Well done to all of you who entered this week’s National SumDog competition. 3506 classes entered and we came a very impressive 173rd, scoring 347 points – exactly the same score as our friends in Year 5. They may have sneaked ahead of us on speed, but Year 4 triumph with the top placed student, Aidan, who came 40th out of 31,737 students – great job.
The competition may be over, but SumDog is always on hand to help sharpen your maths skills and while away the hours whilst you are waiting for school to start again on January 7th!
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
An exciting competition is taking place across the county. The task is to:
Create a piece of artwork entitled ‘The Bread of Life’.
Encourage your child to think about what the blessed sacrament, the Eucharistic host, means to them and then create a piece of artwork reflecting their thoughts. The artwork needs to be A4 in size and can be created using any medium, including paint, collage or printing. Please label the back of the artwork with your child’s name and year group and return to your class teacher by 9th November.
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.
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.
