Autumn Term

W.C. 10.12.18

In English this week we have been busy researching, planning and beginning to write our biographies all about Cressida Cowell. We used the Internet to research all about this famous author and found out about her childhood, adulthood and what she is currently doing. We then turned this information into a structured plan from which we could write an interesting and informative biography. We have since begun writing about her childhood and some interesting facts about her adult life! We will be finishing these next week and then getting ready for some Christmas activities!

In Maths, we have finished our topic of addition and subtraction. To end this unit, we did a mini revision quiz where we looked back at using mental and formal written methods to solve addition and subtraction calculations. We also recapped how to estimate answers to calculations and how to estimate money. On Wednesday we spent the lesson focusing on worded problems. We looked carefully at what the words meant so that we could find out if we were adding or subtracting! To end the week, we have been doing our post-tests. I am really impressed with how hard the children have worked this term!

In Topic this week we have been focusing on RE. We looked at the Christmas story to remind us of why Christians celebrate this time of year. We then sequenced the story in our own words and used pictures to represent our writing! We have also been finishing our unit on Islam. This week, we have looked at what a mosque is and what can be found inside it. We understood why  Muslims have to wash before they pray and that there are important parts to a mosque. We even listened to an Imam calling people to prayer from the minaret!

W.C. 3.12.18

In English, we have spent a few lessons comprehending chapter 10! This was an important chapter because it was the dragon and Viking Initiation Test! We found out that it did not go well for the boys. We answered questions, storyboarded the contest and then used our language features to describe it as if we were eyewitnesses! We have also been continuing our work on biographies! We have started to do some research on a famous person... Dan TDM. Have you heard of him?! We will next be writing a biography about him on Monday.

In Maths, we have spent a little time thinking about how we could apply our addition and subtraction skills to money. We could think about how we can exchange and also how we could use efficient subtraction. For amounts like £50 - £23.65 we had to remember that we still needed to include zeros in the pence column too! We have also looked at how we can use mental methods to solve calculations that didn't need column method. For addition, we looked at using partitioning into the columns and then adding them and for subtraction we looked at how to use number lines by counting up.

In Topic, we have been focusing on Art. We used sketching pencils to draw a longboat in the sea amongst the mountains. We were able to use different types of sketching pencils to draw the scene and thought carefully about the foreground too. Next, we used watercolours to create a wash for the backgrounds and also to add detail. We understood how to use different thicknesses of brushes for different things. These were some really great paintings!

W.C. 26.11.18

To start English this week, we drafted, edited and then wrote up our set of instructions on how to train a dragon. Miss Cammack and I were extremely impressed with how detailed and clear the instructions were that the children had written. They were full of adverbials, adjectives, clear steps and even some embedded clauses. Next, we began our next English topic of biographies. To do this, we looked at the features of a biography. We found that they need dates, facts, important information about the person and adverbs of time. After, we used a biography to collect information.

In Maths, we looked at an easier strategies to take away from whole thousands (e.g 8000 - 4312). This was called efficient subtraction. This meant that we could subtract one from the thousands column (e.g. 8000 to 7999) and then we didn't have to do multiple exchanges. However, we had to remember to add the one back on at the end! After this, we looked at how we could estimate to check our answers by rounding. This helped us to see if our calculation was accurate or not. We also looked at using the inverse to check our calculations. We knew that if we had done subtraction, we had to use addition and vice versa. 

In Science, we started our next topic of Dark and Light. This week, we looked at shadows. We made predictions about what causes a shadow. We found that it was where an object (which is opaque) blocks light and creates a shadow. We had a game where we tried to lose our shadow! We found that we cannot do this (even though Peter Pan can!). After, we discovered that our shadow is always in the direct opposite direction to the light source.

In Topic, we did some more writing! This time, we looked at the Viking invasion of Lindisfarne. We found out that the people who lived on the island thought that it was a result of them not pleasing God. We discovered that the Vikings came and raided the monastery on the island and killed most of the monks. If they weren't killed, the monks were taken to be slaves back in Scandinavia! For our writing, we had to imagine that we were newspaper reporters and had to recount the event. We came up with some very scary headlines!

W.C. 19.11.18

In English this week, we have been busy planning and writing our own instructions. We started by looking at alliteration. We had to imagine we were in a zoo and then creative alliterative descriptions with them. We next continued by recalling what happened in our story so far and how Hiccup had managed to catch Toothless. We then turned this into a plan ourselves by looking at the key features including adverbs of time, manner and place. To end the week, we have started to write our own instructions for how to catch a dragon!

In Maths, we have continued to explore column subtraction. We are now confident in using the correct columns and most of us can remember to take the smaller number away from the bigger number. We need to remember that we can't swap the numbers around now!  We have worked on using multiple exchanges in our column method and even can subtract from whole 100s! e.g. 700 - 471. We will look at how this can be made easier using efficient subtraction next week! 

In Science, we looked at how sound travels through different mediums: gas, liquid and solid. We had a balloon filled with air, one filled with water and a book. For each, we had to put them to our ears and see if we could hear the sounds through them. We found that sound travels best through gas (most of us guessed this because we can hear each other speaking through air!). We also discovered that you can hear sounds through solids and liquids but that it is usually trickier than through gases. See if you can try this at home!

In Topic, we have continued to explore the Vikings! This week we looked at the different gods that the Vikings worshipped. We found out that they didn't just believe in one god but lots! We then did some research on a few! Did you know that Thursday is named after the Viking god Thor? We found out lots of interesting facts - ask your child if they can remember any! 

W.C. 12.11.18

In English, we have continued to work on instructions. To start the week, we began to look at embedded clauses. We first looked at what was needed in a sentence with an embedded clause and then used this to write our own the next day. We knew that we needed a noun, a relative pronoun, commas and a subordinate clause sandwiched in between a main clause. For the next part of the week, we looked at what instructions needed for them to be good! We found that instructions needed imperative (bossy) verbs and adverbs of time, manner and place (so we knew where, when and how the action was done). On Friday, we got to put all of this into practice by improving some bad instructions!

In Maths, we have continued to look at column subtraction and addition. We began by looking more in depth at what happens when we need to use exchanges in addition including where to carry numbers if we have exchanged into the next column. We can do this with 1,2 and 3 exchanges! We have since moved onto column subtraction by looking at concrete representations and seeing how each column changes when we take something away from it! We have found out that we have to be careful - we must check that we are taking the smaller number away from the bigger number.

In Science, we have started to explore what sound is. We listened to different sounds and thought about what was happening for that sound to be made. We also watched a video and found that sounds need movement in order for them to happen. For example, if we are playing a guitar, the strings need to be plucked. We found that they make vibrations which create noises. We tested this out on different sounds and evaluated what was vibrating in order to make the sound.

In Topic, we had a very exciting lesson looking at Viking weapons! We learn about what Viking warriors would use if they were poor and what weapons a very rich warrior could use! We understood why Vikings engrave their weapons and what was their weapon of choice in different types of battles. I wonder what your favourite weapon was?!

The children have done lots of hard work this week including a reading and a SPaG test. I was impressed with their effort and their resilience to complete both! Keep this up for next week!

W.C. 5.11.18

Wow, it's another term already! This is going to be a really fun and exciting one for us in the run up to Christmas. We've started as we mean to go on - lots of hard work and fantastic determination!

In English, we have begun our new topic of instructions. This week we started by playing some card games. This was not as easy as it sounded! The instructions were not very clear and some were really tricky to understand so we had to think hard about how we could play the games. This led us to think about what instructions needed for them to be good and clear. We then did some feature work around this and understood that instructions needed to have: small and clear steps, numbered bullet points, adverbs of time, a clear title and much more! From this, we were able to practically make and then write instructions on how to make the perfect cup of tea (don't worry, we used cold water!). It's been a fun, practical week in English but I've still been so impressed with the children's output!

In Maths, we have started our next topic of Addition and Subtraction. We began, as always, with a pre-test to assess what the children already knew. Next, we combined our understanding of place value with addition and subtraction by looking at how we can mentally calculate sums without needing to use a formal method by just looking at the columns. However, we soon realised that this would become tricky when we had numbers that involved exchanging so we moved onto using column method. We will be doing this slowly so that the children really get to grips with the concepts of exchanging into different columns.

In Topic, we have spent some time exploring the transition from Anglo-Saxon to Vikings. We explored where they came from and the reasons they moved to Britain. We found out that some of them were vicious warriors but that this wasn't true for EVERY viking; some were merchants who made jewellery and sold items. To become more aware of Viking life, we looked at their alphabet and how they wrote names. This was a bit different from how we write as their alphabet had less letters than ours! We then copied their practices by sculpting our names onto clay which were made into necklaces!

As well as this, we did some R.E. in Topic this week. We are currently learning about Islam and so we learnt about a very important figure to Muslims - the Prophet Mohammed. We learnt all about his life and why he became a messenger for Allah. We found that he wasn't happy with the greed and treatment of people in Mecca so went to think about how he could change this. While he was away, he was visited by the Angel Gabriel who told him all about the message of God. He then was able to unite the tribes in Medina and Mecca to create the religion on Islam.

Reminder: PE is on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Please remember to bring in your P.E. kits!

W.C. 15.10.18

It's the end of term one for us! We've been extremely busy this week working hard to finish off all of our work.

In English, we have completed our second Big Write! We have been able to use all the key features in our writing to make sure that our work is interesting but also factual! I was really impressed with how the children kept up their determination throughout the whole week. They have produced some excellent non-chronological reports all about dragons! Do you think they're real or not?!

In Maths, we have finished off our topic of Place Value by recapping rounding to the nearest 10 and nearest 100 and then taking our post tests. All of the children have made great progress and are showing that they understand the concepts well. Great job!

In our Topic work, we have finished our ICT project! This week we were able to think about how to get our dragons to fly across the screen, make sounds and we even experimented with different pens. We could get our sprites to draw different shapes by changing the pen size, colours and correctly scripting to make them move in certain directions. 

Have a well earned rest before the next term! This will be a busy but fun one, so keep up the hard work and determination!

W.C. 8.10.18

In English this week we have continued to explore non-chronological reports. We have been able to sort between facts and opinions and even understand some sentences that include both! We also did some work on expanded noun phrases to make sure our reports are both factual but interesting to read! For the last part of the week, we were busy researching and planning our reports for our next Big Write next week! We will be explaining all about dragons including: what they eat, what they look like, where they live and if they are real!

In Maths, we have been busy exploring sequences and number lines. We began by looking at placing numbers on different number lines with different starts and end points by using our place value knowledge! Some of us found this trickier than others, but that didn't stop us from working hard! We next looked at sequences using a range of representations and even started looking at some that count in 6,7 and 9s! This was great practice for our times tables too! To end the week, we used all of this knowledge to read and interpret a range of scales by estimating where numbers should go and explaining how we know.

For Topic this week we did some work on Scratch! Using the dragons that we designed at the very start of term in English, we used our skills to make them interactive on the program! We worked hard to experiment with pen colours, different shapes and brush sizes to draw our design. Most of us were even able to create backgrounds too. Some of us started to experiment with motion and sound too, which we will continue to carry on next week!

Also this week, we were very lucky to be able to learn about First Aid. In small groups, we learnt all about DR ABC and CPR and how we could safely do it to help people who needed it. We also learnt how to give help to someone who was choking and what to do if someone has broken a bone!

W.C. 1.10.18

In English, we have started to explore non-chronological reports! First, we started by looking at the features we will find in a report including: facts, subheadings and captions. We next looked at why subheadings are important and how we could organise information under them. We also looked at finding key points in a text and summarising them to make it easy for us to located information. For the last part of the week, we looked at subordinate clauses in complex sentences - most of us can identify them and even use them in sentences.

In Maths, we have continued to work on place value. This week we have worked so hard to understand Roman numerals up to 100. We first used practical equipment to physically make the numbers and learn the rules which included: having no more than 3 of the same symbol in a row, that there was no 0 in their number system and that we have to use addition and subtraction! By the end of the week, we have been able to read and write Roman numerals to 100 (some of us to 1000!) and could use them in calculations too!

In Science, we have finished our topic of electricity. We finished off by looking at switches and the role that they play in circuits. We found out that even if a switch is in the circuit and its off, it doesn't mean the circuit is incomplete! We experimented with push switches, slide switches and selector switches.

In Topic, we have explored what village life was like as an Anglo-Saxon! We looked at the different roles that people played in the village to make sure it all worked together. We found out that boys and girls did different jobs but that they all got to play together with games that they made. We next created diary entries from the perspective of either a boy or a girl and what would have happened in their day!

W.C. 24.9.18

In English this week, the children have worked really hard to put all they have learnt in the past 3 weeks into their work. I have been really pleased with how much the children have retained and remembered to included. They have made sure to use lots of description including adjectives and fronted adverbials to make their story about Hiccup finding a new dragon! We were also able to include speech correctly including new speaker new line!

In Maths, we have continued to work really hard on rounding. We have been able to use number lines to see which end our number is nearer and rounding from there. We have used this for rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000! It can be tricky sometimes to remember which column to check so try to remember:

to round to the tens, we look at the ones column

to round to the nearest hundred, we look at the tens column,

to round to the nearest thousand we look at the hundreds column.

Can you round 4518 to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000?

This week has also seen us take part in lots of fun activities! We had our Harvest Festival on Monday where we were able to show off our fantastic poem that we created and also the art work that we made using tissue paper to create a stained glass effect. On Thursday, we were extremely lucky to be joined by Zulu Nation! We learnt all about their culture including some dances they do and songs that they sing. It was so much fun to be a part of and we really hope they come back soon. It was lovely to be able to share it with parents who came to see too!

W.C. 17.9.18

This week has continued to show the children's determination to impress!

In English, we have done some work in preparation for our big write next week! We have comprehended more of the story, learning that Hiccup really isn't happy with his dragon Toothless! We have also done some work on using fronted adverbials correctly with their commas! These help to tell us how, when or where something is done and can make our sentences really impressive! We also tried to improve Professor Yobbish's instructions on 'How to Train a Dragon' because his only instruction was to yell at it!

In Maths, we have worked hard to count in 1000s using a range of representations - some of us even went into the ten thousands too! We also did some work counting 25s which we will revisit next week. On Wednesday, we used all of the place value knowledge that we had to find 1,000 more or less than a 4 digit number and explain which columns change. To end the week, we have started to look back at rounding to the nearest 10! Next week we will be pushing ourselves to round to the nearest 100 and 1000 too!

In Science, we undertook an investigation to find out which materials were conductors of electricity. We learnt that a conductor was a material that allowed the electricity to flow through it and continue to have a complete circuit. We also found out that insulators were materials that blocked the electricity giving us a incomplete circuit. We made our own predictions and used our results to get the conclusion that metals were conductors and materials like plastic were not.

For Topic, we have worked hard to get into the Harvest Festival spirit. We learnt that Harvest Festival is where thanks is given for the food that is grown in our country. We looked at Scarecrows and how important they are to protect crops from those pesky birds! To celebrate them, we wrote acrostic poems and then created 'stained glass' effect vegetables using tissue paper. We can't wait to present this on Monday!

Reminder: Photos will take place on Monday and our Harvest Festival takes place at 2pm!

W.C. 10.9.18

Another jam packed week for us in Year Four!

In English, we have been continuing to read How to Train your Dragon. This week we have looked at direct speech. We know that it is the conversation between characters or people. We have understood how to punctuate direct speech correctly by using inverted commas, a new line for each new speaker and not forgetting different words for said! We have also written a setting description about the Isle of Berk. This wasn't as easy as it sounds as we had to include similes, adjectives AND fronted adverbials!

In Maths, we have ordered and compared four digit numbers by looking at different representations. We were able to use the terms less than and greater than as well as the symbols <, > and = to explain the relationships between the two numbers. We have also been working hard on counting backwards through zero and learning about negative numbers. We know that -9 is much colder than -3 because it is further away from 0. Most of us were able to use own knowledge to spot mistakes in sequences too!

In Science, we created our own working circuits. Each group was first given some wires, a battery/cell and a lightbulb in a holder and were given the task of making it work. They showed some great problem solving to get it to work! As the lesson went on, they were given more equipment including: motors, buzzers and switches. Finally, they drew the working circuits that they had created making sure to use the scientific symbols.

In Topic, we did some work on what chronology and chronological order is. We knew that this meant ordering dates and events in the correct order of when they happened starting with the earliest date to the most recent. We were able to place key information about Invaders and Settlers in the correct places to describe the events of the Anglo-Saxons and Viking eras!

W.C. 3.9.18

Welcome back! I hope you've all had a relaxing and fun summer!

This week we have worked extra hard to get back into routine and crack straight on with our work!

In English, we started off with a book peek - we had to use the clues from the book's cover to work out what it might be about! We were only allowed to see parts of the cover at a time to create predictions. The children had some really interesting ideas! On Tuesday, we found out that our novel is 'How to Train your Dragon' by Cressida Cowell and completed some comprehension on it. I was impressed with the children's understanding of the text. Also this week, we practiced sequencing the chapters we had read using different sentences from the book and putting them into the correct order. We also designed our very own dragons and wrote descriptions based on them!

In Maths, we have started our new topic of Place Value. We first completed a pre-test to see what the children already knew and then began by looking at how we can represent and make numbers by using base ten and place value counters. Next, we looked at how we could simply partition numbers by looking at the thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. To end the week, we did some practical work on partitioning numbers in different ways by looking at how the numbers could be made using only tens and ones, hundreds and ones or thousands and ones.

In Science, we began our topic of Electricity. We first spoke about what electricity is and where it comes from. We discussed the dangers of electricity and how we must use it responsibly. We also spoke about and sorted appliances that use mains electricity (plugged and wired in) and those that use batteries. The children were able to explain which they thought was better and why.

In Topic we are learning about Invaders and Settlers for the next two terms. This term we are exploring the Anglo-Saxons. For the first lesson, the children told me what they already knew about the Anglo-Saxons including the boats, shields and weapons they used. From this, they designed their own front covers to go in their topic books! After, we explored where the Angles, Saxons and Jutes (the Anglo-Saxon tribes) came from and where they settled in England by using maps. 

As part of D&T/Art, we are linking to our topic and exploring the art used by Norse tribes. This week, we began to look at the ways Anglo-Saxons made clothes by weaving. We combined this with our knowledge of Anglo-Saxon circular shields and have started to weave our own!

Well done for a great first week back, Year Four. Keep it up!

Reminders:

• We have PE on a Tuesday and Wednesday.
• Children need to read 3 times a week.
• Homework will be given out on a Monday and returned by Friday.