Rome wasn’t built in a day (as the saying goes) but here at Provo Primary, students in Year 4 have proved differently! They were given the task at the start of an exciting new topic to ‘build Rome’ in their classroom and they were given 24 hours to do it…

First, they had to research the type of buildings and structures still in existence in Rome and then they had to decide who to work with. As you can see from the photos, the children transformed a bare wall into a 3D city complete with written explanations. It was wonderful to see so much team work and so many skills being used across a range of subjects – Research (non-fiction texts using index pages and glossary), the Internet and personal experiences of Rome, Maths (shape, measurement, weight, estimation), DT (design, imagination, creation, joining techniques, evaluation), PSHE (collaboration, compromise, negotiation , respect for others).

This was a great project to kick-start our new topic and parents and friends are warmly invited to come and see this learning at our Open House on Friday afternoon.

[Read more…]

Today, the flamingo class had a visitor, Dr Craig Zavitz, a retired chiropractor.  He and his knowledgeable assistant, Robin, taught the class how the spine is formed from a single cell and how it grows. They played a game with the children to help them understand how the brain sends messages through the body, through the spine and to all our organs. Then Dr Craig had a role play experience to show children how a chiropractor could make small adjustments to the spine in order to improve ailments. We had a question and answer time with Robin who also brought some follow-up activities. The children were quizzed on skeleton facts they knew already and they could answer all but one question correctly, much to Dr Craig’s amazement! We all learned about how to keep our back healthy through diet, exercise and weight bearing correctly. Thank you Dr Craig and Robin for giving us this experience.

[Read more…]

The Year 4s have made a great start to the new year with a positive attitude to all their learning and new topic, ‘Moving and Growing’. They have studied paintings of people in various poses by famous artists. The work shows very different styles using a wide range of medium and Y4 have made a good attempt at recreating their favourite style. Here are just a few samples of their lovely work. . .

[Read more…]

Goodness, as usual it feels now as if the year has flown by! This last term has been busier than ever.

In connection with the Science and Topic lessons, the Year 4 students took a trip to Iguana Island. The class has spent time discussing different habitats and the variety of animals found in each. They have done detailed research on their own and have discussed the habitats found in Turks & Caicos as well as the plants and animals in each.

[Read more…]

Salve omnes!

As a celebration to end our study on the Romans, we had our amazing Roman Brunch. We would like to say thanks to the parents for supporting the event. The students loved every moment of it. They came all dressed up in their Roman outfits and were able to experience what life was like for the Romans when they feasted. We had roman music playing in the background as we enjoyed a meal of grapes, apples, pizzas, cheese and so much more.

Time was also spent getting familiar with the Roman Numerals and using them on their hand-made clocks as well as challenging themselves with Maths problems written using Roman Numerals. [Read more…]

Our first week back after mid term break was very action packed!

Dr. Craig and his wife Robin, dropped in to share with the Year 4 students what he does as a Chiropractor. The children played an informative, fun game which showed how our brain sends signals to our skeletal system. It was quite amazing.  Thank you!

In his presentation, Dr. Craig talked about how people might injure their back, their neck or other parts of their skeletal system and the problems this can cause; symptoms such as blockages in the spinal cord and pain and muscular discomfort. This is when he treats people to help them get better. He demonstrated how he would help patients having any of those issues. The class were impressive with their knowledge of our bones and muscles, asking and answering many questions.

[Read more…]

And so we come to the end of another very busy half term in Year 4. The children are working hard to finish off the mythical stories they have written – we hope to have them word processed and published before the end of the week!

They have also done some beautiful paintings of mermaids and made magical mermaid mirrors.

We’ve been learning more about The Romans and The Celts who lived in Britain before the Roman invasion. The class have made Celtic shields and done role-play as different individuals – stating their case, based on their jobs and position within the tribe as to whether or not the tribe should go to battle!

[Read more…]

In this last and very busy week of term it has been nice to think back over this first part of Year 4 and how hard the children have worked. So much progress has been made and I’m excited to look forward to the New Year and a hopefully much more settled term – for all of us.

I wanted to show you a picture of the art work the class did, inspired by the Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. The pictures have been up in our classroom, but some of you might not have had a chance to see them properly – they are very authentic looking, I’m sure you’ll agree!

Learn more about Piet Mondrian here.

Here are 10 crafty projects should your child be interested in doing more art over the holidays.

[Read more…]

Over the past few weeks, the Year 4 students have been focusing their attention on electricity. They have done several investigations and observations to guide their understanding of what electricity is, the different sources of electricity as well as safety guidelines to follow when using electricity.

Electricity is amazing stuff.  It can power everything from your iPad, a car, a sports stadium, a remote toy or a cell-phone. However, it can also be dangerous.  Electrical hazards can cause burns, shocks and electrocution. Electrical incidents injure or kill many adults and/ or children each year. In many cases, these incidents are preventable.

[Read more…]

Last Thursday the 8^th of November and the previous Thursday (1^st) Years 3-5 had their Sports day and what a set of Sports days it was! Due to the eagerness of the children to carry out a range of races and the temperature at that time of day, we decided to split the events over two sessions. This way the children could enjoy both without feeling over-exhausted or with sunstroke. Our first session involved the track events: 100m, hurdles, 200/400m and relay. The skill and speed of our runners in all year groups really blew us (as teachers) all away; they were superb. It was fantastic to see how determined and how focused the children were on pacing and delivering in each race and quite simply the huge passion so many of them have for running in general.

The next session was based around the field events of discus, javelin and long jump with the focus less on competition with each other and more with themselves. [Read more…]

Next Monday, 5th November, will be our 8th Annual Provo Primary Bonfire Night! As always, we anticipate a wonderful evening of fun, food, fireworks and (bon)fire for our Provo Primary families to enjoy!

Over the past 7 years, each Year 4 class has set about learning about the history of Bonfire Night to understand why a Guy is made for this unusual celebration. It has become tradition for the Year 4 class to then create their own Guy Fawkes as part of their Design Technology classes. And each year, among the crowd of children and parents, the Year 4 children huddle at the front to watch their hard work go up in flames!

To get us in the mood for this wonderful and unique event, we thought it might be fun to look back over the 7 wonderful Guy Fawkes made by Year 4 students between 2011-2017.

Enjoy some old photos below of long-since graduated students below as we throw back to Bonfire Nights past.

Our current Year 4s sneaked into the action when Mr Toby taught them in Kindergarten. I wonder whether this might give them an advantage – we can’t wait to see what they come up with this year!

[Read more…]

I actually can’t believe we have come to the end of the year. The children and I talk often about how quickly the months have passed… And now I must sadly but proudly wish them on their way to YEAR 5! They have been the most wonderful class and I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch to help me learn the wonderful ways of Provo Primary.

It has been a super term (although any tips on how to deal with this heat would be very welcome!).

As promised in our last newsletter, our MAGICAL MYTHS are now published and make exciting reading, involving everything from mermaids and dragons to elves to ghosts and even the Devil’s daughter!

[Read more…]