Year 4

Today we had a visit from Sammy, one half of the Knuckleball Twins, who came to coach the children in the art of the knuckleball kick.

Before heading out onto the field, they told the children all about the famous players and managers they have met along the way and showed them the knuckleball technique in videos and images.  Once out on the field in the sunshine, the children started with a quick warm up. Sammy demonstrated the knuckleball kick before letting the children loose to have a go themselves!

Check out more from Sammy (and Charlie too) on their YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@KnuckleballTwins) or fansite (https://knuckleballtwins.fan-platform.com/). *

* Please note, St Nicholas CE Primary Academy is not responsible for the content on these sites which may contain adverts. Please proceed at your own risk.

In our music lesson today, Mrs Vincent and the children created a melody to play together on the glockenspiel with accompanying drums and tambourines.

They also learnt a traditional African song, Senwa Dedende.

This week, the children enjoyed a morning of sports with our Olympics Roadshow run by the team at Shepway Sports Trust along with the fantastic year 12 games leaders from the Marsh Academy. They took part in a variety of activities – Diamond Cricket, Obstacle Relay, Basketball and Football Rounders.

Over the last four weeks, the children have enjoyed an amazing experience at Rye Watersports, Kayaking and Paddleboarding.

Starting this week, year 4 enjoyed music lessons with Mrs Vincent, a classically trained musician, who will be teaching music to our children throughout this term.  They started learning two songs – Epo I Tai Tai (a Mãori Folk Song) and Tongo (a Polynesian folksong). The children all really enjoyed the lessons and came away singing the songs throughout the day!

Today, the children in Beech class practised their times tables during computing using the BBC micro:bit.

They programmed the micro:bit to generate a random number between 1 and 12 when Button A was pressed and another random number between 1 and 12 when button B was pressed.  The micro:bit displayed each number on the screen.  They had to work out A x B. For example, if Button A generated 6 and Button B generated 7, the answer would be 6 x 7 = 42.  The children programmed it so that when they shook it, the micro:bit would display the correct answer so they could check whether they were correct or not!

Those who were successful were challenged to add beeps when the buttons were pressed and play music when the correct answer was displayed.

Welcome back everyone for our final term together. It will be another busy term, as always, as we head towards the end of the year. In history, we will be focusing on the Aztecs, looking at their lives and beliefs. Our English this term will focus around Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, looking at delicious settings! In French, we will continue our food theme in the French café as well as looking at music. The digestive system will be our focus in science – can’t wait! In computing, we’ll be looking at data and in particular, the weather – let’s hope we can forecast some sunshine!

Term 6 Overview – Who were the Aztecs? (PDF Download)

Term 6 Maths Key Instant Recall Facts (PDF Download)

The children had great fun playing rounders this afternoon. We had two games on the go, with Beech and Birch playing each other. Birch came out triumphant scoring 48 to Beech class’s 27 – well done Birch!

This term, the children have been investigating fractions: understanding that 1 whole can be broken down into many different equal parts such as 8/8 or 5/5; looking at fractions greater than 1 whole using improper fractions and mixed numbers; investigating equivalent fractions and adding and subtracting using fractions.