History: Athenian democracy
In today’s lesson, we’ve been learning about Athenian democracy.
We learnt that most Greek city states were ruled by one person (monarchy – a king, queen or emperor) or a small group of powerful men (an oligarchy). An Athenian Tyler, Solon, introduces democracy to Athens around 500BC which gave any citizen the opportunity to vote on new laws.
However, only men who were born in Athens were classed as citizens. Women could not vote!
Living and Learning: United against bullying
This week, it’s Anti-Bullying Week and the theme for this year is ‘United against bullying’.
Don’t forget – we are also taking part in Odd Socks Day on Monday 16 November.
STOP is a key message linked to bullying. In our school, STOP stands for two things:
- the definition: Several Times On Purpose
- the solution: Start Telling Other People
Recently, our school council met to review our school definition of bullying and our child friendly anti-bullying policy. Thank you to the school councillors for their valued contributions. As a result, our definition and policy have now been updated.
Child friendly anti-bullying policy
What is bullying?
In our school, this is what bullying means:
Bullying is where you hurt someone, physically or emotionally (including online), several times on purpose.
What might bullying look like?
If any of these things happen several (lots of) times, it is bullying.
- Hurting peoples’ feelings, for example, name calling, teasing, threatening, ignoring, leaving people out or spreading rumours
- Hurting peoples’ bodies, for example, hitting, punching or kicking
This could be in person or online (cyber bullying) and could be because of someone’s race, disability, gender, appearance, age or any other protected characteristic.
What could you do if you are being bullied?
Start
Telling
Other
People
Who could you tell?
- Mrs Weekes/Mrs Freeman/Mrs Russell/Mrs Small (they are child protection staff)
- Mrs Taylor (Health Leader)
- Any other members of staff
- Friends
- Someone in your family
- A trusted adult
- Childline (0800 1111)
- Write a worry slip and put it in your Living and Learning box or the whole school worry box
- Email stayingsafe@spherefederation.org
Our views on bullying
STOP bullying – bullying is wrong! We’re a happy and healthy school.
Writing: similes
We’ve been learning about similes this morning in our writing lesson.
We used an app called Padlet to collate our similes. We then read them as a class and edited them if they needed correcting or improving.
“The red panda moved as quick as lightning to save its adorable cub.”
“The newly washed clothes were as soft as silk.”
History: using historical sources
In yesterday’s history lesson, we learned about the Battle of Thermopylae – a famous battle between the Ancient Greeks and the Persians.
We learned about a Greek historian who wrote about the battle and about the weapons and armour that the Greek soldiers would have had.
We then became military commanders to show the events of the battle.
History: learning about the Minoans using historical sources
This afternoon, we’ve used historical sources to learn about the first great Greek civilisation: the Minoans.
We learnt about Arthur Evans, a British archaeologist who discovered an early Minoan written language which has never been deciphered.
We’ve also learnt about Arthur Evans’ greatest discovery: the Palace of Knossos. We then used pictures of the palace and artefacts found there to tell us more about life during this time.
Odd socks day
Next week is Anti-Bullying Week.
This year’s theme is ‘United against bullying’ and we will be taking part in Odd Socks Day on Monday 16 November.
Odd socks day is to raise awareness of our differences, individuality and personal choice. There is no need for any payment – your child should simply wear odd socks and join in the fun!
Thank you for your support.
Science: sound sources
In today’s science lesson, we’ve been learning about how sounds are produced.
We used tuning forks and drums with rice to see the vibrations causing the sounds.
Reading: Ancient Greece
A nice, calm start to the morning in Year 4. Milk and a gory Greek Myth!
History: chronology of Ancient Greece
This week, we’ve been learning about a period of Ancient Greek history and the key events during that period. We’ve learnt about the golden age, a dark age and the things that happened prior to the golden age which enabled Greece to make such impressive advances.
Science: environmental dangers
In our science lesson this week, we’ve been learning about how humans can cause environments to change and how this can have a negative effect on the plants an animals that live there.
We learnt about how deforestation is leading to habitat destruction for lots of plants and animals. We also learnt about how plastic pollution in the environment affects sea creatures.
Children were then tasked with creating a short video to inform others about these dangers and what we can do to help.
