Y4 Viola visit!

Following our visit to see Hansel and Gretel on Tuesday, we were lucky enough to be visited by Natalie’s mum today, who told us a little of her role with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Natalie’s mum played her viola for us and answered our questions about playing and performing as part of an orchestra.  

Thank you to Natalie, for planning what your mum should tell us, and to your mum for taking the time to come and visit. 

Year 4 @ The Royal Opera House

Year Four had a wonderful day today, visiting the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to see Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. The opportunity to see this story staged was a great way to conclude our English writing sequence on this Grimm’s tale. 

We were lucky enough to have seats right at the front of the orchestra stalls which meant we were also able to see Natalie’s mum in the orchestra.

Crossed wires in Year 4

Our learning continues with an investigation into the science of string telephones. We learnt that  vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear: in our phones, the vibrations travelled through the air and the cup, through the string and then into our ears. 

Y4 We’ve Won!

Earlier this term, children in year four took part in a national poetry writing competition promoted by Premier League Primary Stars. 

Our prize – a book bag packed full of poetry books. 

Yesterday, we received a book bag packed full of poetry books in recognition of our entries. Well done, Year Four! We will have to wait and see whether our poems progress to the next stage of the competition. In the meantime, we can enjoy sharing our brilliant new books. 

Y4 present ‘the science of sound’

Everyone worked hard to find out about the science of sound. Working in groups, the children planned and presented a short TV programme to share what they had learnt. We all enjoyed watching our videos afterwards.  

Rotary Young Writer competition

You are invited to take part in this year’s Young Writer competition, organised by Rotary International in Britain and Ireland. Children at St Adrian’s have enjoyed great success in this competition in the past, with Natalie’s writing getting through to the National finals. 

The competition is open to anyone who was aged between 7 and 17 on the 31st August 2018. 

To enter the competition, you should produce a written or typed story entitled, ‘My Inspiration.’

Your writing could be fiction or non-fiction, a story or a poem, as long as the piece relates to the theme. Questions have been asked about spelling and although this is not an issue the only advice to be given are that judges of this competition have made comment upon spelling in the past.

An A4 page or up to 500 words is a suggested suitable length.

The closing date for the local St Albans heat is 12th January 2019. 

Entries should be sent to the Stage organiser at the address below along with the completed entry form.

Rotary Young Writers Competition
St. Albans Priory
Verulam Golf Club
London Road
St Albans
Herts
AL1 1JG

Prizes  

The competition is organised in three stages: local heats, district finals and national finals. At all stages, competitors will receive a certificate of participation. The national winners will be given appropriate awards.

Get writing and good luck!

Y4’s Magnificent millinery

In Art, we are learning about European artists and designers. Yesterday, we learnt about the life and work of Coco Chanel, whose first shop sold hats that she had decorated. 

Y4 Our new RE topic

During the autumn term, our learning in RE will follow three themes. In the second of our themes, Called, we reflect on our different experiences of being welcomed into new situations and groups, recognising the importance of welcome, of feeling comfortable with new situations and belonging to new groups.

Christians believe that everyone is invited to share in the life and work of God through Baptism. The Bible recounts God’s invitations to people to share in his life and work: among them Moses, Samuel, the prophets, Mary and the apostles.

“Through Baptism, men and women are incorporated into Christ. They are formed into God’s people and they obtain the forgiveness of all their sins. They become a new creation through water and the Holy Spirit. Hence they are called and are indeed children of God. Signed with the gift of the Spirit in Confirmation, Christians more perfectly become the image of their Lord and are filled with the Holy Spirit. They bear witness to him before all the world and eagerly work for the building up of the body of Christ.” (General Introduction to the Rite of the Christian Initiation of Adults)

This topic is rooted in an understanding of the sacrament of confirmation. Through this topic, children will use a developing religious vocabulary to give reasons for the actions and symbols used during this sacrament. Children will also come to understand what is meant by the following key vocabulary through this topic: chosen, response, Sacrament of Confirmation, oil of Chrism, mitre, crozier, sponsor, catechist, bishop, Holy Spirit, witness, anointing, Holy Trinity, enkindle, called.

Home learning in RE

During this topic, we will learn about the lives of people who have answered the call to follow Christ.

For your home learning, I would like you to find out about someone who has done something remarkable for someone else (within the local community or the wider world) and use what you find to make a poster about their life.  

This challenge should be returned to school after the half-term break, on 5th November. 

Prayer and Reflection

Almighty and eternal God,
you keep together those you have united.
Look kindly on all who follow Jesus your Son.
We are all consecrated to you by our common baptism;
make us one in the fullness of faith
and keep us one in the fellowship of love.

Amen.

Y4 Bright sparks!

We are learning all about electricity in science. Today, we tested circuits to make a bulb light. We learnt that you need to have a complete circuit if it is to work. 

Electricity can be dangerous and we were told never to play with electricity.