18/10/19

Hello Year 4! We have had a really busy and exciting week of learning. 

Highlights of the week:

In maths, the children have been consolidating their place value column addition and subtraction. They really enjoyed listen to the  'Shake it off column addition' song to help remember the steps to this method! Here is the link if they want to watch it again at home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvsQuiy4UZA


In English, the children have been using all the skills we have built upon to write their own myth/quest story.  

The children really enjoyed our school trip to the Potters Bar museum, where they learnt lots of interesting facts about local history. The asked some great questions and represented the school really well. Please see below for pictures. 

I was lucky enough to go to the Lochinver 'Sing Out' day on Monday with members of the choir. It is so lovely to have so many members of the choir from Year 4! It was a great day and the children sang beautifully and really enjoyed being apart of a singing ensemble. 

The children really enjoyed conducting our science experiment today on tooth decay. They are very interested to find out what is going to happen to the eggs they have placed in different liquids to show the effect of these drinks on our teeth. 

The mindfulness song of the week was the Friends theme song 'I'll be there for you’ . The children have spoken about the importance of friendship and always supporting each other. 

Please note: 
Please make sure you check your parents consultation slot for next week. I am looking forward to meeting you all to discuss your child's progress. Just so that you are aware, these are 10 minute appointments and I will need to stick to this as much as possible to ensure that every one is seen on time. Of course if we do not manage to discuss everything in that time we can make arrangements to meet to finish off our meeting. 


Next week: 

English: Onomatopoeia poetry.  

Maths: Counting in multiples. 

Science: Results from tooth decay experiment.  

PSHE: Looking at actions and consequences continued. 

Art: Observation drawing of a special item.

History: Publishing non-chronological report.

Spanish: Classroom vocabulary continued. 

RE: Exploring what makes a Gurdwara. 

ICT: Times table practise. 

Spellings: The spellings for this week are taken from the statutory spelling list.  
If the children received 7, 8 , 9 or 10/10. I would like them to also find synonyms for each of the words. 

-early
-earth
-eight
-eighth 
-enough
-exercise
-experience 
-experiment 
-extreme
-famous 

Have a lovely weekend! Please do not hesitate to email me for any queries.I look forward to meeting you all for parents evening next week. 

Miss Bradford

11/10/19

Hello Year 4! 

Highlights of the week:

In maths, the children have been looking at place value column addition. The children have enjoyed using  different maths resources and even their own bodies to represent how to layout this method. In English we have been planning our own myth/quest stories based on all of our learning. It was lovely to see so many of you at the 'Harvest Festival' today. The children sang really well and seemed to really enjoy this. We have also been planning our experiment on tooth decay. The children have decided different liquids that they would like to place an egg in (representing the human tooth) to see the effect it will have. 

The mindfulness song of the week was ‘Proud’ by Heather Small. The children have reflected on what they have done in and out of school that they are proud of.  

Important notices: - Next week we are going to the Potters Bar museum on Thursday morning. Please make sure you children come to school with a coat with a hood, as we will be walking to and from the museum. We will be back in time for lunch. 


- We will be continuing with our observational art drawings on Thursday afternoon. The children who finished drawing their first item this week will need to bring in their second item on Thursday. Those children who didn't quite finish need to bring in their first item again so they can complete this. The children have been told and reminded  which item they need to bring it. 

-Our first sharing assembly of the school year is on Monday. Unfortunately I will not be in school as I am going to Lochinver with the choir on this day. However, the children who are presenting in this sharing assembly are prepared and excited to share the work they are proud of. 

Next week: 

English: Writing a myth/quest story. 

Maths: Written strategies for addition and subtraction continued. 

Science: Carrying out a tooth decay experiment. 

PSHE: Looking at actions and consequences

Art: Observation drawing of a special item.

History: Potters Bar museum trip.

Spanish: Classroom vocabulary.

RE: Exploring the life of Guru Nanak.

ICT: Timetable rock stars programme.  

Spellings: Due to children quite frequently misspelling the days of the week and months of the year wrong in their books, I have decided that these will be our spellings for this week. I have spoken to the children about the importance of writing these words with a capital letters.  

-Monday 
-Tuesday
-Wednesday 
-Thursday 
-Friday
-Saturday 
-Sunday
-January 
-February
-March 
-April 
-May
-June
-July
-August
-September
-October
-November 
-December

Have a lovely weekend! Please do not hesitate to email me for any queries.

Miss Bradford

04/10/19

Hello Year 4! 

Highlights of the week:

In maths, the children have been looking at the most effective methods to solve subtraction. In English we have been creating character descriptions for our myth/quest stories. The children really enjoyed our history lesson this week where we were interviewing Mr Beridge about Potters Bar. The children asked some great questions, and learnt lots of new information. In science we have been making information booklets all about human teeth. The class are getting excited about using this learning for our upcoming experiment on tooth decay!

The mindfulness song of the week was ‘Fight song’ by Rachel Platten. The children spoke about how this represents standing up for what is right. 

Please note: 
As part of our art topic, we are completing a project all about what makes us unique. Over the next couple of weeks we will be completing some observation drawings of things that are special to the children. The class wrote which 4 things they would like to bring in to draw on a post it note which has gone home. Can I please ask that they bring 1 of these items in on Thursday for our first observation drawing. It does not need to stay in school and will go home with them on Thursday evening. 

Next week:

English: Creating myth and question stories.

Maths: Written strategies for addition and subtraction. 

Science: Designing a tooth decay experiment. 

PSHE: Looking at democracy in the world.

Art: Observation drawing of a special item.

History: Planning non chronological report. 

Spanish: Classroom vocabulary.

RE: Exploring the Sewa in Sikhism.

ICT: Researching about Potters Bar history. 

Spellings: The spellings for next week are taken from the Year 3/4 statutory spelling list. 

-certain
-circle
-complete
-consider
-continue
-decide
-describe
-different
-difficult
-disappear 

Have a lovely weekend! Please do not hesitate to email me for any queries.

Miss Bradford

27/09/19

Hello Year 4! 

Highlights of the week:

In maths, the children have been looking at the most effective methods to solve addition problems this week, and learnt the importance of estimating an answer before you start working it out. In English, we have been focusing on using our senses to create exciting setting descriptions for our myth/quest stories. The children came up with a great range of similes to describe the pictures of a mythical settings.  In history, the children have been creating a range of good quality questions about Potters Bar, ready to interview our mystery guest next week! 

The mindfulness song of the week was ‘This is me’ from The Greatest Showman'. This a particularly popular one and the children spoke about the importance of recognising what makes each of us unique and special. 

EXCITING NEWS: 
As part of our topic of local history, I have arranged for the class to visit the Potters Bar Museum on the 17th October! They will be going during school time and we will be back for lunch. You do not need to provide consent as this is covered as a local trip, however, if you do have any questions about the trip, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Next week:

English: Creating character descriptions for our myth/quest stories.

Maths: Finishing off rounding and then moving onto using mental methods for addition and subtraction.

Science: Completing an information booklet on the functions of the teeth.

PSHE: Looking at democracy in the school community.  

Art: Drawing and shading an object that represents the children.

History: Interviewing a mystery guest about Potters Bar history.

Spanish: Spanish greetings. 

RE: Exploring the Khanda and Sewa in Sikhism.

ICT: Developing typing accuracy using games and completing a research quiz.

Spellings: The spellings for next week are taken from the Year 3/4 statutory spelling list. 

-breath
-breathe
-build
-built
-busy
-business
-calendar
-caught
-centre
-century 

Have a lovely weekend! Please do not hesitate to email me for any queries.

Miss Bradford

20/09/19

Hello Year 4! Another great week of learning! The children have settled into the expectations and pace of Year 4 really well.

Highlights of the week:

The children have been working hard on understanding place value in different numbers. There is a unit of work called ‘number and place value’ on Mathletics that would be great for the children to practise and consolidate their learning if they have not done so already. In English, we have been focusing on myth/quest stories. The children acted out different stories in this genre to look for features of these texts, ready for when they write their own ones.  In ICT the children learnt how computers work by following instructions by completing some communication games outside. The learnt about the importance of giving clear precise instructions just like when you programme a computer. They also really enjoyed sharing what makes them unique in our PSHE lesson. I was really impressed with how the children talked about their objects and how well they listened and respected each other.

The mindfulness song of the week was ‘Thursday’ By Jess Glynne. The children really enjoyed singing to this and independently identified the theme of the song as being comfortable with who you are and respecting the differences in everyone.

Next week:

English: Using senses to create setting descriptions for myth/quest stories.

Maths: Finishing off rounding and then moving onto using mental methods for addition.

Science: Functions of human teeth.

PSHE: Looking at what makes an effective class team.  

Art: Pencil grip techniques.

History: Preparing interview questions about Potters Bar for a special guest.

Spanish: Spanish tongue twisters.

RE: 5ks of Sikhism.

ICT: Developing typing accuracy using games.

Spellings: The spellings for next week are homophones. I have reminded the children that if they got 7 or more spellings correct, they need to find additional sets of homophones to practise as well as the ones they got wrong.

-piece

-peace

-main

-mane

-fare

-fair

-are

-our

-there

-their

-they’re

Have a lovely weekend! Please do not hesitate to email me for any queries.

Miss Bradford

13/09/19

Hello Year 4! What a great full week of learning we have had. The children have really enjoyed getting started on each of our topics this week. Each week I will include a section below which highlights some the children’s most memorable and favourite learning experiences that we have covered within in the week.

Highlights of the week:

The children have been working really hard on their resilience in our maths lessons understanding place value in different numbers. They have been playing lots of games to help consolidate their understanding. In English, we have been focusing on our handwriting this week, and generated a class contract which includes the children’s own suggestions of how they can make the presentation of their work the best it can be. In science the children had the task of constructing their own version of the digestive system using a range of art resources. The children have also been learning about the importance of e-safety and created a short drama piece based around this.

Every Monday I play the class a ‘mindfulness song of the week’ which is a song  that has themes of motivation and self-esteem. The children listen to this just before they go home at the end of the day and our encouraged to question and listen to the meaning of the song. This week the song was ‘The world’s greatest’ by R Kelly. The children really enjoyed singing along and understanding the important message of self- belief from this song. We will be choosing a new song each week as a further reinforcement of our growth mindset and self-belief ethos.

Next week:

English: Identifying features of myth/quest stories through shared reading, drama and comprehension questions.

Maths: Placing numbers on a number line accurately and estimating and rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1000.

Science: Functions of the digestive system

PSHE/ART: For PSHE and art on Monday, can I please ask the children to bring in something from home that they feel represents themselves and their personality. It may be a photograph or an object, for example, a swimming trophy or picture of a special place, but please try to avoid bringing in  breakables. We are going to be talking about what is special and unique about each and everyone of us, and use this to help with our art topic, ‘a montage about me’.

History: Placing events on a timeline.

Spanish: Pronunciation practise and tongue twisters.

RE: What is worship?

ICT: Outdoor communication games focusing on how a computer works.

Spellings: The spellings for next week are words ending with the prefix ‘ure’. They will be tested on these next Friday. All children will do these spellings, but if they scored 7/10 or above they need to find other words that follow the same rule to make up their 10 spellings, e.g. if they scored 8/10, they will practise the 2 they got wrong and an additional 8 of their own words they have found with the same rule.

-temperature

-picture

-assure

-figure

-vulture

-adventure

-moisture

-treasure

-signature

-furniture

Can I please remind you that Mathletics records need to be in school every day to be checked. They need to be signed every time the children complete some work on Mathletics. This can be done by a child or adult. This is the same with reading records which need to have 2 comments in it before they can changed, one adult comment and one child comment commenting on an aspect from the story that they liked or did not like.

Have a lovely weekend! Please do not hesitate to email me for any queries.

Miss Bradford

06/09/19

Hello Year 4! What a wonderful start to the year we have had this week. I have really enjoyed getting to know all about each and everyone of you and share with you the exciting things I have planned for this year. 

This week was 'waste aware week' where we have been looking at the effect of plastic pollution on our oceans and seas. The class have written stories/poems and even produced a TV advert warning people of the harmful effect of plastic on our environment. We have also taken part in a variety of team building activities, including circle communication games, and building the tallest tower just from newspaper. I have been really impressed with how well the class have worked together in all of their learning this week. 

Topics to be covered this half term:
Below is an overview of the topics we will be covering in each subject this half term. 

Literacy: Traditional quest stories and onomatopoeia poetry. 

Spellings: 
Every week the children will have a pretest where they will be tested on the spellings for the upcoming week without having looked at them before. This works as a pre-assessment and means the children are only practising the the words they got wrong. If they receive 7 out of 10 or above, they have the extra challenge of finding other words that fit the same rule as well as learning the ones they got wrong. For example, if they scored 8/10 on their spelling test, they need to practise the 2 they got wrong, and find an additional 8 words that match the same rule, to make up to 10 spellings. For the first week of term I have given the children all the same words, so please do not worry if you find some of them tricky. Based on the scores for this week I will put the children into different spellings groups, so just try and learn as many as you can. This weeks spellings come from the Year 3 and 4 statutory spelling list which is the list of words children need to know by the end of year 4. I have sent the children home with the whole list today so you have a copy of this at home.
The spellings this week are as follows: 

-accident
-accidentally
-actual
-actually
-address
-answer
-appear
-arrive
-believe
-bicycle

Maths: Place value in 1000s, 100s, 10s and ones. Addition and subtraction, multiplication and division.

Science: The digestive system and food chains. 

History: Local history, including a trip to The Potters Bar museum! (more information to follow). 

Spanish: General greeting, simple sentences and classroom vocabulary. 

Art:  Producing a montage 'all about me'.

ICT: E safety, typing accuracy how does a computer work? Research skills and cross curricular links. 

PSHE: Being me in my world, looking at what it takes to be a class team and understanding democracy. 

RE: Introduction to Sikhism.

Next week: 
Please see below for a list of topics we will be covering next week:

Literacy:  Handwriting focus, writing in pen. 

Maths:  Ordering and comparing numbers beyond 100 and rounding and estimating numbers. 

Science: What is the digestive system? Making a representation of the digestive system using art materials. 

History:  Using a timeline accurately and plotting events in their life on a timeline. 

Spanish: Recap pronunciation of letters.

Art:  Growth mindset drawing activities aiming to diminish the opinion 'I can't draw'.

ICT: E safety drama. 

PSHE:  Introducing the worry box and create PSHE class contract.

RE: What does RE mean to me?

Please note PE information 
Monday - Children need just trainers
Tuesday - PE kit or football kit. You can bring in football boots but these are not essential, trainers are fine. 
Wednesday - swimming kit starting this upcoming week. 

Please make sure you are reading at home and completing work on Mathletics.

Have a lovely weekend and please do not ever hesitate to email me if you have any queries.

Miss Bradford
nbradford@littleheath.herts.sch.uk