Category: Year 4 – St Alban

The children in Year 4 joined classes across the UK for the NSPCC fundraising Number Day.

As well as dressing up for digits, we learnt about the huge impact that maths has on our lives and on our history.

We learnt about the work of Alan Turing and the code-breakers at Bletchley Park, whose mathematical skill brought an early end to the second World War and saved millions of lives.

We then became code-breakers ourselves to puzzle out the riddles and break the cipher.

The design of the Bank of England’s £50 note features the mathematician Alan Turing.

In RE, Year 4 have been learning about the Jesus’s call to his disciples and how catholics answer this call in our lives today.

As part of this learning, we thought about the different communities to which we belong and the commitment that is needed to make these groups work well. We made posters at home to share our learning.

We were stunned today to find that a wall had appeared in Year 4 and cut some of us from the rest of our class.

Not only were we separated from our friends, some of us couldn’t see the board and no-one knew if we had our hand up. There were certainly lots of questions about the unfairness of the situation and we even wrote letters to our friends on the ‘other side’ to share our feelings and ask for help.

Now that the wall has gone, we are looking forward to sharing another story about a wall that keeps people out, Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant.

It was lovely to welcome the children back to school for the start of new term.

We began the spring term together by learning about the feast of the Epiphany where we remember the visit of the wise men to the infant Jesus.

We learnt about the significance of the gifts: Gold was a precious and expensive gift, and showed that Jesus was born to be King. Frankincense is a sweet perfume which was often burned in the temple to worship God. It was a sign that Jesus should be worshipped. Myrrh was used to keep things fresh, and it was used by the women to anoint Jesus’ body when he died. By bringing it as a gift to Jesus, the wise men foretold his suffering and death.

The Epiphany is important in our Christian faith as it marks the moment that God as man is revealed to the wise men. The wise men were gentiles (non Jews) and this reminds us that God sent Jesus as his Gift for all the world.

As we look forward to the term ahead, we aim to keep Jesus at the heart of what we do and follow his teaching with the same commitment as the wise men followed the star.

I hope that you all had a happy Christmas and are looking forward to the year ahead.

Thank you so much for the kind Christmas wishes and lovely gifts.

This term, we learn what it is to be part of a community in RE. Check out the RE Learning post from the menu for more information.

In science, we learn about the changing states of materials and about the work of significant scientists and inventors.

We learn about the features of the earth in geography, whilst our history learning focuses on the Roman empire and its impact on Britain.

In DT, we will be designing our own book covers and in art, we will be learning about printmaking and the work of William Morris. Our learning in music will help us to understand how music improves our world and helps to teach us about our community.

I am looking forward to seeing you all again and welcoming you back for the start of the new term.

We started this week with an unusual discovery: a strange silver object on top of the PTA container on the field. Once we had brought it back into class, the children speculated on what it might be. Thankfully, the answer to the question, ‘Is it a bomb?’ turned out to be, ‘No.’ but it certainly got us thinking before we started to read ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes in English.

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In maths, we have been learning about numbers to 10,000, counting in steps of different sizes and getting to grips with place-value and ordering numbers.

In other subjects, we have been learning about the geography of Europe in relationship to other continents and designing our own slingshot cars in DT. In RE, we are learning about families as an introduction to learning about the ancestors of Christ.

The children have made a great effort through their first full week of year four and I am looking forward to the weeks ahead.

Have a great weekend!

It was great to welcome the children back to school and to year four this week. Whilst we are still encouraging plenty of hand-washing and ensuring lots of ventilation through the classroom, much of what we have missed during the pandemic has returned and school is getting back to normal. The children have really enjoyed going out to play without the barriers and bubbles! It’s also lovely to have the children working in groups rather than sitting in the rows of desks of the last eighteen months.

This week, we have learnt about strategies for learning and reflected on what our school mission statement and our golden rules mean to us. We’re looking forward to our full timetable in the week ahead and beginning swimming lessons on Thursday.

The children should each have brought home their school reading book today. I would encourage them to read this alongside their own choice of book from home/ the library/ the class library, etc. and invite them to use their reading record as diary of their reading. It would still be great if the children had the chance to read with someone at home and talk about the books they are enjoying too.

We will start our formal home learning via the Google Classroom next Friday.

The children have been exemplary this week as we have worked our way through the uncertain times in which we find ourselves living. Each day, the children have remembered their absent friends in their prayers and cheered those who have been present to answer their names on the register.

From Monday, I will publish a new post at 9am each day to direct the children towards the planned learning activities for the day. My intention is that the majority of these should be shared via our Google Classrooms, which can be accessed here.

Some of the planned learning will need to be ‘turned in’ for marking whilst some of the challenges will not need to be submitted – unless you would like to add a photo of your work to the Google Classroom. None of the work that I am setting will need to be printed.

I will not ask the children to use any technical skill that they have not already practiced at school but, just in case, I will add a simple guide to completing some of these ‘admin’ tasks in the ‘Useful Stuff’ folders that I have added to each of my classrooms. I have also included a reminder of the login details needed to access some of the resources that we may use.

If you have any technical problems accessing the Google Classroom, or with any of the resources that I share, you can email [email protected] . I will answer as soon as I can, but this is not a 24/7 help desk.

It is a sad and uncertain end to the term, but I wish you and all of your families health and every blessing.

Richard Hayes

To access Google classroom, children will need to sign in using their school Google account.

Visit google.com and click ‘Sign in’ in the top-right of the webpage.

If you, or someone using the same device, already has a Google account, you will need to add your child’s school account and switch between them before accessing the Classroom.  

How to add Google accounts

1. Open the Chrome web browser.
2. On the top right, select your profile image or initial.
3. On the menu, choose Add account.
4. Follow the instructions to add your child’s Google account.
5. Children’s school Google usernames all end with the domain, @stadrians.herts.sch.uk
6. Your child should know the first part of their username and the password.
   For security, I cannot add that information here. It might be worth phoning a friend if in doubt!

Once you have, set up your child’s Google account. You may need to switch between accounts for them to access the Google Classroom.

How to switch between Google accounts

1. In the top right, click your profile photo or email address.
2. Click the account you want to use.
3. A new window will open for this account.

Accessing the Google Classroom

Visit classroom.google.com or follow the link in the side bar.