The theme of this week has been myths and legends! In English, we have been reading and learning about the Anglo-Saxon legend of Beowulf. The children have heard all about Grendel the monster and they've had chance to create their own monsters. They have practised their thesaurus skills to find some great vocabulary choices to enhance their descriptions and make them as exciting as possible.
This learning has linked in nicely with our history as we continue to discover more about the Anglo-Saxons, this week focussing on how their religion and beliefs changed over time. Next week, we'll discover how the Anglo-Saxons organised the country and created the heptarchy. In maths, we have now finished our unit of learning all about multiplication and division. We've covered all of the times tables in our lessons now, so children are able to practise these at home until they become fluent. Next week's learning will focus on length and perimeter. Our learning in science focused (excuse the pun) on how we see light. We learnt about all about the structure of the eye and discovered how glasses help people who are short and long sighted. This afternoon, we continued creating optical illusions. They've turned out brilliantly! Keep your eyes peeled in school for a new display featuring our artwork... It's been a chilly week! The snow was certainly exciting and we enjoyed playing in it at break and lunch on Wednesday.
In English this week, the children have researched their chosen inventors and written their 'Inventors Portfolio'. We have a mixture of people including Steve Jobs (Apple), Karl Benz (the first car) and Mary Anderson (invented windscreen wipers!) Maths has involved plenty of multiplication this week and we have learnt how to use the column method to multiply larger numbers. In Science, we learnt about reflection and refraction. Next week, we will discover how we see and learn about the different parts of the eye. We have discovered lots more about how the Anglo-Saxons lived... including where and how they went to the toilet! This was a particular highlight for some children. I have sent home a letter about the Year 4 Multiplication Check. This also includes the children's log in details for Times Tables Rockstars which is great resource for practising times tables at home. Children need to know their times tables up to 12x12 by the end of year 4 as they are essential for their future learning in Maths. Next week, we've got a great week lined up with our new unit of English focusing on the legend of Beowulf. This will lead into some lovely descriptive writing about monsters and settings. Have a look at our optical illusions art work below. The children worked hard on these and didn't give up despite it being a bit tricky! This week in year 4 we have been very busy! In English we have continued to look at inventors, most recently Alexander Graham Bell who created the telephone in 1876. We will continue to look at how to write an effective inventors portfolio next week, ensuring to use expanded noun phrases, fronted adverbials and recapping types of sentence structure.
In Maths, we have looked at multiplication and division by 10 and 100 using place value charts. We will continue this theme next week by multiplying by 2-digit and 1-digit numbers in which the children's times tables will be put to the test! We have also started our new science topic of 'Light', learning about what is light and where does it come from. This included undertaking an experiment to determine whether different materials were: Transparent, Translucent or Opaque. The photo shows that they are testing a whiteboard to see if any light can pass through it! This understanding will be crucial in next week's lesson when we look at reflection and refraction. The pupils have also explored what it means to be a part of a community in which they spoke about they are proud to be a part of a number of communities including, School, sports clubs and North Tawton. Next week we will be looking forward to finding out what life was like for the Anglo-Saxons and making 'Optical Illusions' in Art. It's been great to have all of the children back in class this week after the Christmas break. We also welcome back Miss Wallis and Mr Hunt who are with us again until the February half term.
Since we've been back, we've been busy making a start on our spring term topics. In English, we are looking at a book called 'How to Invent' and read a text all about Louis Braille. We will be using this text as a model to write our own 'Inventor's Portfolios'. In maths, we revisited factors and factor pairs to consolidate our learning here, and moved onto how to multiply a number by 10. Next week, we will look at multiplying by 100 and dividing by 10 and 100. We have started our new history topic of 'Anglo-Saxons and Scots'. In our first lesson, we learnt about how we know about the Anglo-Saxons considering the fact that not much was written down at the time. We discovered what artefacts are, and also had some great discussions about the reliability of evidence and what bias is. When I asked the children how future historians might find out about life in 2023, we realised our legacy might be online and through artefacts including phones and tablets! Next week, we will be starting our new science topic on 'Light' as well as looking at the meaning of community in our Life Skills lesson, plus much more. Today's pictures come from our Art lesson this afternoon where we used compasses to create some lovely geometric flower pictures. Here are some Christmas riddles written by the children this week! I'm small I come in many different colours You can put me anywhere in your house Answer: Elf I became popular in Germany People normally have me in their house in December I'm a big part of Christmas You put your presents under me Answer: Christmas tree I am in the Christmas dinner Most children hate me I am small I am green What am I? Answer: Brussel sprouts This week, we've enjoyed lots of festive activities including writing our Christmas riddles, some Christmas times tables and a Christmas quiz. We have missed the children who have been poorly and hope everyone is soon feeling better!
I'd like to wish a very Merry Christmas to all of you and I look forward to seeing all of the children again in the new year ready for a busy and exciting Spring term. We are starting each day here in Ash Class with a Christmas riddle advent calendar... Here is today's - see if you can guess what it is! Answer at the end of the blog.
I am usually hung on doors. Sometimes I can be a decoration. I am made from evergreens, twigs and flowers. I am a circular shape. Next week, when the Mog's Christmas Calamity stories are finished, we will be writing our own Christmas riddles in English so watch this space next week for some of the children's own riddles. We have completed 2 Maths assessments and 1 reading assessment this week. Well done to the children for taking these in their stride and giving the tests their all. We've carried on with our Multiplication and Division topic in Maths this week and have learnt all about factors and factor pairs. In PE, we braved the cold to work on our underarm throws and target practise on Tuesday. We've had 2 science lessons this week to finish off our learning about rocks. We learnt how rocks can change due to weathering and erosion and then we learnt all about the rock cycle - as illustrated in the poster below. On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to be visited by Father Christmas! He's a very busy man at this time of year so we are grateful to FONTS for organising this. All of the children were so pleased with their gifts - some lovely new books. We followed this with a brilliant Christmas dinner on Wednesday. Crackers were pulled, hats worn and brussels sprouts eaten! Thank you Mandy and Nicki for the amazing meal. We have lots more festive things to come including our carol concert later today, Christingle next week and much more... Have a great weekend everyone. P.S. Today's riddle answer is a wreath. The day of the Christmas fair is finally here! After 5 weeks of incredible hard work, the Christmas tree decorations are ready to sell! Well done to all of the children for their efforts, and special thanks to Miss Wallis and Mr Hunt for coordinating all of the sewing activities.
This week in Ash Class, we've been learning how to write speech into our stories. We will be using this skill next week when we write the story of Mog's Christmas Calamity. In Maths, we've been recapping everything that we've learnt about this term including place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division and area. We've had a push on Science this week and completed 2 lessons - the first of which was learning how metamorphic rocks are formed, and the second of which involved identifying a variety of rocks. This lesson was really hands on and the children enjoyed putting their learning into practise. Today, we've spent the afternoon creating some beautiful Christmas-themed stained glass windows which I hope will brighten your windows at home! Next week is looking like a busy one. Don't forget Christmas jumper day and dinner on Wednesday. The highlight of this week was our walk to the river! Despite the rain, everyone really enjoyed themselves. It was great to be able to see some of the things we'd been learning about in our lessons such as meanders, floodplains and how humans have used the areas around rivers. The adults took some speed measurements of the Taw itself and the small tributary, which the children then compared back in the classroom. They drew some excellent field sketches and engaged in some great discussion about what should happen to the former mill. Do have a look at the photo of our River Taw display!
Alongside this, we have started completing our end of unit task in Geography, which is a double page spread answering some key questions including 'Where are the world's rivers?', 'What landforms do rivers create?' and 'What happens when a river floods?' In English, we've started a new (and somewhat festive) unit of work based around the story Mog's Christmas Calamity. You might remember this from a Sainsbury's advert a few years ago! In Maths, we've reached the end of our first unit on multiplication and division so have completed our end of unit assessment here. Life Skills took a look at diversity and what this means. The children had some great things to say during this lesson. We've finally finished lots of Christmas trees in D.T! These decorations reflect weeks of hard work and patience, so please do come along to the Christmas fair next week where you can buy your child's tree, and others! (We will have plenty for sale as everyone has made at least two!) It was really great to speak to lots of you at parents' meetings this week. If you didn't manage to make it, drop me a message on Dojo and we can sort out another time for a catch up. Finally, today we said a great big thank you to Mr Hunt and Miss Wallis, our PGCE students who have been working with us for the past few weeks. They are returning to university until Christmas to continue their studies but will be back in class again in January until February half term. Have a lovely weekend. This week, it's been all about rivers! We've been learning about two important world rivers - the river Volga in Russia and the river Amazon in South America. Did you know the Volga is famous for its caviar and that people use the Amazon river for transportation because there are very few roads in the rainforest? We have also learnt about flooding and the benefits and disadvantages it can bring. We had a great debate about whether rivers should be controlled to prevent flooding. The children raised excellent points about how flooding can provide fertile soil for agriculture but they also considered the negative impacts of buildings and potential lives lost. Our English this week has linked to this theme and the children have been writing their own reports on 'The Perils of a River' including rocks, currents and cold temperatures. I will share some of their writing next week on the blog.
On Tuesday, we are hoping to walk to the river to conduct some fieldwork linked to our learning. As the letter said, I will be monitoring the weather and river levels closely to decide whether it is safe to go. Fingers crossed for a dry spell! Today has been lovely seeing all of the odd socks and support for Children in Need as well as Anti-bullying week. We had a great afternoon waking and talking with the children in Reception class, as well as reading some books together. In other news, the Christmas tree decorations are coming along superbly! Most of the sewing is complete so all that's left to do is decorate them. They are beginning to look very festive. Here is a sneak preview... Today we spent some time learning about Remembrance and why it is important that we show our respects on this day. All of the children demonstrated an excellent attitude and showed great respect throughout the day - well done.
We've had a really busy week again (I seem to say this every week!) and have been working really hard. In English, we've started writing our class report called 'Perils of the Volcano'. This links nicely with our Science topic 'Rocks', where we have been learning about how igneous rocks are formed. Do you know the difference between intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks? Ash class does! In Geography, we've continued learning about rivers and can explain how a meander and oxbow lake are formed. I hope to take the children down to the river to see what we've been learning about in action. This is, of course, weather dependant, so I will keep you updated as necessary. Something the children are working really hard on is sewing their Christmas trees ready to sell at the Christmas fair! I will post some photos next week for you all to see. Have a lovely weekend and see you next week. |
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July 2024
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