2022-24 Year 4 Blog

In Computing this week we were exploring how count controlled loops can be used to make our code easier to write. We compared our experience of using Logo to Scratch and created our own code to draw shapes. 

 This week in school we have been celebrating Safer Internet Week. We have been learning about how to keep ourselves safe online, considering the positive and negative experiences that we can have. The theme this year has been ‘want to talk about it?’ and we have spent time thinking about who we would talk to if something went wrong online. We particularly enjoyed trying to find positive online experiences for all 26 letters of the alphabet!

 In Computing today, Year 4 have been learning about repetition in code. We have been thinking about how logo can be used to draw a square, and how to make our code more efficient (easier to type!) using the REPEAT command. We then learned how to make interesting patterns using repeats and turns!

 In today’s computing lesson, Year 4 were introduced to a new programming language: Logo. In logo, we use text to control an on screen ‘turtle’. As the turtle moves it draws lines on the screen that we control using code. We really enjoyed trying to make our own pictures and exploring the commands. 

 Today Year 4 have been exploring websites in Computing. We discussed the features of websites and thought about whether all websites were the same. We talked about how anyone can add anything to the web, and how it is really important that we consider carefully the types of things that we share online. We then used 2 different internet services to see how content is created online in both Scratch and Chrome Music Lab. 

In today's Computing lesson, Year 4 have been exploring how the internet is formed from a network of networks. We discovered that the Internet and the World Wide Web are two different things, and that the Internet is connected by lots of routers. We then made our own routes through a puzzle version of the Internet to demonstrate how routers work.

In today’s Computing lesson, Year 4 have been learning about networks. We explored how networks share information locally and how they can be connected together with routers to share information more widely. We discovered that this is the internet and that it can be described as a network of networks. 

In today's computing, Year 4 were introduced to the topics that will be covered this year. They were excited to discover that they would be learning about photo editing in addition to further Scratch programming and even some physical computing using the Micro:bits. In the lesson we talked about the importance of Computing in our everyday lives and thought about what the subject meant to us. We then considered how we use Computing now and how this might change in the future: can you think of any jobs that don't need some elements of IT skill? Finally we spoke about staying safe online, and considered some rules for the Computing classroom. We thought really carefully about this and developed some ideas around what is acceptable use. We are looking forward to seeing where our Computing journey leads us this year!