This week, I want to highlight the learning in Years 3 and 4.

In Year 3, the children have been looking at two images - one of a thunderstorm and another of a rollercoaster. The children were asked to think very carefully about the sounds this image could make if we were to press ‘play’. The children drew detailed pictures of either image and labelled it with clear ideas, while linking them with instrument sounds. It has been so lovely for me to go through their pictures. Some examples are using a whistle for the sound of people screaming on the rollercoaster, or the hissing of the ride as it comes to a stop on the tracks. In another picture, a child has compared the sounds of thunder to the breaking of a stick. They also included body percussion - stamping feet for the rain as it gets heavier. In some pictures, children have considered the duration and pitch of sounds, e.g., a long boom sound for thunder and a short high-pitched sound for the light drizzle rain. This activity will really help the children to develop their own soundscapes later this half term.

In Year 4, we have been listening to ‘Aquarium’ by Camille Saint-Saëns. The children had learnt to use four different hand signals to demonstrate the rising and falling sounds in the melody. They then used cubes to show the changing pitch. This week, they were asked to think about different ways of writing out the pitch and melody. The sheer amount of ideas and creativity was amazing! In one example, the children used different curved shapes and colours to show the rising and falling sounds. Some children included arrows to show the direction of the melody. Other examples used 2D shapes with each one signifying a pitch and another used numbers rising up and down the page. I hope you enjoy looking at some examples below.