Class Blog 25.9.26

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope you all had a lovely week and have been enjoying the weather. We've had another busy one in Year 4!

In English, we read to the end of our class book, 'The Mermaid of Zennor', and we have been discussing how a story can change when it is told from a different perspective. From these lessons, the children have started to write a different version of the story from the perspective of the mermaid. As part of this, we have been thinking carefully about how the mermaid might have felt and what she might have thought throughout the story. The children have been using age-related grammatical features such as fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and first-person pronouns to help develop their writing and make their version of the story more interesting for the reader.

In maths, the children have been continuing to develop their understanding of place value by comparing and ordering numbers up to 10,000. We have been looking carefully at the value of each digit within a number and using this to decide which numbers are greater or smaller. The children have also been practising using the <, > and = symbols and explaining how they know which number is greater or smaller. We have been encouraging the children to use their understanding of thousands, hundreds, tens and ones to help them explain their reasoning.

In science, the children have been developing their understanding of the digestive system and created a model to learn about the journey that food takes through our bodies. In this lesson, they started off with a piece of bread and watched this bread transition into (artificial!) poo! It was a pretty messy lesson but I'm sure the children would agree it was an exciting one and a great way to help them understand the different stages of digestion.

For RE, we spoke about significant symbols of Christianity. As a class, we discussed their importance to Christians and shared any prior knowledge of Christian symbols. We went on to choose our favourite Christian symbol, sharing our reasons for making our choice. We then drew the chosen symbol against a meaningful background, thinking carefully about how the background could help to show the importance of the symbol.

In art, we practised shading different tones from light/white to dark. We discussed how we need to press harder to create a darker tone, use the side of the pencil and shade carefully in a certain direction. Next, we started to talk about proportion by looking at a collection of objects and beginning to sketch them roughly, paying attention to their size in relation to one another.

Book Fair

Just a reminder that this year's School Book Fair will be taking place in the school hall from Thursday 1st October to Tuesday 6th October, starting each day at 3:25pm.

The Book Fair is a wonderful opportunity for children to explore a wide range of books and develop their love of reading. It also helps to raise funds for our school, as every purchase contributes towards free books for our classrooms.

Both cash and card payments will be accepted. Please enter via the School Office.

We look forward to seeing you there and thank you for your support.

Half Term Project – 500 Words

Due in the week commencing 19th October 2026

500 Words Challenge

I would like all Year 4 children to enter the BBC's 500 Words Challenge. All they need to do is write a story they would love to read in 500 words or fewer. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are not marked – it is all about creativity and imagination!

500 Words celebrates children's creativity, encouraging young writers from across the UK to create an original story. This year's celebrity judges include Malorie Blackman, Charlie Higson, Francesca Simon, Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Rose Ayling-Ellis.

The bronze, silver and gold winners in each age category will be revealed by the BBC in early March 2027. The winning stories will also be read aloud by celebrities on the BBC.

There are lots of prizes to be won too! Winners will receive a bundle of books, while the gold winners will also win 500 books for their school library. Each winning story will also receive a framed, illustrated cover created exclusively by a top children's illustrator.

Children can only submit one story each. There are very few rules, but please remember that stories must:

• Be 500 words or fewer (the title is not included)

• Be written by an individual, not a group

• Be the child's own original idea

• Be prose, rather than a rap or poem

Stories must not:

• Include any personal details about the child, including their name

• Recount a historical event (although real people or historical characters can be used as inspiration)

• Be created, written or developed using AI

Stories are judged on:

• Characterisation

• Plot

• Originality

• Language

• Enjoyment

Please note: stories can only be submitted electronically, so they will need to be typed and sent to me rather than handwritten.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Have a great weekend!

Mr Chanter's Spellings (test on 2.10.26)

 

illegal

illegible

illogical

illiterate

illicit

irregular

irrelevant

irresponsible

irrational

irresistible

Mrs Meadow's Spellings (test on 2.10.26)

Busy

Does

Goes

Door

Floor

Easy

Last

Four

Gone

He

Her

Here

Head

 

 Hi everyone,

I hope you’ve all had a lovely week. We’ve had another busy week in Year 4 and the children have done a brilliant job of settling into their new class. Nobody has accidentally walked into their old classroom this week, which is certainly a bonus!

English
We have continued reading The Mermaid of Zennor and have been imagining what it might have been like to see a mermaid as a sailor all those years ago! The children have been writing letters to the mermaid, describing her appearance and emotions, as well as asking questions to try to find out more about these mysterious sea beings.

Maths
In maths, we have continued developing our place value skills. The children have been partitioning numbers in a range of different ways and practising finding 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 more or less than a given number.

Art
We had lots of fun in Art this week with a drawing and mark-making activity. We listened to a story and took our pencils for a ‘walk’ across the paper, creating different shapes and marks as we listened. We then used our imaginations to create our own stories, using pencil marks, symbols and shapes to represent different parts of our stories.

RE
In RE, we compared two important festivals: Christmas for Christians and Eid for Muslims, which follows the month of Ramadan. We explored the similarities and differences between the celebrations and recognised how themes such as kindness, joy and community are important to both.

PSHE
In PSHE, we discussed the rules and behaviours that help us to work well together as a team. We explored the importance of respect, inclusion, clear communication and listening to others. The children enjoyed finding out about each other’s likes and dislikes through questioning before taking part in a team challenge. They had to pass a large hoop around the whole circle without breaking their chain of hands! It was a great opportunity to see just how important communication, encouragement and co-operation are when working as a team.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you next week!

Spellings (test on 25.9.26)

 

Mr Chanter’s Group

immature

immeasurable

impossible

immortal

imperfect

impatient

immovable

impolite

important

improper Mrs Meadow’s Group  use  right  next  after  then  four  found  really  two  forty

 Good afternoon everyone,

I can’t believe we have already reached the end of our first full week in Year 4! The children have settled in brilliantly and it has been lovely to see them getting back into routines, working together and enjoying their learning.

Here’s a little look at what we have been up to this week:

English

We have begun exploring our new class text, The Mermaid of Zennor. The children have enjoyed discussing the characters and themes in the story, as well as making predictions about what might happen next.

We have also started writing letters from the perspective of different characters. The children have been thinking carefully about how characters might feel and how the tense they use can change depending on when events happened.

Maths

In maths, we have started our work on place value, focusing on numbers up to 1,000. The children have been practising reading, partitioning, comparing and ordering numbers and have already become much more confident.

Next week, we will extend these skills to numbers up to 10,000, which will provide an exciting new challenge.

Science

Our new science topic is the digestive system. We have been learning about the different parts, including the mouth, oesophagus, stomach and intestines, and the important jobs they each carry out.

The children have discovered how food travels through the digestive system and how it is broken down so that our bodies can absorb the nutrients we need. They have asked some fantastic questions along the way!

Art

In art, the children have been learning about graffiti art and exploring how artists can use different styles and techniques to make lettering stand out. They have been practising writing their initials in a graffiti style, experimenting with different shapes, sizes and designs.

The children have also been thinking about how to make their letters look bold and eye-catching by adding outlines, shadows and decorative details. They have really enjoyed creating their own unique designs!

Geography

Our geography topic this term is Where Does Our Food Come From? This week, we explored different types of food and discovered which biomes they typically grow in, considering the conditions they need to grow successfully.

Next week, we will explore trading responsibly, including Fairtrade, food miles and how our food choices can impact communities around the world.

We hope everyone has a lovely weekend and we look forward to another exciting week of learning!

Have a great weekend!

Spellings (test on 18.9)

 

Mr Chanter’s Group

inactive

incorrect

inaccurate

insecure

indefinite

incomplete

infinite

inedible

inability

indecisive Mrs Meadow’s Group  can’t  didn’t  hasn’t  it’s  wouldn’t  shouldn’t  wasn’t  he’ll  she’ll  I’d