FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

Year 4 have had a super first half of the Spring term.  As part of our topic on Europe we enjoyed finding out about Paris and London.  We found out that the two capital cities are similar in lots of ways as they both have museums, famous landmarks, famous football teams and underground railways.  However, London has a much bigger population of over 8 million compared to Paris with over 2 million people. A special well done to all of the children who completed the homework on capital cities – they have been proudly displayed in the classroom.

In science we studied electricity. The children found out how to make different types of electric circuits and how they work.  In addition, the children learned how to make electrical switches and investigated which materials do and do not conduct electricity.  We put the learning to practical use as part of a DT project making a model robot/figure/house/picture etc. that incorporated an electrical circuit.  A selection of the children’s work is shown below. They had great fun and displayed excellent cooperation skills when working with their partners.  During the term, the children also took part in Mental Health Week. The children learned about different emotions and their mental wellbeing.  As part of this they created emotion characters inspired by the ‘Inside Out’ films. 

We are all looking forward to the rest of the Spring term and enjoying lots of new learning opportunities.

DECEMBER/NEW YEAR NEWSLETTER

Happy New Year! This week Year 4 have been superb at getting back into routines and they have remembered lots of their learning from the previous term – well done to all of you.  We are looking forward to the new topics this term such as ‘Europe, France and Paris’ but most of all we are thinking about swimming lessons that begin next week.

Before the holidays, we had a fun last week and we especially enjoyed the Christmas party day.  We played some traditional party games such as pass the parcel and hot potato, and it was fantastic to see how much the children enjoyed a disco.

Earlier in December, the children completed their ukulele lessons and thank you to all of the parents and carers who came to watch their performance.  I am very proud of all the children’s playing and I’m sure that you will agree that the children learnt a lot in such a short space of time.

Last term, we also completed the sewing and made a pocket/purse as part of our DT learning.  A special thank you to Mrs Hargreaves for leading the work with the children and supporting them in learning a valuable life skill.  There are a few photographs below of their work.

We look forward to this term and all the new learning we have in store.

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

The end of last half-term was great fun. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Salisbury Cathedral to perform songs as part of I Sing Pop.  It was lovely to see so many parents and carers there and, thanks to our Year 4 children being on the stage, we had a brilliant view.  I was so proud of how well the children sang and their behaviour was exemplary – well done Year 4.  We also put lots of practise in before hand and in photographs below you can see a session with one of the ‘I Sing Pop’ visitors.

Of course, we have kept up with the rest of our curriculum learning.  We used similes and metaphors in poetry, and were inspired to write poems about feelings such as happiness, loneliness and love.  In maths we have been learning how to add and subtract using column written methods.  Now most of us recognise correctly when we need to ‘exchange’. In art we enjoyed using different techniques to create still life pictures, such as using only black paint.

September Newsletter

Year 4 children have had a great start to the year.  They have settled very well into new routines, expectations and ways of working associated with the year group.  The children have also shown how they can support and help one another – well done Year 4!

In English we have been learning how to use effective verbs and adjectives in our suspense story writing.  As is usual at the beginning of any year, we have also checked the spelling and reading ability of each child to make sure their learning is appropriate. In guided reading we are reading The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo and the children have shown how well they can follow the plot of a more complicated story.

This year we have adopted a new additional scheme for learning times tables.  As most of you know, Year 4 children take the Multiplication Tables Check at the end of the year.  We have begun with the 2 x table and the speed and accuracy of children’s recall of facts has already improved greatly.

The photographs below show an investigation we carried out this week on ‘dancing raisins’.  We are learning about the different states of matter: solid, liquid and gas, and it was a fun way of observing the different states in action. The carbon dioxide gas in lemonade formed bubbles on the raisins causing them to float up. When the raisins reached the surface, some bubbles popped and the raisins sank.

Just a reminder – the I Sing Pop performance will happen next month.  A letter will go out and you are invited to come to Salisbury cathedral to watch and enjoy but there are a limited number of tickets.  Further details will be in the letter.