Year 4 News 14.01.22

During our Maths lesson this week, we completed our first multiplication and division unit. Our final lesson was on 11 and 12 times tables. Once we had completed our unit, we went on to complete our end of unit assessment. The children worked through this independently and then we discussed the answers and methods we should use as a class. We have then started our new (second) unit of multiplication and division. The first lesson involved us recapping our year 3 knowledge, methods we would come across and vocabulary we would be using. In our first lesson, we learnt how to create balanced equations using multiplication. Our focus was on calculating using arrays. At the end of the week, we have taken part in times table tests and practised our times tables using TT rockstars.

In our first English lesson this week, we received letters from a charity requesting our help to update warning stories on their website. The children have been asked to write warning stories which will be used to educate school aged children. We thought about the dangers which are around us. They created spider diagrams in their books and thought of so many examples. We then learnt paragraph one of our text. Mitch was warned not to play by the pylons. At the end of our lesson, we wrote a prediction of what we thought might happen to Mitch. In our starter on Tuesday, we started with some riddles. This got our brain working and helped us to feel ready for our learning. We then learnt paragraph 2 of our warning story. We added actions and rehearsed in teams. We then explored how a warning story often includes speech to show how a warning is given. We recapped how to punctuate speech and wrote some examples of us warning people. In our next two lessons, we continued to focus on using speech. The children were given an image and asked to create a short burst write from this focusing on speech. We also learnt paragraph 2, 3 and 4. At the end of the week, we boxed up the text. This involved focusing on each paragraph and thinking about what the writer has done to organise the story. We also began to think about the skills which were used.

In our History lesson this week, the children created a 'human' timeline. We started by being given images of different points of history and were asked to arrange them in order of oldest to most recent. We did such a great job of this task. Next, we created a whole class timeline. Some of the children were given tabards to wear to represent different points of history. We then discussed when different periods of time took place and which other civilisations were around at the same time. Year 4 have such a great knowledge of different times in history. We now know when the Romans, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans (medieval Britain) took place. In our second History lesson this week, we learn about the Battle of Hastings. We learnt about the three people who attempted to claim the throne of Britain. We used the Bayeux tapestry to learn more about the events of 1066. We also learnt that the Normans were invaders from Normandy. We located this on a map of Europe.

In our French lessons this week, we have learnt how to introduce members of our family. We learnt the French words for me, mum, dad, brother, sister, parents, grandma, grandad and grandparents. We played a game which involved the children finding the French words (out of a set of cards) which matched the English word which I said out loud.

This week we began a new Science unit titled Everyday Materials. Starting the unit, we discovered what prior knowledge we had to describe different materials. Sorting a variety of objects allowed us to discuss the properties that make them either a solid, liquid or gas. We were introduced to new vocabulary like particles which helped us to make a model of a solid, liquid and gas using split peas.

We also started our new RE unit this term. Our focus this term is based on the concept of the kingdom of God. We started our lesson by thinking of this phrase. The children were shown images of famous leaders and asked to think about what they all had in common. We talked about how they were all in charge of kingdoms. The children were then asked to think about what their kingdom would be like. They were given a set of questions to help them generate their ideas. At the end of the lesson, we looked at a selection of art work which depicted God as King. We thought about how God looked in these pictures and then considered what we thought God would be like as a King.

We completed our stain glass windows for our Big Art activity this week. We were then able to place these on our window for everyone to see. We are very proud of our work and think that they look amazing!

This week, year 4 have had the opportunity to take part in level one bike ability. The children learnt to look after their bike and check it is safe, control their bikes whilst cycling, stay safe whilst cycling and build their confidence. The children loved taking part and all developed some key cycling skills.

During our computing lesson this week, we have been learning more about staying safe online as part of our online safety lessons. This half terms focus was on the idea that people make assumptions about what you post online. The children were asked to draw a picture of themselves which they would share online. Then the had to make assumptions about each other based on the image they created. The children were shown how some people's assumptions were correct whilst others were not and it is important to think carefully about what you share online.

This week, we also had our first Geography lesson, in this time, the children completed their cold tasks. This involved the children using their prior knowledge to see how much they already know.

Our music lesson this week was so exciting! We met Mr. Norbury from Music for Life for the very first time. We can't wait to start learning to play our brass instruments! We learnt the names of the parts of a trumpet, and how to blow air into the instrument. Mouthpiece, valves and bell were our new music names. Next week, we will either be playing: a cornet, trumpet or a baritone. Which one will it be? Mr. Norbury taught us that there is no sound without vibration. We also learnt how to change the sound by using the valves. We only have three valves and more than three notes to play. Using the position of our mouth by pinching our lips tighter produces a higher sound, and relaxing our lips, produces a lower sound (this is called pitch). We recapped the meaning of 'rhythm' in groups by copying Mr. Norbury's clapping rhythms; then we decided which group had the hardest rhythm. Next we had to miss out one particular rhythm when repeating the patterns! This proved quite tricky!

I hope that everyone has had a lovely weekend.

Miss Welch