We had a wonderful time at the cathedral on Wednesday. The children’s behaviour was excellent, they listened very well and really enjoyed the practical map reading activities, outdoors. They created some beautiful illuminated letters, each one different and individual.
Easter “Chique” and farewell to Miss Cartwright
Year 4 enjoyed seeing the chicks who were only born one week ago but already have adult feathers coming in!
Everyone is sad to say good-bye to Miss Cartwright and wish her lots of luck in her new ventures
Happy Easter from Year 4
It’s been a short but packed week. We finished reading “Odd And The Frost Giant”, which we all loved. The children wrote some great writing in the adventure story genre and when asked what they’d learnt from this, said:
“I’ve learnt how to write similes.”
“how to use dialogue”
“how to tell a story from a different point of view- from the “baddy’s” point of view”
One technique to get children talking and sharing ideas is hot-seating and we enjoyed using strategy to get closer to the characters in the story this week:
The children also really enjoyed experimenting with “Chrome Music Lab”, a fantastic piece of software to write melodies with lots of different apps which the children can use at home, if they choose to.
It was lovely to see parents at both the assemblies this week – the Stations of the Cross on Tuesday and Easter celebration on Wednesday. Well done to the children who won prizes for their careful, beautiful artwork. All the entries were stunning.
We are all sad to say good-bye to Miss Cartwright. In year 4, she has been more than the PE teacher as she has listened to readers, accompanied us on trips and generally supported the children in the school day. We will really miss her, but wish her well as she starts her degree. She has a brilliant future ahead of her and many other children will benefit from her teaching.
The office will inform all parents the details of netball club after we return from the holiday. It will start a few weeks into the summer term, with the start date and the day yet to be confirmed. When it does start any interested year 4s are very welcome to join. There are no more league games or tournaments now so the focus will be on playing together as a team and skill practice. I know that there are some very keen netball players which is fantastic there is a brilliant opportunity to build new, confident school team next year!
I hope you all have a lovely two-week break together, starting with celebrating the Good News of the Resurrection and then enjoying relaxing, seeing family, going on holiday or whatever plans you have to have a good time. I look forward to seeing everyone in April. Happy Easter!
Time is racing by…
… which was the theme of Friday afternoon, to mark Science Week. Year 4 was investigating whether people with the longest legs run the fastest. This involved measuring leg length, timing each other running sprints and then recording the data. We had to wait till the rain and stopped and dried up before we could go outside, so the final recording and analysis will wait till next week.
We’ve also been considering evaporating water as we measured the amounts of water in containers in different locations. We were surprised at how much effect on evaporation heat actually has!
In RHE, we have been learning about how we are all created in God’s image. In particular, we’ve considered how what we see on social media frequently isn’t real and doesn’t represent reality. However, reality is what matters and we should all respect and love each other in our “real forms”, like God does.
Here three children are reading the story which formed the basis of the RHE lesson. The children really enjoy reading the scenarios and role-plays for the sessions. They are great public speakers and actors!
The home learning has posted at the right time this week, so the children can share the learning they’ve been doing about perimeter and length, which included shape which they have enjoyed. It’s nice to have a change from straight number work. Let’s hope there is some sun this weekend and I hope that you all have a relaxing time together.
Year 4 Books Wishlist
As Mrs Porter mentioned in the bulletin, the birthday traditions at St Adrians include buying a book for the school library, from the year group’s wishlist on Amazon. Here is year 4’s: https://amzn.eu/cP4l70U
Buying a book for the school library is a wonderful way to contribute to the joy of learning and pleasure of reading for current and future pupils. When a child goes to the library, s/he may see his/her book on the shelves and s/he can recommend it to friends. It will have a bookplate on the front cover so readers can see which kind person shared a favourite read with them.
Our new book isn’t odd at all…
Two chapters in and everyone in class 4 is desperate to know who the creatures are and what adventure is going to happen next in “Odd and The Frost Giants”. We have travelled to a different time and place to meet some very interesting characters… More will be revealed next week…
The book is by Neil Gaiman, an author I’ve been mentioning at consultations. He writes fantastic books – novels and picture books – for children which appeal to many ages and girls and boys. If your child enjoys this book, or even if s/he wouldn’t choose reading as the first thing to do, this author could be for them. Your child doesn’t have to read every word – you could read a page each, or you could chip in when it gets tricky. Any way into reading is really worth it, for so many reasons, not the least being as inspiration for writing. There are Neil Gaiman books in the school library for anyone to borrow. This website is American and shows some of the titles, for all ages he has written- https://www.mousecircus.com/books
Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing the parents I haven’t seen yet on Monday morning.
Logic and nonsense in year 4 for the week before half-term
Both were studied this week – logic in the form of data which the children saved using data loggers, when they worked well in small groups. They were also inspired by Lewis Carroll in “The Jabberwocky” and wrote their own fantastic versions of the nonsense poem which will be made into an anthology. They also made good progress with multiplication, moving onto formal multiplication. It’s been a packed five weeks and I hope everyone has a really good break and rest. I look forward to seeing everyone after the half-term break.
Feeling good on and off line
.. has been the theme of this week. Some of what we have done is in the bulletin. On Thursday, the children also thought of an achievement they are proud of and shared this with their table. Also key to good mental health is a healthy outdoor environment and the Eco Councillors and other children planted some saplings on the field which will hopefully grow to provide shade and a home for birds and other animals.
The children are really enjoying “The Firework Maker’s Daughter” which is a beautifully written story of bravery and adventure, laced with plenty of humour.
Reading rich, varied and creative literature is a key aspect of good learning and the children are also loving exploring nonsense poetry, specifically “The Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll.
They have been learning about data – what it is, the pitfalls of collecting what seems to be straightforward data, and how well-suited computers are to gathering and processing it. They used data loggers, which are borrowed from a local computer hub.
Here is the display of the children’s writing about the (imitation) Roman artefacts we have here and their excellent accompanying sketches the children took great care in drawing.
The children used data loggers for the first time today. They recorded the levels of light and noise and the temperature in different parts of the classroom. Some children went to great lengths to ensure different readings!
Wishing you a relaxing, happy weekend.
w/c 15th January in year 4
With the freezing weather and roadworks getting to school has been tricky this week, but once in year 4 it’s really warm and cosy as the new heating does its job well. The sun has been streaming through the window to make the days bright.
The children are engrossed in our current book “Escape From Pompeii”
The children are engrossed in our current book “Escape From Pompeii” which contains a wealth of powerful verbs and interesting language. The children love the fascinating subject of volcanoes and this story shows the impact of a pyroclastic flow. They have been creating some excellent paragraphs with expanded noun phrases. On Google Classroom I’ve posted another two pages in the grammar book to help support this learning. I sent home a couple of sheets relating to this book, because I came across them in researching resources and they were so useful for vocabulary building and comprehension skills. Its purely optional to use these resources or not.
Linked with this, we are learning about the Romans, leading on from the children’s learning about the Iron Age last year. This another fascinating topic – “What did the Romans ever do for us?” is a question it’s always intriguing to answer. Our trip to Verulamium Museum on Wednesday will help deepen this understanding. If you are able to accompany us, please could you contact the office as we still need an adult (though I appreciate that Wednesday morning is not convenient for work schedules). Thank you.
We’re coming to the end of learning about times tables facts and soon will apply that knowledge in formal multiplication and division, involving instant recall of those facts.
States of Matter is our topic in Science. Can your child explain to you why solid objects retain their shape after being squashed and squeezed but a gas can occupy any size shape into which it is released?
The children’s ukelele playing is really progressing and the collective sound is very jolly and uplifting.
There were a few complaints about the number of spelling words last week – I did ask the class! – so apologies if the quantity and variety was a bit much for your child or you. However, there were good improvements and I’m very proud of the seriousness and commitment they children show to improving their spelling and writing.
I hope you all have a relaxing weekend, whether the weather stays bitterly cold or warms up.
Happy Christmas from Year 4
It was a very relaxed last day to the school year today, deservedly so after all the hard work put in this term. Mrs Porter led an assembly where we remembered the important events all those years ago, listening to the same words from The Bible that so many people have heard over the years. The children sang “Silent Night” beautifully. It was also a time to say goodbye to Mrs Ruffell who had worked at St Adrians for twenty years! We also said goodbye to Mrs McSweeney, which was sad for Year 4, who are hoping that the next cook will prepare such good lunches.
The children enjoyed opening their KrisKringles and working out who gave them their gifts. We missed the children who weren’t here today and hope they get better soon.
Miss Cartwright, Miss Parkes, Miss Goodall and I thank you sincerely for the very generous gifts you gave us. They are all very much appreciated.
It only remains to wish you all a very happy, peaceful and safe Christmas with your family and friends, whether you are at home or away. There are no home learning activities on Google. Reading for enjoyment is always a good thing to do, along with getting lots of fresh air when possible and spending quality time with family and friends. I very much look forward to seeing you all on 8th January 2024!
