Year 4 were mad for marshmallows this week as they continued their Science topic; ‘The Big Build’. Their aim was to carry out comparative tests to understand the use of triangles to support structures. First, they made a square and triangle using their spaghetti and marshmallows. When they applied force to one vertex of the square, the square changed shape and the size of the angles changed. However, this did not happen with the triangle. Triangles have fixed angles, making them stronger shapes.
Next, the children were asked to make a cube with their materials. When they put weights onto these cubes they fell immediately. Then the children added triangles to support the cube. The cubes were able to hold a significant amount of weight. This confirmed what we had learnt; that triangles are effective shapes to support structures.
On Wednesday, the boys in Year 4 had an opportunity to go to St Aloysius Secondary School to attend a taster morning. This involved taking part in a range of activities, such as making tasty pizzas and clay modelling. This was a great way for the boys to find out what is ahead of them when they attend secondary school in a couple of years. They enjoyed putting their creativity and design skills to good use.
Today our school was very lucky to receive a visit from British Olympian, Montell Douglas. Montell (or ‘Monty’ as she asked us to call her) was the first British woman selected to compete in different sports at the Olympic Summer and Winter Games. When she broke the British record for the women’s 100m sprint, with a time of 11.05 seconds, she was the fastest woman in Britain. Then, she went on to join the women’s GB bobsleigh team, competing in the Winter Olympics.
Montell told us all about her achievements throughout her career. She inspired the children to start early and be active! She also taught us an important lesson she learnt after her Year 6 running race at Sports Day. She raced against the boys as a challenge and was told she would receive £5 if she won. However, one boy beat her. She said she did not let this get her down or stop running, she used this as motivation to persevere and be the best that she could be. Montell answered some of the children’s questions about how she stays motivated and calms her nerves before a big event. She even showed us her Olympic gold medal!
After this, the children had fitness circuits run by Montell, which included star jumping, planking and mountain climbing within a set time. Looks like we could have some of future Olympians in Year 4 too!
