15/02/19

Hello Year 4! We have made it to half term and we are now half way through the year! I cannot believe fast the time is going! 

Highlights of the week:
The children have had a lovely week where they have reflected on their learning so far this year. They produced a whole class cinquan poem based on their learning across all of the subjects. It was really lovely to see so many of you at open afternoon and see the work that the children have produced. We also had a really interesting investigation looking at the melting and cooling process in science. The children melted chocolate and wrote a diary entry in the point of view of the chocolate bar! They generated some really imaginative creative writing examples and used scientific vocabulary to explain what was happening to make the particles break down from a solid to a liquid. The children have been working really hard on decimals and have really consolidated their understanding of place value in decimal numbers. 

After half term: 
Please find below a brief outline of the topics the children will be covering over the next half term.

English: 
Story setting, persuasive writing and performing a play.

Maths:
Calculating with decimals, money and fractions.

Science:
States of matter continued.

Geography:
The Rainforest.

RE:

Different ideas about God and creations and exploring the significance of Good Friday. 

PSHCE:
Healthy me.

Spanish: 
Items in my classroom and pencil case.

ICT: 
Designing a research app. 

Art: 
The group that have not been to Stormont will have the chance to go and the other group will be completing some photography art and using water colours. 

Home learning over the holidays:
-Reading
-Learning your time stables. We have learned the 2, 5, 10, 11, 3, 6, 4, and 9s as a class. Our next focus will be the 8 times tables (which is just double the 4s!) Please make sure you are practising at home! 
-Mathletics
-Try and have at least a few technology free days! If you are going online this holiday, please make sure you are being safe. We have spent a lot of time discussing e-safety this half term, make sure you are making sensible choices online. 

Enjoy the holidays and I am looking forward to seeing you coming back refreshed after the break. 

Miss Bradford

08/02/19

Hello Year 4! 

What another great week of learning. 

Highlights of the week:

We have finished 'Stig of the dump' and the children produced some great alternative endings. They also compared the story with the film version and were able to comment on the differences in narrative and character choices. In maths, the children have been working hard on their understanding of place value in decimals. The children have finally cracked understanding that one hundredth is smaller than one tenth!

Next week:

Spellings:

We will have a spelling test based on the first section of the spellings from the statutory list for year 3 and 4 words. I will test a random selection of these spellings. Please only practise the ones you know. 

accident(ally) 
actual(ly) 
address 
answer 
appear 
arrive 
believe
bicycle 
breath 
breathe
build 
busy/business 
calendar 
caught 
centre
century 
certain 
circle 
complete
consider 
continue 
decide 
describe 
different 
difficult 
disappear 
early 
earth 
eight/eighth 
enough 
exercise
experience 
experiment 
extreme
famous
favourite 
February 
forward(s) 
fruit

English: 

We are creating our own narrative poetry.

Maths:

Continuing our work on decimals. 

Science: 

Continuing changes of state. 

PSHCE:

Recognising achievement. 

RE:

St Valentine comprehension. 

History: 

Planning a non-chronological report about our early civilisation learning.

Spanish:

Revising Spanish food. 

Art: 

Publishing the water colour picture and completing the designs on their pots at Stormont. Please ensure you have the correct sensible footwear for this. 

ICT: 

Researching about St Valentine. 

Can I please remind you that at the end of the day, the children need to be collected from the playground;we can't release them beyond the gate without an adult.  

Have a lovely restful weekend. 

Best regards

Miss Bradford

01/02/19

Hello Year 4!

What a wonderful end to the week we have had. Today was one of the most magical moments I have had as a teacher, as it was an absolute pleasure to have the opportunity to play in the snow with the children. Have a look at some of the pictures below. The snowballs we made were very impressive!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights of the week:
The children have had the opportunity to take part in a lot of outdoor and practical learning this week which they have really enjoyed. The class have been investigating lines of symmetry in maths and they had the chance to look for symmetry in nature and in the playground. Take a look at some of the patters they found!

They also really worked on their teamwork skills in PSHCE where the class had to work together to complete some collaborative activities. Next week, the children will be able to analyse how well they worked together. I can certainly see the children's teamwork skills developing, not only in the classroom, but also on the playground, which is a huge improvement from the start of the year.

The children did not go to Stormont for art this week due to weather conditions, but Stormont came to them! They have been working really hard combining their art and history skills to create plates with numbers and letters from early civilisations. The other half of the class have been experimenting with water colours to add to their photographs.

It was an absolute pleasure to take the choir to the O2 this week. They performed so well and it was something I am sure the children will remember for the rest of their lives. So many children are eager to join choir as a result of hearing about the O2 which is brilliant.

Next week: 

English:
Next week we are going to be writing an alternative ending to our text and then we are looking at different story settings.

Spellings: There are no official spellings for this week as I want to give the class the chance to look over the first half of the statutory spelling list of the words that the children need to know by the end of year 4. Focus on the ones you are not confident with and practise writing these in sentences. Here is the list of the words if you do not have them. Don't panic, you will know a lot of them already.

accident(ally)
actual(ly)
address
answer
appear
arrive
believe
bicycle
breath
breathe
build
busy/business
calendar
caught
centre
century
certain
circle
complete
consider
continue
decide
describe
different
difficult
disappear
early
earth
eight/eighth
enough
exercise
experience
experiment
extreme
famous
favourite
February
forward(s)
fruit

Maths: We are starting a unit of work on decimal numbers. The class now know their 6 times tables and are making excellent progress with this. As a class we have now mastered the know 2,5,10, 11, 3, 6, and 9 times table and we will be moving on to the 4 times table. Please practise this at home. Remember, it is just double your 2 times table!

Science: Investigating melting and cooling and changes of state.

Have a lovely weekend enjoying the snow and remember to keep reading, practising times tables and Mathletics.

Miss Bradford