Year 4 Weekly News – 30.4.21

During the week, we've been rounder superstars, teeth experts and even unplugged coders...

In Book Club, we continued our Steps to Read journey. We started by finishing off a range of anchor comprehension questions around the story, 'The Wild Robot'. We thought about the author's language and how we could use phrases and words to help our answers. We then moved onto two other books called 'The Robot and the Bluebird' and 'The Tin Forest'. We read extracts, read together and answered a range of questions around the texts using scanning and skimming techniques!

In Maths, we built upon our knowledge of decimals, linking this to fractions. We continued to explore tenths and hundredths and how we could convert decimals into fractions. We used 100 squares and place value charts to represent our answers. It's been fantastic to see all of your learning develop this week, and your confidence is certainly growing too! On Friday, we completed a quiz that tested our knowledge of the last two weeks. We were brilliant in answering our questions using a range of methods and reasoning skills!

In English, we spent the week writing our innovation stages around our T4W unit. We recapped our WAGOLL and ensured we knew what each paragraph included. Throughout the week you used your three targets to create some amazing time travel stories back to Tudor times. You used a range of adjectives, adverbs and description, whilst also writing in paragraphs and using speech throughout your pieces – fantastic work!

In R.E, we started to think about our new question around the Holy Spirit and baptism. Our BIG question is. What part do Christians believe the Holy Spirit plays in welcoming Christians into the church community?" We broke down the question and started to explore what being baptised means to a Christian. We split into two teams and research the two different types of baptisms (believers and infants). We then swapped to teach the other team our new found knowledge – well done!

In French, we built upon our alphabet knowledge! We recapped the letters and their sound families, this allowed us to play a very fun game! We each had a letter and had to pronounce it as we walked around the room. We had to listen out for similar letter sounds, such as b(ey), c(ey) and t(ey). Well done!

In Science, we continued to learn about humans including animals. This week, we built upno our knowledge of the digestive system and focused upon the start of that system, the teeth! We learnt about the different types of teeth in a treasure hunt game. We also spent time uploading our own sets of teeth to SeeSaw and labelled them correctly. On Thursday, we built upon this knowledge and created our own scientific enquiry. We thought about fair tests and variables and can't wait to research the effects of differents liquids on tooth decay next week!

In Geography we explored settlements by looking at the features of villages, towns and cities. We compared UK maps at a variety of scales to locate different cities and we used compass directions to help us. By the end of the lesson we had also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of living in a village. We also researched our local town of Nantwich. We created some amazing double page spreads all about the history, geography and famous buildings within our town! Well done!

Well what a fantastic music lesson we had this week! First of all, Mr Norbury told us all about the role of a conductor, the importance of paying attention and how listening to each other helps us to gel with our sounds.
We then moved on to practise playing middle C. We were a bit rusty after having a week off but we got there! Continuing on with learning our notes, we learnt how to play note D. We incorporated playing notes C and D in a rhythm – long C, long D then short C. In order for us to be able to play the rhythm, we had to take a breath at the start – only breathing through our mouth and not our nose. Towards the end of the lesson, we learnt how to play note E. Once we had mastered playing this note, we played Hot Cross Buns. It still needs some work, but we will definitely get there! Next week, we will be learning note F.

In Worship this week, we have listened to a range of parables including the sower and the seed. We've also reflected upon the question of ''Should all schools have libraries?"

In P.E, we continued to build upon our rounders skills! We started by thinking about our catching and movement in rounders. We did this through playing an underarm possession throwing game. We then split into two separate rounders pitches and played using all the skills we've already learnt. It was fantastic to see everyone following the rules and encouraging each other too!

In PHSE, we started our new unit on ''Fake is a Mistake''. We discussed lying and how this can lead to a 'snowball effect'' – a lie after a lie, after a lie! We played 'Would I Lie to You' and demonstrated how even a "little" lie is still a lie, and can get out of hand very quickly! Mr Dale even lied that he used to be a professional gymnast – remember "Fake is a Mistake!" – (I definitely can't front flip!).

Our unplugged Computing time gave us an opportunity to think about the type of messages that can be sent online. As a class we thought about what cyberbullying means and what actions we can do to get help. We talked confidently about reporting, blocking, leaving the online game and involving our adults in what we do online. We then created a role play to show how to get help and report cyberbullying.

Have a fantastic weekend,

Mr Dale