from metal made the best conductors.
Book Club
This week in Book Club, we took turns to read an extract from a book that we had chosen, to the class.
Autumn 2
Indoor PE - Gymnastics
We created symmetric and asymmetric motifs with a partner using apparatus.
Anti- Bullying Week
This Anti-bullying week, the theme was to choose 'Respect'. In groups, we created acrostic poems using words associated with showing respect. We also took part in a Live lesson, where we completed activities and learnt how to resolve conflict and demonstrate respect.
Science - Sound
DT - Tinkercad
We used Tinkercad to design a biscuit cutter.
Book Club
The whole school are enjoying our new library, we have especially liked having our Book Club in there.
Art - Printing
Autumn 1
Science - States of Matter
Oak class used carbonated drinks to investigate gases.
PE Stay Active session
Today, the Sports Partnership came into school to help Year 4 practise their tri-golf skills. We learnt some new chipping and putting techniques. The sun was shining all afternoon and we had a lot of fun!
2023-2024
Harry Potter World
What a magical day Oak Class had at the Harry Potter Studios. During the workshop, the children wrote instructions for a board game and then invented their own game using some Harry Potter props as inspiration! In addition, we were lucky enough to feel and hold some of the actual film props - we had to wear special white gloves! In the afternoon, we walked around the studios, saw many of the costumes and more props and also learnt about how the films had been made. Finally, we had our picture taken on a broomstick. It was a very eventful and enjoyable day.
DT - 3D printing and cookie making
Oak Class made cookies in DT using their amazing 3D, printer cutters. We decorated them following our design criteria.
Oak Class Christmas Lunch
We all enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch!
PE- Bridges
Oak Class have been creating bridges with their partners in PE.
Year 4: Tri Golf
Our Year 4 classes went to Parmiters School to take part in the Tri-Golf event. They had so much fun - well done to both classes for representing Tanners impeccably well!
Friday 30th June 2023
Sports Day
Oak class performed amazingly well today in front of a crowd of excited supporters, at our annual Sports Day. They cheered their peers on, celebrated their successes and demonstrated great sportsmanship. Well done - I am very proud of you all !
Thursday 8th June 2023
Science Workshop
Today, we were fortunate to meet, stroke and even hold some unusual animals in our Wild science workshop. We learnt about each animals food chain, where they came from and how they needed to be looked after. It was an extremely exciting morning!
Thursday 25th May 2023
Trip to Vertigo Adventures
Year 4 visited Vertigo Adventures in Welwyn Garden City, where they used effective communication and team building skills to encourage one another during a number of challenges. Well done to all of you for tackling the activities with great enthusiasm and determination!
Friday 5th May 2023
Oak Class Assembly
Today, Oak class shared their learning in their class assembly. Each and every one of them spoke with great confidence and for the finale they sung their hearts out! Mrs Turone, Mrs Vertessy and Miss Brady were extremely proud of them.
Coronation Celebrations
After our exciting morning, Oak class then spent the afternoon taking part in Coronation activities. The children watched the late Queen Elizabeth II Coronation in 1953, created their own Union Jack flags, made crowns and created collages of King Charles III using red, white and blue coloured paper. All in celebration of his coronation taking place on Saturday 6th May.
Tuesday 25th April 2023
Game On
On Tuesday, Year 4 were treated to a very energetic Game On session. After a vigorous warm-up, the children were shown new techniques and taught tactics to improve their hand-ball game. A fun time was had by all!
Wednesday 29th March 2023
Science
Today, Oak class used their scientific skills, to accurately observe and record the length of time it took to remove a black mark from a set of teeth, using a stop watch and 4 different types of toothpastes. We put whitening, sensitive, charcoal and normal toothpaste to the test. Which toothpaste do you think was most effective?
Tuesday 14th March 2023
Science
In science, we have been investigating the causes of tooth decay. We used hard boiled eggs as a representation of our teeth - the shell acted as the enamel of our teeth. Each hard boiled egg was submerged in a different liquid and left for a week.
After one week, we removed the eggs from the liquids, as a class we observed and recorded our findings. We were all surprised to learn that Coke Zero had stained the eggshell completely, the caramel colouring from the Coke Zero had transferred on to the shell, leaving the liquid much paler. The eggshell that was in the Lucozade had blistered and when the surfaced was rubbed, the top layer came off!
We will all be ensuring that we thoroughly and regularly brush our teeth from now on, to prevent tooth decay!
Thursday 2nd March 2023
World Book Day
We all had great fun dressing up for World Book Day!
'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' was the chosen book for Oak's display - we even had a few of our own Mr Wonka's!
Monday 27th February 2023
World Book Week Workshop
Year 4 were thrilled to take part in a writing workshop. Here we are creating sculptures with our bodies to represent comedic items. Can you guess what we are?
Wednesday 28th September 2022
Art Display
We looked at the artwork by autistic artist, Alina Mucciolo. She uses bold colours to create positive and happy pieces. We used her as inspiration to create a nature scene, abstract art, or a positive message of art.
Friday 24th June 2022
Today we were very lucky as Year 4 took a trip to LegoLand! We had a wonderful time going around the park and trying out some of the rides- it was amazing to see how brave everyone was! We also got to take part in a robotics workshop where the children created their own Lego figurine in small groups and then programmed their creation to make sound. Here is a small selection of the lovely photos we took.
Friday 11th March 2022
Today we took part in a D&T curriculum day. In the morning, the children attended a virtual assembly with a real life engineer called Ben. They then entered into an Engineering Competition to invent a solution to a problem. In the afternoon, the children were set a challenge to create a marble run using cardboard and trialled them out to see if they worked, modifying them if they needed to.
Tuesday 16th November 2021
Today we were very lucky to have a session with Game On based around dodgeball. We all had a great time and as you can see, were practising very hard on our aims!
Thursday 14th October 2021
Today we took a short trip to Parmiters school to take part in the year 4 tri-golf event. We all had a brilliant time and really enjoyed showing off our new golf skills that we have been practising in PE.
