Below you will find the termly curriculum bulletins. These documents give you all the information about what your child will be learning at school for each term. 

Spring term

This week so far: Friday 20th December 2024

Our value for this term:

Our value for this term is compassion.

Reminders for January 2025:

• Can you please check your children’s pencil cases and restock if needed.
• School start again on Tuesday 7th January with our immersion day. Please be assured that there is no need for the costumes to be in any way expensive. School uniforms and clothes that the children already have can be worn for the day with some simple adaptions.

Year 4 will be learning all about the Victorians. We would love for the children to come to school dressed as a child from the Victorian era. This could include a t-shirt, waistcoat, school trousers (old ones with a hole if you have them), and the children could even make themselves a chimney sweep brush. Girls could wear a long skirt, white apron and mop hat.

This Week: The children participated in a variety of activities based on the Nativity story. Each teacher portrayed a different character from the Nativity. The children had the opportunity to make origami stars and angels as part of their sessions about the angel and the wise men. They also completed an obstacle course to represent the journey the donkey took. With the innkeeper, the children worked together to build a shelter.

In addition to these activities, the children also had time to visit the church for our annual Christmas service with Reverend Dave, as well as enjoy the ever-popular Christmas shopping day!

On Thursday, we were all in the Christmas spirit, with the children dressed in their festive jumpers, and enjoying our Christmas lunch and parties.

I would like to wish all of the children and parents in Year 4 a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you so much for your gifts to both myself and Miss Bindoff.

See you again in 2025!

SPRING TERM

This week so far: Friday 13th December 2024

Our value for this term:

Our value for this term is compassion.

Reminders for next week:

• Lots of activities are planned based on the Nativity story for the children.
• Visiting St Mary’s church Monday afternoon for our Christmas service. Unfortunately, this is only for the children.
• Thursday: Wear your most festive Christmas Jumper for your Christmas lunch and class party.
• Friday: School finish at 1pm for all. No Fun Friday or After School Care available.

This Week:

English: This week, we finished writing our persuasive letters to the witch and published them. The children did an excellent job, and I'm sure the witch will return the happy endings very soon. The children also completed our Reading assessment for the term.

 Maths: This week, the children completed their math assessments for the term. They took both an arithmetic test and a reasoning test. All results, along with ways to support your child, will be discussed during Parent’s Evening in January.

Science: We've finished our topic on sound this week. This week we had to recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.  We’ve planned and carried out an investigation together and discussed what outside factors can influence the results.

PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on netball and gymnastics.

 Times tables: Every Friday, the children take a timed mixed times tables test, with 10 seconds to answer each question. I’ve now added the 6- and 9-times tables. Your support in encouraging your child to practice their times tables daily for at least 5 minutes on Times Tables Rock Stars would be greatly appreciated. Children receive dojo points in class as a reward for practising online.

From January, the children will also need to work on their 7s.

This Week 2nd December

English: This week, we began writing our persuasive letters to the witch, attempting to persuade her to return the happy endings. The children have worked hard to include the necessary features we discussed, such as fronted adverbials, rhetorical questions, persuasive language, and organising their work into paragraphs.

 Maths: This week, we continued our multiplication and division topic, focusing on the 11s and 12s tables. The children became more confident with the 11s table, and we explored different strategies to support their learning of the 12s table. Next week, we will complete both the end-of-unit assessment and the end-of-term assessments. I would like to emphasise once again how important it is for the children to know their times tables with speed and accuracy. This skill will also be incredibly beneficial when they tackle fraction work in the future.

 Computing: This week, the children were introduced to programming using a program called Micro:bit – MakeCode. We began by writing a procedure to control the movement of arrows in different directions. Next, we wrote a procedure that displayed a small figure performing dance moves. The children then had the opportunity to connect it to the Microbit, and the excitement when it lit up and carried out the instructions was priceless. Having learned about Mount Vesuvius erupting, our next challenge was to recreate a volcanic eruption using the LEDs on the BBC micro:bit. The children all excelled in this challenge.

PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on netball and gymnastics.

Times tables: Every Friday, the children take a timed mixed times tables test, with 10 seconds to answer each question. I’ve now added the 6- and 9-times tables. Your support in encouraging your child to practice their times tables daily for at least 5 minutes on Times Tables Rock Stars would be greatly appreciated. Children receive dojo points in class as a reward for practising online.

This Week: 25th November

English – We have started our new writing unit on persuasive letter writing. The letter will be based on the class text, The Lost Happy Endings, in which the witch steals all the happy endings from the stories children enjoy reading at night. Our task is to write a persuasive letter to the witch, explaining why she should return the happy endings and what this is doing to the children. This week, we’ve focused on analysing an example of a persuasive letter and discussing rhetorical questions that could be included. The children have also been introduced to persuasive phrases that can be used as sentence starters. I’m really looking forward to reading their letters next week when they have the opportunity to apply the features we’ve worked on this week.

Maths –This week, we continued our multiplication and division topic, focusing on the 9s and 7s. The 7 times table is trickier, while there is an easier method for learning the 9s. The children can use their fingers to work out the 9s up to 10 x 9—ask them to show you this method. This technique has given many of them more confidence and has allowed them to include the 9 times table in our times table test as well.

 Art- This week, we continued using charcoal in our artwork, and the children have created their final pictures of Mount Vesuvius erupting. They’ve done a fantastic job, and it was wonderful to see how they applied the different techniques we’ve focused on previously. Photos of the artwork can be viewed in the gallery.

Science: We've continued our topic on sound this week. The children learned that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear. They drew a simple diagram showing how vibrations are created when a drum is struck, causing the air particles it touches to vibrate. This creates a sound wave that moves from the sound source (the drum) to the ear. The children were then tasked with investigating whether sound vibrations travel the same way through all solids. Before conducting our experiment, we discussed sound conductors and sound insulators.

 PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on netball and gymnastics.

Times tables: Every Friday, the children take a timed mixed times tables test, with 10 seconds to answer each question. I’ve now added the 6- and 9-times tables. Your support in encouraging your child to practice their times tables daily for at least 5 minutes on Times Tables Rock Stars would be greatly appreciated. Children receive dojo points in class as a reward for practising online.

This week, we visited church on Wednesday to meet Rev. Dave. He had a conversation with us about Jesus' baptism and the significance of baptism. Photos of our visit can be found in the gallery.

English – This week, we wrote our own twisted endings for a well-known fairy tale. The children did a fantastic job, with many challenging themselves to include a variety of Year 3 and 4 spelling words. Lots of Dojos were awarded for their effort. They also did an excellent job incorporating speech to move the story forward and using speech marks correctly. Additionally, they are mastering the skill of making their writing more engaging for the reader by including expanded noun phrases.

Maths – This week, we began by recapping our new knowledge of finding the area and completed our topic assessment. The children did really well. At this stage, they only need to be able to count the squares of a given shape to determine the area. We also briefly discussed how their knowledge of times tables could be applied to some examples.

We then introduced our new topic for the rest of the half term—Multiplication and Division. In this unit, we will focus heavily on times tables, with particular emphasis on the 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 12 times tables. Where possible, I will share tips to make remembering these times tables easier.

 Art- This week, we continued using charcoal for our artwork. We experimented with different techniques and were able to draw a sphere, including its shadow. The children then examined a painting of Mount Vesuvius erupting and selected a part of the painting to draw, using charcoal pencils in their sketchbooks. Next week, the children will create their own charcoal drawings inspired by the painting.

 PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on netball and gymnastics.

 Times tables-Every Friday, the children take a timed mixed times tables test, with 10 seconds to answer each question. I’ve now added the 6 times tables. Your support in encouraging your child to practice their times tables daily for at least 5 minutes on Times Tables Rock Stars would be greatly appreciated. Children receive dojo points in class as a reward for practising online.

This week : WC 18th November

 I have made an interesting discovery this week. There are a large number of children who do not know the order of the months of the year. It would be greatly appreciated if you could help your child learn them. Here is a link to a song to help:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5enDRrWyXaw    

If possible – can children please bring in an old t-shirt that they can use for art to protect their clothes.

English – This week, we explored well-known fairy tales, identifying the heroes and villains in each story. We focused on writing dialogue, covering all the essential elements: speech marks, commas, and capital letters. The children did an excellent job writing paragraphs that included dialogue between the two characters, along with fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases. We ended the week with the children planning a twisted ending for their fairy tales, and I’m very much looking forward to reading their stories next week.

Maths – This week, we started our new topic: Area. The children learned that area refers to the space inside a shape. They practiced finding the area of various shapes by counting squares and were then challenged to calculate the area of shapes that included half squares. The children used the symbols <, >, and = to compare the areas of different shapes before moving on to drawing their own shapes with a specified area.

Art- This week, we started our new topic: using charcoal to create drawings. We began by looking at two artists known for their charcoal work—Edgar Degas and Laura McKendry. The children compared their styles and discussed which artist's work they preferred and why. Then, we had a hands-on session where the children explored different techniques for working with charcoal. They really enjoyed this activity, especially since we don’t often use charcoal in our lessons.

Science – We started our new unit last week – Sound. This week, we discussed the difference between pitch (how high or low a sound is) and volume (how loud a sound is). The children explored different instruments and made observations about what might affect the pitch of a sound. They were given the following question: How do you think the length of an object affects the pitch of the sound? The children then used straws to create their own pan flutes and used a sound meter to measure the pitch of the sounds they produced.

PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on netball and gymnastics.

 Times tables-Every Friday, the children take a timed mixed times tables test, with 10 seconds to answer each question. We’ve now added the 6 times tables as well. Your support in encouraging your child to practice their times tables daily for at least 5 minutes on Times Tables Rock Stars would be greatly appreciated. Children receive dojo points in class as a reward for practising online.

This week: WC 11th November

RE and Art day- On Monday, we focused on the creation story from Genesis 1. After sharing the story, we explained that Year 4 would be responsible for creating artwork for Day 5—the day God made the sea and sky animals. All the children began by painting paper using various techniques. While their painted paper dried in preparation for the afternoon, they had the opportunity to do some Bible journaling based on the creation story. In the afternoon, the children used their painted paper to create a collaborative collage. Photo of our work in the gallery. 

English – This week, we began a new writing unit inspired by the book The Lost Happy Endings. To start, the children were challenged to guess the fairy tale by reading only its ending. Then, using the book's cover and a few illustrations, they made predictions about the story. After reading the entire story, they worked on a synonym activity to help them craft a character poem focused on the book’s main character.

 Maths – We’ve finished the unit Addition and Subtraction.  As it was half term last week, we made sure to revisit the addition and subtraction methods this week, ready for our end of unit assessment next week.   The children were also introduced to estimating an answer by using their rounding to the nearest 100 or 1000 strategies.

 PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on netball and gymnastics.

Times tables

Every Friday, the children take a timed mixed times tables test, with 10 seconds to answer each question. We’ve now added the 6 times tables as well. Your support in encouraging your child to practice their times tables daily for at least 5 minutes on Times Tables Rock Stars would be greatly appreciated. Children receive dojo points in class as a reward for practising online.

This week: WC 21st October

English – The children created fantastic leaflets about animals of their choice. Thank you to all the parents who joined us this morning to view the children's work and learn interesting facts about various animals. The children truly enjoyed the experience, and it was wonderful to give them a purpose and audience for their writing.

 Maths – We’ve continued with the unit Addition and Subtraction.  A lot of time was spent on subtraction. Children subtract up to 4-digit numbers with more than one exchange, using the written method of column subtraction. Children performed subtractions involving two separate exchanges (for example, from the thousands and from the tens) as well as those with two-part exchanges (for example, from the thousands down to the tens if there are no hundreds in the first number).

Music: This week, we explored the work of film composer Hans Zimmer, which inspired the children to create their own volcano soundscapes. They used a variety of instruments and body percussion. You can find videos linking to the children's work in the gallery.

 PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on football and tag rugby skill.

Times tables

To start, all the children will focus on the following tables: 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 11. Every Friday, the children will have a timed times tables mix test. They will get 10 seconds to answer the question.

After half term, we will add the 6 times tables too.

WB 21st October

This week:

English - This week in English, the children have completed their informational leaflets about an animal of their choice. They have also spent time editing to ensure their writing is at its best for you to view next week when you are invited to come and see their work and listen to some of their presentations.

You are welcome to visit our class next Friday morning (25th October) at 9:30am to look at your child's leaflet and listen to some children sharing their work with the whole class.

 Maths – This week we’ve started our new maths unit – Addition and Subtraction.  We’ve focused on adding and subtracting 1s, 10s and 100s to/from any 3 and 4-digit number. The children explored the effect of either adding or subtracting a multiple of 1, 10, 100 or 1,000 by discussing which columns always, sometimes and never change. For example, when adding a multiple of 100, the ones and tens never change, the hundreds

always change and the thousands sometimes change, depending on the need to make an exchange.

Science – We have continued with our topic – Rocks and Soil. This week the children learnt about the cross section of the earth and that there are different layers of earth called topsoil, subsoil, rocky soil and bedrock.

 Design and technology- This was definitely the highlight of the week. All the children did a fantastic job creating a Mediterranean salad of their choice. They could choose between fusilli pasta, penne pasta or couscous as their cooked element. Then, they had to incorporate three different preparation skills, such as peeling, grating, snipping or chopping. Next, they selected ingredients that would allow them to demonstrate these skills, with options including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, sweet corn, basil and chives. Photos of their efforts will be in the gallery. Finally, they evaluated their own salads.

PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on football and tag rugby skill.

Times tables

To start, all the children will focus on the following tables: 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 11. Every Friday, the children will have a timed times tables mix test. They will get 10 seconds to answer the question.

WB 14th October

This week:

English - This week in English, the children have started writing their informational leaflets about an animal of their choice. Thank you for supporting your children with their research last weekend—it has been incredibly helpful. Each day, we focused on a different subheading for our leaflets, ensuring that our writing is clear and contains sufficient detail for each section.

During the last week of this half term, we would like to invite you to visit the class to see your child's work and listen to some of the children present their work. A confirmed date will be shared soon.

 Maths – This week was our final week of place value. We finished off the topic focusing on rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000.  Children learnt to how to choose the correct column to help them with their rounding. Also ask your child about the ‘balloon’ method we did in class to help us decide if the number needs to round up or down. The children also completed their end of unit assessment.

Next week we will start with our addition and subtraction unit, firstly focusing on adding two four-digit numbers.

Science – We have continued with our topic – Rocks and Soil. This week the children planned and carried out an experiment to find out which type of soil they thought drained the quickest.

 Design and technology- At the beginning of the week, we learned that food is either grown (such as tomatoes, wheat, and potatoes), reared (such as pigs, chickens, and cattle), or caught (such as fish). The children particularly enjoyed Wednesday’s lesson, where they sampled three different Mediterranean salads. The Mozzarella, Tomato, and Basil pasta salad was a firm favourite in the class. Most of the children said they wouldn’t change a thing about the salad and even asked if they could have more!

They also had the opportunity to practice various preparation skills, including peeling, grating, chopping, and snipping. Some children returned to class eager to share how much they enjoyed the experience. Perhaps it’s time to let them lend a hand in the kitchen!

PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on football and tag rugby skill.

Times tables

To start, all the children will focus on the following tables: 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 11. Every Friday, the children will have a timed times tables mix test. They will get 10 seconds to answer the question.

All children have different learning styles. Some are very good at skip counting for example 2,4 6, 8…. Other children might need it more visually, so display the times tables around the house. Finally, some children might benefit from learning it like a song.  We will try this in class, but you can do this at home too.

3 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG8hRwH3JJM

4 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMdE6ghY4CE

Don’t forget, all the children have login details for Times Tables Rockstars too. Mrs Denham sets a different tournament for the school each week. If you have not looked yet, ask your child to show you.

WC 7th October

This week:

English - This week in English, we began working on our new writing topic—an informational text about an animal of our choice. I visited the library to gather as many books as possible, and some of the children showed great initiative by conducting their own research at home or bringing in books about their chosen animals. To further support their learning, it would be extremely beneficial if they could continue researching at home this weekend. This will help them write confidently and knowledgeably about their selected animals. They are also welcome to bring in pictures to accompany their work.

Maths - This week in maths we are still focusing on place value.  Children had to order a set of numbers up to 10,0 from the smallest to the greatest and the greatest to the smallest. They also used language such as “ascending” and “descending” when putting the numbers in order. Children were given examples where the same digit is used in the thousands or the hundreds column so that they needed to look at the other digits to determine the value. They also include zero in different places to check understanding of placeholders.

Children build on their knowledge of Roman numerals from 1 to 12 and learnt that L represents 50 and C represents 100. Several children were already familiar with the idea that, for example, 4 is written as IV rather than IIII, and they applied the same concept to write 40 as XL and 90 as XC.

Science – We have continued with our topic – Rocks and Soil. This week we had a look at different soil samples (clay, peat, sandy and chalky) and they had to describe that the soil felt like and what it smelt like; test if the soil would go through a sieve and finally if they could roll it into a sausage. They were then given the question, ‘Which type of soil do they think will drain the quickest?’

 Geography – This week we looked at the location of earthquake hotspots and completed a case study of an earthquake event that happened in 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand. We looked at a news report from that time and the children then had to describe some of the effects that the earthquake had on the city of Christchurch.​ We continued discussing the impact an earthquake can have on the people and the environment.

PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on football and tag rugby skill.

Pencil cases:  Just a little reminder that all children need their own pencil cases. Here is a little reminder what needs to be in their pencil cases.

Times tables

To start, all the children will focus on the following tables: 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 11. Every Friday, the children will have a timed times tables mix test. They will get 10 seconds to answer the question.

All children have different learning styles. Some are very good at skip counting for example 2,4 6, 8…. Other children might need it more visually, so display the times tables around the house. Finally, some children might benefit from learning it like a song.  We will try this in class, but you can do this at home too.

3 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG8hRwH3JJM

4 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMdE6ghY4CE

We had great success with our times tables again today! Almost every child showed improvement  again from last week. Thank you for supporting your children—they were glowing with pride when they realized how much progress they’ve made in just one week. Keep practicing, and soon we’ll be ready to tackle another set of times tables.

WC 30th September

This week:

English - This week in English, the children used the plans they created last week to write a letter to the Earth or the world, talking about their favourite place in our local area, how they’ve noticed changes in the area, and what they will do about it. The children did a tremendous job and wrote truly lovely letters. They even took on my challenge to include personification when describing their favourite place, and I have to say I was blown away by some of their sentences.

Maths - This week in maths we are still focusing on place value. Children had to find 1, 10 and 100 more or less than a 4-digit number. I’ve tried to make the lesson hands-on for the children as it can be a very difficult concept to understand, especially when multiples of 10, 100 and 1000 are crossed. The children were given the opportunity to use base 100, 10 and one’s counters to help them with their questions. We then moved on to a slightly more challenging task. The children had to label, identify and find missing values on blank or partially completed number lines up to 10 000.

Here are a few examples. You will notice, the children had to find a number halfway between two intervals too. As a tip, if the children struggle to find the values that the intervals will go up in, then they can complete a bit of trial and error. The jumps will normally be in 10s, 50s, 100s, 200s, 500s or 1000s.

 Science– We have continued with our topic – Rocks and Soil. This week we’ve learnt about fossils. We’ve looked at a video detailing how fossils are made and was then tasked to create a flow chart to show the different steps. Our challenge question at the end was: ‘Is it possible that fossils could be found within igneous rocks?’ Remember igneous rocks are rocks formed when molten (melted) rock or magma is cooled.

Lots of the children really enjoyed learning about Pompeii. One child specifically told me earlier in the week that it was her favourite topic! Unfortunately, we have now finished our history topic and are now moving on to Geography. (We won’t forget Pompeii too soon, as we will be learning about volcanoes.)

Geography – This week, we started learning more about how volcanoes are formed and the fact that there are different types of volcanoes. Some are ‘active’ and some are ‘dormant.’ Active volcanoes have erupted in the last 10,000 years, but dormant volcanoes haven’t, and they are not expected to ever erupt again. The children also drew different shapes of volcanoes, including composite, shield, and cinder cone volcanoes. Finally, we looked at the advantages and disadvantages of living near a volcano.

 PE Kit: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every week we have two PE lessons. This half term we are focussing on football and tag rugby skill.

Reminder: On Monday, 30th September, we will be going to St Mary’s Church in White Waltham for a Harvest service. It would be great if your child could bring along an item for the Harvest service. All donations will be taken to the church, where they will then be delivered to Foodshare in town. Foodshare would particularly like donations of biscuits, cooking sauces, tinned macaroni cheese or ravioli, fruit juice or squash, children’s cereals and any washing up/cleaning/laundry products.

 Times tables

To start, all the children will focus on the following tables: 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 11. Every Friday, the children will have a timed times tables mix test. They will get 10 seconds to answer the question.

We had great success with our times tables today! Almost every child showed improvement from last week. Thank you for supporting your children—they were glowing with pride when they realized how much progress they’ve made in just one week. Keep practicing, and soon we’ll be ready to tackle another set of times tables!

All children have different learning styles. Some are very good at skip counting for example 2,4 6, 8…. Other children might need it more visually, so display the times tables around the house. Finally, some children might benefit from learning it like a song.  We will try this in class, but you can do this at home too.

3 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG8hRwH3JJM

4 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMdE6ghY4CE

We have sung the 3 times tables song a few times this week. Have they requested it at home yet? Have you maybe found another song that we can introduce to the class to help the children?

WC 23.09.24

This week:

English - This week in English we have used our writer’s knowledge that we gained last week to write a diary entry about the environment around us. We have included wonderful descriptions and identified how we feel when our world and environment is not treated the way it should be. We have finished the week planning our own letters about a part in in our local environment.

Maths - This week in maths we continued deepening our understanding of place value. Building on previous steps where children explored numbers up to 1,000, they are now exploring numbers beyond 1,000 up to 10 000. The initial focus was counting in 1,000s. forwards and backwards from any given multiple of 1,000. They were then challenged to use different place value charts to identify any number up to 10 000.

It would be a great help if you can write down numbers up to 10 000 and ask your child to read it out but also to try and write it in words.

Science – We have continued with our topic – Rocks and Soil. This week we compared and grouped together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties. The children were challenged to find their type of rock by using the questions in the dichotomous key.  Ask your child if they can explain what sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks are.

 History – At the beginning of the week, we had a very enjoyable trip to the Verulamium Museum. The children all really enjoyed the market workshop. If they have not told you about it yet, ask them. Some of them especially mentioned the coins fascinated them.

This week in school, we focused on the influence the Romans had on Britain. The children found out that many aspects of Roman life – including those found in Pompeii can still be found in Britain today. ​ For example, aqueducts, Roman baths, roads, cats’ eyes​.

 Times tables

To start, all the children will focus on the following tables: 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 11. Every Friday, the children will have a timed times tables mix test. They will get 10 seconds to answer the question.

All children have different learning styles. Some are very good at skip counting for example 2,4 6, 8…. Other children might need it more visually, so display the times tables around the house. Finally, some children might benefit from learning it like a song.  We will try this in class, but you can do this at home too.

3 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG8hRwH3JJM

4 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMdE6ghY4CE

We have sung the 3 times tables song a few times this week. Have they requested it at home yet?

PE Kit Reminder: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

WC 16.09.24

This week:

English -  This week in English we have been immersing ourselves in our new vehicle text ‘Dear Earth’ which is a letter in story form. Students made a prediction based on some clues and an image from the text. We then wrote ‘spine poems’ about a forest. The children came up with fantastic ideas for our poems.

Maths - This week in maths we spent some time getting accustomed to the new maths platform Magma Maths. We have also started our new topic place value where we have looked at numbers up to 1000 and used our knowledge of place value to partition our numbers into hundreds, tens and ones. The children all did really well, getting to grips with the new way we are completing our maths work.

Science – We’ve started our new topic – Rocks and Soil today. The children had the opportunity to handle different stones, for example, limestone, slate, granite, marble and chalk. We had to describe the different stones and then carried out 3 tests. We tested the rocks' hardness, permeability and acidity.

History – We continued learning more about Pompeii. We’ve looked at pictures to find out about what life was like in a Roman town at this time. We are looking forward to our trip on Monday to the Verulamium museum in St Albans.

RE - In RE our big question this half term is ‘Why do people pray?  We’ve had a discussion, and the children explained what they think prayer is and where and when we can pray. They all agreed that it is a conversation with God and that it can take place any time of the day, and it does not matter where you are. They then identified who they think loves them and drew beautiful pictures for our RE book. Next time we will discuss ‘what is the difference between prayer and magic.’

Times tables

To start, all the children will focus on the following tables: 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 11. Every Friday, the children will have a timed times tables mix test. They will get 10 seconds to answer the question.

All children have different learning styles. Some are very good at skip counting for example 2,4 6, 8…. Other children might need it more visually, so display the times tables around the house. Finally, some children might benefit from learning it like a song.  We will try this in class, but you can do this at home too.

3 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG8hRwH3JJM

4 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMdE6ghY4CE

PE Kit Reminder: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

School trip to St Albans: Monday 16th September.  Can all children please be at school at 8 am for us to leave on the coach at 8:30 am.  We aim to be back at school for normal pick-up time.

Bonus!!

One of the children in our class completed her own research about volcanoes and produced a little booklet which is now displayed on our Pompeii board in class. You can have a look at her booklet in the gallery section.  

I would like to encourage other children to do the same. They can also make some thing. Let their imagination go and they can present their work in which ever way they would like. I would love to see it and share it with the class and Mrs Denham.

WC 02.09.24

Immersion week 

We had a fantastic two days in Year 4 this week. The children settled in quick, and they were all ready for the challenges of the day.

One of the highlights was our hands-on volcano experiment, where we used simple household items like lemon and baking soda to create a memorable learning experience. Witnessing the eruption and reactions was not only educational but also a moment of sheer delight for both the children and myself. You can see photos of our lemon volcanoes in the photo gallery.

I want to say thank you to you for your efforts in dressing up the children for the occasion. Your involvement undoubtedly added an extra element of excitement to the day and made it even more special for all involved.

As we look ahead to the coming week, I would like to provide a couple of reminders:

PE Kit Reminder: Please ensure that your child comes to school wearing their PE kit on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Parent Information Evening: A friendly reminder that our Parent Information Evening is scheduled for Thursday, 12th September, at 6 pm. We will start the evening in the classroom for a brief session before Mrs Denham provides valuable school information in the hall.