Year 4

Friday 16th September 2022

Can you say what happened in Britain during the 600 years after the Romans left? Can you skip count in 25s? What does the Bible’s Creation Story say about the Christian god? Do you know what synonyms are and why we need them? Can you think of words that we use lazily and too often? Do you know what the word ‘odd’ means in ancient Norse? Year 4 can tell you something about all of these things. What a busy and varied week we’ve had!

Our first spelling test went rather well. Good work. The next set of words can be found below. Children also have some maths homework this week which is due back on or before next Wednesday. Everyone already has a differentiated sheet in their green homework books. However, if the book is unavailable or the work is too tricky or too simple, copies of the challenges can be accessed below.

You are invited to attend a curriculum meeting on Wednesday 21st September at 9am in the Y4 classroom when we will explain what we will be teaching this year, clarify homework routines and answer any questions you may have. For those who cannot attend, written information will be available on the website.

We look forward to seeing many of you next week.

Ms Wright and Mrs Wetz

Homework

Spellings

These words will be discussed in school and should also be practised at home as often as possible. Please discuss the meanings of each word and it is useful to get children to use them in sentences. Do check knowledge of high frequency words and, if you feel that ten words is too many for your child to remember, focus on the vocabulary in red. There will be a test next Wednesday.

Adding the prefix in- (meaning ‘not’ or ‘into’)

inactive, incorrect, inaccurate, insecure, indefinite, incomplete, infinite, inedible, inability, indecisive

High Frequency

a, all, were, come, house, to, we, go, will old

Friday 9th September 2022

Welcome to Year 4,

We have had a great start to the year making shelters for Wesley, from the story Weslandia, with copious amounts of selotape and cereal boxes.  We then described these shelters using modal verbs and abstract nouns. Thank you for all the cardboard and resources to make these at such short notice – I had planned to do this at Forest School but the weather was not kind to us!

In maths, we’ve started our topic on place value learning to count in 25s and 1000s and understanding how the position of a number determines its value. 

Today, the whole school celebrated the life of Queen Elizabeth II in our Act of Worship.  The children have also written a prayer or memory of our late Queen to add to our school worship board.

A date for your diaries - our class curriculum meeting is on Wednesday 21^st September 9 – 9.30am and we look forward to meeting you all.  There will be a handout for those who are unable to make it. 

There is no homework for this week – phew, I hear you all say!

The children have been a delight and we are all enjoying each other’s company.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs W and Ms W

Spellings - tested on Wednesday 14th September

Below are lists of spellings that we will look at in class and will be tested in a week's time. Please also find time for a short burst of daily practice at home. All children should refresh their knowledge of high frequency words and most will be expected to learn the words in red. If you feel you child is capable of memorising all ten of the focus spelling words, please encourage them to do so. Please also ensure you discuss the meaning of unknown words.

Words with /aw/ spelled with augh and au

caught, naughty, taught, daughter, autumn, clause, because, astronaut, applaud, author

High Frequency

the, that, not, look, put, and, with, then, don’t, could

Friday 15th July 2022

Everyone in Y4 has enjoyed being surrounded by sound this term and, having listened to and performed many melodies and lyrics written by others, children spent the final days of term penning their own poetry, making their own instruments and combining the two in beautiful harmony. 

Thank you so much for helping the children to gather the many items they requested for the construction of their drums, maracas, guitars etc. The finished items are of an excellent standard. 

Most of us are now able to co-ordinate our legs and arms; lean, sway and negotiate the arches and time our cheeky winks to perfection. Providing the heatwave doesn't sap us entirely of strength, the plan to steal the summer show is on. We are grateful to you all for finding and sending in costumes.

Attached below are the lyrics to 'It's a Jolly Holiday' and 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' for some last minute learning. Those of you with siblings in Y6 have been given a Bible reading for Wednesday. You do not have to know this off by heart, but should practise it so that you are familiar with any tricky words and can look up at the congregation occasionally.

A huge thank you to the children, Ms Skinner and our amazing Year 4 TAs for the end of term dance, speech and beautifully designed thank you banner.  We were very touched.

Today the children made some very impressive and colourful times table board games which Year 3 enjoyed playing this afternoon.  Fabulous!

Do wear suncream and hats next week. And bring water.

Summer's here at last.

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings (last set!)

Adverbs of manner

awkwardly, frantically, curiously, obediently, carefully, rapidly, unexpectedly, deliberately, hurriedly, reluctantly

Commonly misspelled words

your, you’re, quite, tried, alright, before, until, many, off, too

Friday 8th July 2022

Dear Year 4,

A huge welcome to our two new pupils in Year 4, Lavinia and Ella, who are starting with us full time next week.  The children have been making them feel welcome before we break up for the summer holidays. We wish them a happy and successful time at Chiddingstone School!

We have had a very productive week practicing for the summer production, planting an oak tree to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, learning to use and understand Roman numerals and in science the children have continued to learn about electricity and electrical circuits. 

Today, we spent the morning creating some fabulous artwork for the school play – the children used pastels and paints to create their own ‘Bert' inspired chalk pavement pictures including a London chimney pot skyline, a circus, the seaside, a fair and the countryside. 

Enjoy the sunshine!

Mrs W and Ms W

Homework

Design and Technology - Monday 11th July

Children were asked to make and bring home a list of items they need to construct the musical instrument they designed in class. We have discussed which resources are available in school, but most children require a couple of specialist elements, such as rice/pasta/lentils, bottles, balloons, tins (we will tape sharp edges), bells, chopsticks, straws, shoeboxes, tubs, corks, wire, bottle lids, aluminium foil and so on. We would be grateful if you could help them source either what they need or a suitable alternative. Please also send in any other clean, discarded objects or materials that might be suitable for 'junk' modelling.

I understand that one or two children have glue guns. Our own glue guns are often being used to create props at this time of year, so children may, with permission, bring theirs into school on the understanding that it is named and that it is only for personal use and under adult supervision. 

Costumes - Monday 11th July

Please ensure that your child's costume for the summer production is brought into school in a named carrier bag on Monday. Costumes should be either a pretty summer dress or trousers/shorts and a striped top. Do ensure that the footwear you choose will remain securely in place while we dance.

Bunting - Monday 11th July

Everyone has been given two bunting flags to colour and decorate in a 'Mary Poppins' style eg. toys, umbrellas, merry-go-rounds, penguins, kites etc. Once they have been decorated, the triangles (with tabs) should be cut out. They do not need to be named.

These must also be returned on Monday so that each class can add them to string, ready to be put up for the performance. 

Spellings (In order to cover all of the statutory spellings, these will continue until the last week of term.)

Adverbs of frequency and possibility

regularly, occasionally, frequently, usually, rarely, perhaps, maybe, certainly, possibly, probably

Commonly misspelled words

different, difficult, colour, through, believe, decided, interesting, heard, people, use

Friday 1st July 2022

There is very little routine about the school week these days with exciting and unusual events cropping up all the time. This week, Sports Day slotted perfectly between two rain showers. Children competed enthusiastically in skipping and running races and cheered on teammates and family members who gamely took part in a variety of mad dashes.

On Tuesday, Mr Miles led us tiptoeing around the school to monitor sound levels which were then recorded on spreadsheets and graphs. Ms W’s shout reached the highest number of decibels and it is comforting to know that we can rely on this age-old method of restoring order!

A talk from a fire safety representative was also arranged this week and children seem to have remembered the details well. Despite initial embarrassment and one or two co-ordination difficulties, our Mary Poppins song and dance is already looking more polished. As I type, children are enjoying their residential trip to Bewl Water. We look forward to hearing the stories and seeing the photographs.

While you are rummaging through your cupboards for Edwardian costumes, can I ask for as many children as possible to bring in an old 3-pin fused plug next Monday? It needs to be one that we can take to pieces rather than the moulded kind. I realise that these may not be readily available, but would be extremely grateful to anyone that can donate or lend one (or more).

In the penultimate week of term, we are likely to need shoe boxes, tubes, clean tin cans, plastic containers and the like, so please start saving now.

Many thanks,

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings

Adding the suffix –ous (words ending in ‘e’ drop the ‘e’ but not ‘ge’)

famous, nervous, ridiculous, carnivorous, herbivorous, porous, adventurous, courageous, outrageous, advantageous

Commonly misspelled words

beautiful, sometimes, every, really, where, were, their, there, they’re, went

Friday 24th June 2022

Congratulations to Year 4 for performing their dance so well at our Maypole celebrations. It was a huge success and everyone was smiling and having fun.  A very enjoyable afternoon!

Next week, we have our exciting residential trip to Bewl Water on Thursday and Friday – fingers crossed for some good weather.  Please refer to the kit list, sent out last term, when packing your overnight bag. 

Just a quick reminder, if you haven’t already done so, to sort a costume for the summer production.  We need an equal representation of floaty summer frocks and stripy tops with shorts/trousers. An extract from the original recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy7XEMeBROQ

Have a great weekend!

Mrs W and Ms W

Maths Homework: in books and spare copies in the classroom

Spellings to be learned by 27.6.22

Adding the suffix –ous (words ending in ‘y’ become ‘i’ and words ending in ‘our’ become ‘or’)

various, furious, glorious, victorious, mysterious, humorous, glamorous, vigorous, odorous, rigorous

High frequency

still, snow, across, top, wind, dark, thing, than, cold, park

Friday 17th June 2022

It’s been assessment week – nobody’s favourite – but, despite a fair amount of huffing and puffing towards the end of a long reading paper, children now tackle these necessary tasks with maturity and an attitude that suggests they are trying their best to demonstrate how far their learning has progressed this year. You’re superstars, every one of you.

Money maths came to an end with some tricky word problems and work on estimating amounts. The bar model was particularly useful in helping us understand how to reach an answer and even the most reluctant child was beginning to see its value. Ask your son or daughter to draw a bar model for the following problem: The Queen has three times as many handbags as Princess Anne. Together they have 48 bags. How many does the Queen have? (Hint: start by drawing a diagram to show that they have the same number each.)

In other lessons, we learned how to create an electrical circuit and tested these with different materials to discover which ones act as conductors and which are insulators. Excellent predictions were made, interesting queries arose and satisfying answers were found.

Rehearsals are underway for the summer production of Mary Poppins. Clearly, we are hoping the Y4 performance will be a showstopper so, for their homework this week, children have been asked to learn the words to the Y4 song, Jolly Holiday. Once everyone knows the these, we can practise the dance with gusto. Lyrics are attached and printed copies were provided earlier this week. There were two spelling mistakes in the versions I gave you (that'll teach me to copy from the internet). Can you spot them?.

With the play in mind, we would be grateful if you could begin to think about costumes. We need an equal representation of floaty summer frocks and stripy tops with shorts/trousers. An extract from the original recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy7XEMeBROQ

Please get rummaging!

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings

Adding the suffix –ous (no definitive root word)

tremendous, enormous, jealous, serious, hideous, fabulous, curious, anxious, obvious, gorgeous

High frequency

run, best, grow, long, tree, three, where, been, gave, right

Friday 10th June 2022

Dear Year 4,

Welcome back to the last but usually the busiest term of the school year.  We have Maypole dancing, sports day, a residential trip and the school play to look forward, to name just a few.

We have had a fun packed first week – the whole school enjoyed the Jubilee celebrations and today Tabitha Miles treated Year 4 to a private concert when she played her flute beautifully for us to all enjoy.  The children recognised the theme tune from The Pirates of the Caribbean and A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman.

We kicked off our topic for this term, Playlist, by listening to different genres of music played at the Platinum Party at the Palace.  We discussed how we ‘feel the music’ and the different emotional responses we experienced.    

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright

Spellings:

Adding the suffix –ous (no change to root word)

dangerous, poisonous, mountainous, joyous, synonymous, hazardous, riotous, perilous, momentous, scandalous

High frequency

pulled, clothes, which, end, most, we’re, tell, inside, fly, key

Friday 20^th May 2022

The last week of term is often eventful and this was no exception. As well as routine maths and English lessons – in which we completed our work on decimal fractions and tried to recognise shades of meaning in synonyms – we also enjoyed some less ordinary activities.

Children made short stop-frame animations on iPads using handmade models. They were then able to edit their films and add a title sequence and sound effects.

Japanese and Egyptian artefacts at Chiddingstone Castle were viewed with interest and curiosity. Children asked intelligent questions and made links to this term’s learning. The removal of a nearby bees’ nest was also keenly observed from the windows.

Mummies were always going to dominate this topic and the class was finally able to have a go at creating models which represented this ever-intriguing, if rather ghoulish, preservation technique.

We hope the fortnight’s break is full of fun for you all. But we do have to remind you to read every day and to keep your times tables up to scratch. The first statutory multiplication tables check for primary schools takes place in June and we would like you to see this as an excellent spur to further practice.

Upon our return to school, we can look forward to making crowns and wearing them at our own Jubilee street party style lunch. Please ask your child to decorate and return BOTH of the triangle pendants they have brought home so that we can surround the school with celebratory bunting.

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Words ending in –ar / -er (statutory words)

calendar, grammar, regular, particular, peculiar, popular, consider, remember, quarter

High frequency

before, let, ever, girl, looking, miss, please, use, even, along, different, stopped

Maths

Practise the times tables you think you know and learn the facts that you don't. Depending on your current scores, this may require ten minutes of your time EVERY DAY. 

Reading

There are stories out there that will grip you. Find one and dive into it for a quarter of an hour today, tomorrow and the day after that... for ever and ever.

Platinum Jubilee Celebration

Create a design on both of the triangle pendants you have been given and paint or colour them brightly.

The completed artwork must be brought back to school on Monday 6 June.

Friday 13th May 2022

Year 4 have been successfully comparing and ordering decimals and converting between fractions and decimals this week. 

We have completed our superhero stories in literacy, practicing our editing skills to correct grammar and spelling errors. The children have used the strategy of writing spellings three times in the margin to help them identify the correct version.

Next week, we will be visiting the Egyptian rooms at Chiddingstone Castle on Tuesday afternoon. Details have been emailed separately. Later in the week, we will be making a model of an Egyptian mummy. Could the children please bring in, for Thursday, old newspapers as we will be making paper clay using water and PVA glue.  This will be a very messy art project so you might like to send your child to school on Thursday and Friday with an old shirt or apron to protect their school uniform.

It is time to restock pencil cases for the last term of Year 4. To avoid confusion, could each child please have a named pen in school.   

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright

Literacy Homework 

This week can you please do some research on mummification in Ancient Egypt.  Listed below are some resources:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-social-studies-ks2-mummification-in-ancient-egypt/zdcrkmn

https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/history/egypt/how-to-make-a-mummy/

Please write a short paragraph (this could be on the computer) including some interesting facts and pictures on mummification.  Some questions to possibly research and answer include:

. What is mummification?

. How many processes are involved in mummification?

. Why was mummification and the survival of the body important to the ancient Egyptians?

Have fun!

Spellings

Adding the prefix ex- (meaning ‘out’)

exit, extend, explode, excursion, exchange, export, exclaim, expel, external, exterior

High frequency

fell, eggs, giant, jumped, book, friends, once, looks, because, its

Friday 6th May 2022

Our newspaper reports about the death of a Middle Eastern art collector in strange and unusual circumstances are now published and the children’s grasp of journalistic writing is impressive.

Decimal place value continues to be the theme of our maths lessons and everyone is able to recognise the value of a given digit and to order and compare different numbers with tenths and hundredths.

We considered the hierarchy of the ancient Sumer civilisation and were surprised and pleased to discover that, to a certain extent, it recognised women’s rights and the value of social mobility.

Mr Dilly’s performance at the Chiddingstone Literary Festival combined factual information with some side-splitting gags and taught us about the death rituals of the ancient Egyptians. Mrs Donald took charge of the stage and microphone at one point and Ms Wright was invited to waltz in the aisle!

This week’s homework can be found below. Please keep practising your times tables and reading every day.

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings

Adding the prefix auto- (meaning ‘self’ or ‘own’)

autograph, autobiography, automatic, autofocus, autocorrect, autopilot, automobile, autonomy, autocue

High frequency

keep, morning, river, room, queen, eyes, wish, liked, last, each

Friday 29th April 2022

What a hectic week we have had in Year 4.  We all enjoyed swimming at Tonbridge School perfecting our swimming technique.  Jumping in was obviously the most exciting part. 

It was lovely to see so many of you at our art afternoon to raise money for the Ukraine refugees.  The children created a gorgeous wheat inspired picture using watercolour paints for the sky and clouds. 

Next week we will be continuing with our 500 word hero stories and beginning to compare and order decimals. 

Have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend

Mrs Wetz & Ms Wright

Spellings

Adding the prefix anti- (meaning ‘against’)

antiseptic, anticlockwise, antisocial, antidote, anti-ageing, antifreeze, antiperspirant, antigravity

High frequency

why, sleep, bad, floppy, coming, cried, feet, tea, really, he’s

Friday 22nd April 2022

In our latest topic, Ancient Civilisations, we have considered the complexities of civilised living and learned that, while the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans are famed for their sophisticated lifestyles, they were not the only nations to live this way, nor indeed were they the first to do so.

The Secrets of a Sun King by Emma Carroll is our class text and it has already captured the children’s attention with its dramatic opening. We’ve examined journalistic techniques in literacy lessons as children write a news article based on details found the first chapter.

Decimal numbers are the focus of maths lessons, which means we have been revisiting and revising our understanding of both place value and fractions.

We are now fortunate enough to have volunteers coming into school to listen to readers, so please ensure your child always has a book in their bag.

Next week, the class will be going swimming, so they will need a towel, costume and hat every day. Girls’ costumes should be one piece and boys’ shorts should not be wide-legged.

This term, maths homework will be issued and marked on Mondays. Literacy work will go home on Thursdays.

It was a pleasure to see some of you at parents’ consultations this week and we look forward to talking to the rest of you next Wednesday.

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings

Adding the prefix inter- (meaning ‘between’ or ‘among’)

interact, interfere, intercity, international, intermediate, internet, intergalactic, interrupt, intervene, interlude

High frequency

another, boat, air, gone, rabbit, great, window, trees, hard, white

Literacy homework - due Thursday 28th April

Literacy homework this week is to create their own fictional superhero.  They have a planning sheet to complete which is stuck in to their books.  We will be using this homework in class on Thursday as part of our literacy lesson.  

Friday 1st April 2022

It was lovely to see so many of you at our gallery/musical afternoon on Wednesday. The children enjoyed sharing their fabulous ocean inspired pictures and confidently presented some of their written work from this term. We listened to a wonderful musical interlude provided by the children playing their flutes, guitars and even a harmonica. 

Thank you for your continued support and to the PTA for providing refreshments. 

Our topic next term is Ancient Civilisations. This knowledge-rich project teaches children about the history of three of the world’s first ancient civilisations: ancient Sumer, ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley civilisation. Children will learn about the rise, life, achievements and eventual end of each civilisation. 

Have a great Easter holiday! 

Mrs W and Ms W

Statutory spellings challenge words

length, strength, purpose, history, different, difficult, separate, suppose, therefore, knowledge

High frequency

hot, birds, suddenly, mother, hat, sun, duck, told, sat, horse

Friday 25th March 2022

We are looking forward to welcoming you in school next Wednesday afternoon to celebrate our topic learning. We hope you will be also be able to join us when we get together for our Easter service in the church on Friday.

Rehearsals for our presentation of the Feeding of the 5000 are underway. A big thank you to those children who learned their lines immediately and already know when it is their cue to speak.

Everybody, except the narrators, must know their words by Monday and remember exactly when they are supposed to speak. Narrators, we’d like you to be as familiar with your lines as possible.

You will also need to organise your costume this weekend. I think everyone knows the kind of thing that’s needed: a dressing gown or an oversized loose shirt, belt or scarf and a tea towel for your head. Sandals if possible. Our moon is free to create his own outfit!

In other news, we continued to learn how to calculate with units of time and to spot and correct errors in our written work. We collected and displayed data at Forest School; enjoyed listening to, reading and discussing stories; decorated our clay creatures and had our photos taken.

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Literacy: Learn your words and cues for the Easter play. Find a costume and bring it to school in a named bag on Monday, please.

Spellings

Word families based on common words

solve, solution, insoluble, dissolve, solvent, sign, signature, assign, design, signal

High frequency

found, laughed, let’s, fun, any, better, lived, much, place, under

Maths Homework: 

Please choose a board game to play - have fun!

Friday 18th March 2022

Dear Parents,  

Some fabulous costumes in Year 4 today for Red Nose Day!

To celebrate all the amazing artwork that the children have created over the last two terms as part of our topics Misty Mountain, Windy River and Blue Abyss, we would like to invite you to a Gallery afternoon viewing in Class 4 on Wednesday 30^th March at 2.30pm. There will be a small presentation from the children, some music courtesy of the Year 4 musicians and the PTA will be providing tea and coffee.   

The children are very excited to share what they have learnt over the last few weeks and to show you their lovely pictures and drawings.  

For the Easter Service at the end of term, Y4 will be performing a short play based on the story of a well-known biblical miracle. Our script is attached below. Most children have just a couple of lines to learn. We would be grateful if they could do their best to memorise these by next week. The narrators will be able to have sight of their lines, but should be as familiar with them as possible. Could you also please begin to give some thought to costumes - a tea towel held in place with a band of something elastic will serve as a head covering and children will also need to wear an oversized belted shirt and sandals or similar. Thank you.

Thank you to all the parents who came in to class and helped with reading and maths this week - it is very much appreciated!

Enjoy the sunshine!

Sarah Wetz and Rebecca Wright 

Homework

Spellings:

Word families based on common words

phone, phonics, microphone, real, really, reality, realistic, unreal, realisation

High frequency

thought, door, may, only, ran, dog, many, know, well, sea

Literacy/topic

Children should select a single attribute of an animal and explore how different creatures have adapted this particular feature to suit their different circumstances.

Friday 11^th March 2022

Huge congratulations to everyone for completing this week’s literacy homework to such a high standard. The amount of detail the children discovered about Jacques Cousteau was superb and puts them in a very good position for producing an interesting and informative biography about this underwater adventurer. So far, we have crafted an enticing introductory paragraph and a description of his early life. Next week, we shall further discuss chronology, consider organisational devices such as subheadings and attempt to create a satisfactory ending.

Our maths topic concerns the presentation of data and children have revised how to use bar charts, learned about line graphs and explored when to use one rather than the other.

In topic work, we have looked at the food chains of sea creatures and were also fortunate enough to go to Sevenoaks School to learn what happens when particles are super-cooled. In a variety of experiments and demonstrations, we were shown how liquid nitrogen can affect the properties of different materials and learned about the potential this technology has to improve our lives from blowing up balloons without going red in the face to smooth and fast methods of transportation. 

Please could everyone bring in a 1 litre  plastic bottle with all the paper removed for our submarine science lesson next week.  Thank you. 

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Spellings:

Words with a ‘soft c’ spelled with ‘ci’

circle, decide, medicine, exercise, special, cinema, decimal, accident, city, citizen

High frequency

play, something, garden, who, take, red, bed, fast, didn’t

It is doubly important to bring your homework in on time this week as we need the Jacques Cousteau information in your books to continue our writing.

Friday 4th March 2022

Year 4 was a sea of colour and imaginative costumes for World Book day on Thursday, this week.  We had an array of characters including: a plethora of Harry Potters; Bad Nana, with her extra-large glasses;  Paddington Bear and his marmalade sandwiches, just in case he was feeling a little peckish during our maths lesson; a rather hairy elephant and even Bear Grylls. Everyone had made a real effort and the children had a great day.  Thank you for your support!

The children enjoyed choosing a new ‘swap’ book and many have been reading them in class today.  We shared some of our favourite stories and creating some class bunting with our own book cover designs.  

In maths, we have started a new topic on graphs and data handling starting with bar graphs.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright

Homework

Please note that literacy homework is now due in on Mondays and maths homework should be submitted on Thursdays this term.

This literacy homework forms the basis of our literacy writing this week.

If it is not completed, you will find it difficult to create work of real quality. The more details you can find, the easier your task will be.

Spellings:

Words with a ‘soft c’ spelled with ‘ce’

centre, century, certain, recent, experience, sentence, notice, celebrate, ceremony, certificate

High frequency

I’ve, school, has, around, think, yes, stop, mouse, every, home

Friday 25^th February 2022

How lovely it was to have something to look forward to on the very first day of term. Huge thanks to the PTA for organising some lovely activities for Twosday. Your ideas were much more fun than the rather worthy projects thought up by teachers. Well done to everyone for bringing in fistfuls of tuppenny bits and for your patience in laying them so carefully out in lines. (A pat on the back too for whoever picked them all up again!)

Although tying ourselves to a friend resulted in one or two playground injuries, all those who skinned their knees put on remarkably brave faces and are to be congratulated for their courageous and uncomplaining behaviour.

Back indoors, the pairing of equivalent fractions and sums built nicely on our recent learning and provided just the right amount of challenge to get our brains working after the week away.

Our new topic, Blue Abyss, sparked an encouraging amount of interest and many children were eager to share their existing knowledge before finding out about the five different layers of the oceans and representing each in a jam jar using treacle, detergent, water, oil and surgical spirit.

A reminder that Forest School begins again next Monday. Children may come to school in PE kit and change into warm and waterproof clothing and footwear in the afternoon. They will not need a uniform.

Homework this week is daily reading, spellings and times tables practice.

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings to learn this week:

Words with the /s/ sound spelled with ‘sc’

science, crescent, discipline, fascinate, scent, scissors, ascent, descent, scientist, scenery

High frequency

king, or, our, through, baby, town, took, two, way, fish

Friday 11th February

We've all had an enjoyable end to the term - we went for a lovely walk in the sunshine this afternoon and spent the morning making Valentine's day cards and writing code on Scratch to create the water cycle, with Mr Miles.  

See you next term when our topic will be Blue Abyss. This project  teaches the human uses and physical features of the sea developing  knowledge of ocean layers, sea exploration, food chains, habitats and pollution.  

There is no homework for the holiday but please do keep reading and practicing spellings and times tables. 

Have a wonderful half term holiday!

Mrs W and Ms W

Monday 7th February 2022

Spellings (tested after half term)

Adding prefixes sub- (meaning under) and super- meaning (above)

submerge, subheading, submarine, subway, Superman, supervise, supersede, superpower, superhuman

High frequency: other, lots, eat, food, need, head, would, everyone, fox, that’s

Friday 4th February 2022

In Year 4, we have had a messy end to the week using the watercolour paints to create a landscape painting.  We have learnt how to use perspective and tone to create a sense of distance in our pictures.  The children should be proud of their pictures, so far, as they have made a fabulous start. 

It has been lovely to see all our remote learners joining us for some lessons on Zoom during the week – well done for working hard and contributing to our discussions. 

In maths, we have been continuing with our fraction topic, using the ‘burger-bun’ technique to work our equivalent fractions.  We will be learning to add and subtract fractions next week.

Please could everyone bring in wellies for next Friday as we hope to go for an end of term walk.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright   

Spellings

For those families whose children find it difficult to set aside a few minutes a day to practise the spellings we set, please guide them to select just three of the most useful words and use what time they can to copy and learn those. If this isn't manageable, we can work together with these pupils at break times.

Nouns ending in the suffix –ation

creation, radiation, indication, ventilation, relegation, dedication, demonstration, abbreviation, translation, vibration

High frequency: shouted, first, car, man, after, us, work, couldn’t, going, wanted

Monday 31st January 2022

Spellings

Nouns ending in the suffix –ation

creation, radiation, indication, ventilation, relegation, dedication, demonstration, abbreviation, translation, vibration

High frequency: shouted, first, car, man, after, us, work, couldn’t, going, wanted

Friday 28th January 2022

Although a few of you had to remain at home this week, other children were able to return from isolation and we were of course all able to get together for a short time each day on Zoom. Due to a rise in infection rates throughout the school, there have been one or two changes in routine – different acts of worship, different playground areas, different loos – but we battle on regardless.

We came to the end of the latest phase of multiplication and division lessons and moved to learn about fractions. There are still a number of children whose difficulty with times tables recall is stalling their progress. Knowledge of multiplication facts is key to successful manipulation of fractions. Learn them. All of them. Now.

We revised how to use an apostrophe to create contractions and edited our postcards from the Amazon. These are now proudly displayed amid a frame of large tropical leaves adding colour and interest to the classroom wall.

With the help of boxes, balloons, buttercream and bath towels we learned about the five different types of mountain and how they were formed. In RE we considered how Christians try to create the kind of world Jesus would have wanted and also thought about the kind of world we would like to see and what we might do to secure this.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings

Nouns ending in the suffix –ation

information, adoration, sensation, preparation, education, location, exaggeration, concentration, imagination, organisation

High frequency: over, never, narrator, how, things, magic, next, small, did, new

Friday 21st January 2022

Dear Year 4,

Another busy week in Year 4 - well done everyone for working hard, especially those of you remote learning at home and Zooming in to join our lessons in class. 

This afternoon, we enjoyed a lovely walk down to the River Eden to look at river features and to make a list of some exciting adjectives, verbs, noun phrases and similes to describe the river and its many sounds.  I have attached a few photos.

In maths, this week, we have finished our work on multiplication and have moved on to division of two and three digits numbers using partitioning and bus-stop methods.  We are all feeling fairly confident with our new skills. 

We have enjoyed learning how to use a key to read maps and to use 4 and 6-figure grid references to locate different features and buildings. 

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright

Homework

Spellings:

Nouns ending in the suffix –ation

information, adoration, sensation, preparation, education, location, exaggeration, concentration, imagination, organisation

High frequency: over, never, narrator, how, things, magic, next, small, did, new

Homework:

Literacy:

Please complete the expanded noun sheet which is in your homework book.  Constructing an expanded noun phrase support sheet is also attached if need some help.  This homework should be completed and in school by Thursday.  

Spellings:

cereal, serial, check, cheque, through, threw, draft, draught, stares, stairs.

High frequency:

good, again, I’ll, boy, soon, want, cat, round, animals night.

Friday 14^th January 2022

A relatively uneventful week in which children got to grips with multiplying three factors together, found the product of single digits and multiples of ten and took their first steps towards understanding long multiplication.

Much time was spent reading and exploring the characters in one of our new class texts – Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson – in preparation for a piece of quality writing in role next week and the opportunity for every individual to hit their newly-set targets for improvement in literacy.

The children have demonstrated great interest in how rivers are formed and are already able to name and identify an impressive range of features. The watery theme segued neatly into RE as we considered what Jesus might have meant by calling his disciples to be ‘fishers of people’.

Please could everyone have a pair of wellies in school for Friday as we are going for a walk to the river. Thank you 

Stay warm this weekend,

Ms W and Mrs W.

Spellings

Homophones and near homophones

accept, except, affect, effect, aloud, allowed, weather, whether, whose, who's

High Frequency

water, bear, find, these, live, away, can't, more, began, say

Literacy Homework  - now due in on THURSDAYS

Please write an information sheet on a river of your choice.  The children have a suggested layout sheet in their homework books and can choose to complete this or create their own.  They may write or use the computer.  Please stick a copy into your homework book. 

Monday 10th January 2022

Spellings

Homophones and near homophones

accept, except, affect, effect, aloud, allowed, weather, whether, whose, who's

High Frequency

water, bear, find, these, live, away, can't, more, began, say

Friday 7th January 2022

Dear Year 4

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas holiday!

This term’s topic is Misty Mountain, Winding River.  We will be learning about characteristics and features of rivers and mountain ranges around the world, including a detailed exploration of the ecosystems and processes that shape them and the land around them. We also hope to have a visit from the Environment Agency to learn about how they look after our countryside and the river system, ensuring pollution is kept to a minimum.  

Comprehension and handwriting Early Bird clubs will start again next Friday - we look forward to seeing those of you who attend at 8am for comprehension and 8.15 for handwriting.

Please could everyone bring in a cereal (or similar) cardboard box for next Thursday as we hope to make a 3D relief model of Cereal Island demonstrating the contour lines and height above sea level.

Wishing you all a very Happy New year from the year 4 team.

Mrs Wetz & Ms Wright

Homework: 

Maths and English  - no homework this week

Spellings to be tested on Monday:

Statutory spelling challenge words (higher)

interest, experiment, potatoes, favourite, imagine, material, promise, opposite, minute, increase

Statutory spelling challenge words

the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says, your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no

Spellings for next week:

Homophones and near homophones: accept, except, affect, effect, aloud, allowed, weather, whether, whose, who’s

High frequency words: water, bear, find, these, live, away, can’t, more, began, say

Friday 17^th December 2021

The final week of term involved a good deal of time in church as we rehearsed for Wednesday’s rousing concert. All the children deserve praise for their musicality – and for their ability to sit quietly and still!

For the rest of the time, we learned about the digestive system of ruminant animals and finally got round to using the mountain of boxes and cartons you donated to create our own misshapen herd of cattle complete with the correct arrangement of internal cavities and tubes.

In our final science lesson, we dissected owl pellets and discovered an array of miniature skulls, clavicles, fibulas, tibias and so forth which astounded and fascinated us all.

The term was rounded off nicely with a trip to the pantomime (oh no it wasn’t)... and, all of a sudden, it’s holiday time again.

We hope you are all able to have the kind of Christmas you like best and, if that isn’t possible, that you enjoy the kind of Christmas you end up having.

May your days be merry and bright.

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Keep reading - 15 minutes a day (yes, I'm talking to YOU).

Keep up with the times tables - you'll be lost next term without them.

Spellings:

Statutory spelling challenge words (higher)

interest, experiment, potatoes, favourite, imagine, material, promise, opposite, minute, increase

Statutory spelling challenge words

the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says, your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no

Friday 10th December 2021

The classroom is now looking festive with a glittering Christmas tree and paper snowflakes.  The children have been taking turns to open the drawers in our class advent box to discover the presents hidden inside.  After much hilarity, our Christmas cards are almost finished and preparations for Christmas are definitely in full swing.  

We all enjoyed a very tasty Christmas lunch yesterday while singing loudly to Christmas songs.

We are very much looking forward to seeing you all at the KS2 Carol Concert next Wednesday evening.  Don’t forget it is Christmas jumper day on Friday.  

Mrs W and Ms W

Homework

Monday 6th December 2021

There will be no spelling test next week.

Here are the spellings you should learn over Christmas holidays:

Statutory spelling challenge words (higher)

interest, experiment, potatoes, favourite, imagine, material, promise, opposite, minute, increase

Statutory spelling challenge words

the, a, do, to, today, of, said, says, your, they, be, he, me, she, we, no

Friday 3^rd December 2021

And so here it is… December and all that it brings. Mrs Skinner has kindly furnished the class with an advent calendar; Mrs Ralph is urging us to sing about stables and mangers; the photocopier is churning out Christmas crosswords and excitement is growing.

Year 4 has enjoyed making mini Viking homesteads in Forest School, getting to grips with the bar model in maths, writing an explanation text about the purpose of saliva and building a Lego crocodile and programming it to snap its jaws.

Thank you for all your cardboard, cartons and pots. We probably have enough boxes for now, but we would welcome more tubes and/or plastic/foil containers.

Hoping your festive preparations are on track.

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings:

Words with ‘ough’ to make a long /o/, /oo/ or /or/ sound.

though, although, dough, through, breakthrough, thought, bought, brought, fought ought

High frequency: their, there, people, don’t, when, went, what, to, too, off

Monday 29th November 2021

Spellings:

Words with ‘ough’ to make a long /o/, /oo/ or /or/ sound.

though, although, dough, through, breakthrough, thought, bought, brought, fought ought

High frequency: their, there, people, don’t, when, went, what, to, too, off

Friday 26th November 2021

Year 4 have been tackling multiplication and division word problems in maths this week and should be congratulated for their perseverance and hard work as this is never an easy topic.  Their improved times tables has helped them immensely so do keep working on these. 

In science we carried out an investigation to see how smells get up our noses and how gases disperse within a space such as a classroom.  We all enjoyed a quiet afternoon recording how far and fast the scent of a candle spread across the room. We discussed states of matter and several children became water molecules and were squeezed inside a hoop to become solid ice.  Then we talked about slowly increasing the temperature and learnt how the molecules change their relationship as they turn into a liquid and finally a gas.  The children used some excellent scientific vocabulary and terminology. 

Please bring in as many clean plastic, foil and cardboard containers as you can for us to use for junk modelling. String, small off-cuts of wood, cardboard tubes, pipes and other 'useful' bits and pieces are also welcome.

Fingers crossed for an exciting light dusting of snow this weekend.

Mrs W and Ms W

Maths Homework: 

Please play the times table snakes and ladder game. 

Spellings:

Words with a /shuhn/ sound spelt with –cian (if root word ends in ‘c’ or ‘cs’). There are eight words only this week.

musician, politician, electrician, magician, mathematician, dietician, technician, beautician

High Frequency: his, some, looked, people, make, but, so, very, your, an

Literacy homework: 

Here are copies of the work that we put in your homework books. If the sheets are missing, please select both a singular and a plural noun activity from below. Remember to glue the papers in and write the date. 

Friday 19th November 2021

In a bid to show how they can organise ideas into carefully constructed paragraphs, Y4 has been writing letters from the Tooth Fairy. The walls of the classroom are now adorned with pastel-coloured correspondence along with delightful paper versions of the pretty little nymphs.

Those children who have already invested time in learning their tables reaped the benefits as we used inverse operations to tackle division in maths. Those who are still working on this skill have been taught how to use known multiplication facts to find unknown ones.

The results of our recent experiment involving an egg and vinegar demonstrated that acid does indeed destroy tooth enamel. This week we coated an egg in toothpaste before repeating the test to see if fluoride can really protect our teeth. Happily, it seems, it does. To check that they have been brushing their gnashers efficiently, children gamely chewed on disclosing tablets to discover if any areas of their mouths need more attention. I am pleased to report that a good job of teeth cleaning is generally being done by all!

In other news, Forest School saw us experimenting with levers to raise each other off the ground and on Thursday we were treated to a talk from a visiting author. There's never a dull moment!

Don't forget your odd socks for Children in Need. 

Till next time,

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings

The spellings to learn this week are as follows:

Words with a /shuhn/ sound spelt with –tion (if root word ends in ‘te’ or ‘t’ or has no definite root.

invention, injection, action, question, mention, attraction, translation, devotion, position, solution

High Frequency Words:

for, be, it's, got, asked, at, like, see, their, saw

Here too is the list of the first 100 high frequency words as discussed with some of you during our parents' consultations.

Maths homework: 

The children have been sent home with multiplication and division word problems which should be completed and in school for Thursday next week.  I have attached the different sheets below - please note they only need to complete one of the attached. 

Friday 12^th November 2021

It was lovely to see (virtually) so many of you at our first parent evening this week.  We look forward to catching up with those of you we didn’t see on Wednesday, next week.

Fabulous times table tricks has been the theme of Year 4 in the latter end of this week.  We have to thank Leo’s grandfather for an extraordinarily easy method to find the answer to any question involving multiplying by 11 – we all loved it and Mrs Wetz will definitely be teaching this strategy again to her future classes! We have also all mastered an effective cheats method for the nine times tables too. 

The children have finally published their amazing descriptive stories about a journey through a digestive system – several Headteacher awards have been given out for great writing and in some cases humorous details which had us all laughing.  Here are a few excerpts:

Horror Diary of a Potato

…   Now it is time for the last step of digestion.  The large intestine.  I have had all the water drained out of me.  Wait! I can see the light! Brace yourself, we’re going into the toilet in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 go! Owwwww…Oh no the human is going to flush me! I hope I go to heaven. 

P.S. I went to hell (AKA the sewer!)

Digestion

Sitting on a plate, I’m a pizza about to be eaten by a slimy, grimy mouth with its hard white teeth which doesn’t look very enticing.  Here we go into the mouth with a sticky substance called saliva breaking down food.  Now the tongue is pushing me down the throat into the oesophagus. 

The squeezy, claustrophobic oesophagus is a long tube pushing me down into the stomach, using a process called peristalsis.  I reached the stomach. I got twisted, turned and churned for approximately four hours, acids and enzymes mixed with me helping to break me down even more…

Next week, we will be making sure we all know how to take care of our teeth properly. Please send your child to school with a toothbrush and toothpaste in a named bag on Tuesday morning (items will be returned the same day).

Also on Tuesday, we would welcome any scraps of fabric you might have that we can use to decorate our tooth fairy cutouts.

Finally, can we ask that you begin saving useful boxes, cartons, tubes etc for use in school in the coming weeks? Send them in whenever you're ready.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs W and Ms W

Maths homework:

The children have been sent home with a times table colouring mosaic.  Also attached is a times table Remembrance alternative.  A times table grid is available, if needed, as a useful resource. 

Literacy Homework

We learned about fronted adverbials and used them in our writing before the half term break. Children should complete either the one star or two star activities. 

A reminder of this grammatical technique can be found in this short video: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zwwp8mn/articles/zp937p3

Monday 8th November 2021

Spellings:

Words with a /shuhn/ sound spelt with ‘ssion’ (if root word ends in ‘ss’ or ‘mit’).

expression, discussion, confession, permission, admission, transmission, possession, profession, depression, impression

High Frequency:

she, have, big, oh, here, is, went, when, about, off

Once again, our spellings focus on the addition of a suffix. It would be helpful to show your child the roots of these spellings so that they can better understand the rule.

Friday 5^th November 2021

Whether you’ve had a fast-paced or slow-paced holiday, it’s been a busy, busy, busy first week back. Mondays are now an energetic extravaganza of PE and Forest School (with some children also having sport before and after school as well)!

We are at present running two topics concurrently. Outdoors, we continue to focus on the lives of Viking settlers while, back in the classroom, we are learning about digestion systems. This week we explored long houses and the structure of a tooth.

In maths we tackled some two-step word problems and in literacy we found out how to organise our written work sensibly by examining when to begin a new paragraph and how to structure one.

Thank you for all the raisin boxes you brought in. These have been gathered and safely passed to the office.

Please note that, while homework is still due in on Mondays and Thursdays, the subjects have been reversed. Literacy will now be due at the beginning of the week and maths should come at the end. We alternate every term so that both teachers have the opportunity to set and mark extra tasks in both of these important subjects.

Now that the weather has taken a turn for the worse, please ensure that your child has a coat in school and that they are wearing the winter uniform (long trousers).

Leo, Thomas and Charlie have requested that you collect as many crisp packets as you can and bring them into school as they are collecting them for their Cub Pack.  The crisp packets are going to be sent to a company who will recycle them and make sleeping bags for the homeless.  A very worthy cause! 

We look forward to catching up with you all in the upcoming parents’ consultations.

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Literacy: Due to an administrative issue with the books, this week’s literacy homework is as follows. Please select the most appropriate level(s).

Level 1: with a parent, identify the most useful high frequency words from the list below and make sure you can spell them.

Level 2: identify any high frequency words you cannot spell from the list below and learn them.

Level 3: Select some of the spellings you don’t know from the Y3/4 statutory list below. Learn them, find out their meanings and practise using them in sentences.

Maths:

Please see attached - Bonfire Code Breakers.  Please complete questions 1-4.  If you would like to crack more codes then do complete some of the other questions.  Maths homework is due in on Thursday. 

Spellings 

Words with a /shuhn/ sound spelled with ‘sion’ (if root word ends in ‘se,’ ‘de’ or ‘d’)

extension, comprehension, tension, conclusion, persuasion, corrosion, expansion, supervision, fusion, suspension

High frequency

they, out, down, now, Mrs, on, this, dad, came, called

Following last term's assessment, the majority of the class has been asked to focus on the red words, although the meanings of ALL the words should be discussed at home and examples given of their use in context.

Short daily bursts of practice are needed to secure learning.

In the coming weeks, we shall also test the first 100 high frequency words, so please use the attached list to check your child's knowledge of these.

Friday 15th October 2021

Year 4 had a very messy time making a fully functioning digestive system this week.  Ms Skinner has not been the same since...

Have a fabulous half term holiday everyone! 

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright

Homework: 

There is no literacy homework this week bur please do keep reading.  

Please continue with times tables over the holidays. 

Monday 11th October 2021

Apologies for the confusion over which spellings should have been learned this week. I inadvertently gave you a preview of the coming week's list instead of using Friday's bulletin to repeat the information given last Monday.

To clarify, the spellings to be learned over the half term holidays are below. We have been discussing root words in class and it would be helpful to show your child the roots of these spellings so that they can better understand the rule.

Words with /shun/ endings spelled with –sion if root word ends in ‘se,’ ‘de’ or ‘d’

division, invasion, confusion, decision, collision, television, revision, erosion, inclusion, explosion

High Frequency:

was, what, do, get, if, you, there, me, just, help

Friday 8th October 2021

As we head towards the end of the first term already, children have got to grips with some sophisticated maths and English. Children can now confidently use column addition and are beginning to feel comfortable about using at least some fronted adverbials.

We all spent a couple of intense but enjoyable sessions learning how to code and create simple computer games with Mr Miles. Pupils programmed Viking longships to sail to an Anglo Saxon village which was then set alight. In their second lesson, children were shown how to make the ships chase and catch moving villagers.

We all enjoyed singing at the Harvest Festival and watching each other’s siblings perform. Congratulations, to Teddy and Isla on their clearly presented Bible readings. It was a pleasure to share the occasion with those of you who were able to join us. For anyone who was unable to come, there are pictures on the school’s Instagram, I believe. A big thank you to everyone for your generous donations of money and food – we were able to fill four boxes with Y4’s packets and tins!

Spellings:

Words with /shun/ endings spelled with –sion if root word ends in ‘se,’ ‘de’ or ‘d’

division, invasion, confusion, decision, collision, television, revision, erosion, inclusion, explosion

High Frequency:

was, what, do, get, if, you, there, me, just, help

Children have been told if they should try to learn all the spellings or focus on the words in red. If they are unsure, please use your discretion to advise them.

Please ensure that your child has the opportunity to find out the meanings of all the words in order to expand their vocabulary.

Monday 4th October 2021

Spellings:

Homophones and near homophones

medal, meddle, missed, mist, scene, seen, board, bored, which, witch

High Frequency:

of, my, one, him, time, it, her, them, Mr, I’m

If you find it difficult to learn all the spellings, focus on the words in red.

Please talk with somebody about the meanings of all the words so that you can begin to understand how they are used.

Friday 1st October 2021

Dear Year 4,

YUK! YUK! There was definitely a distinct waft of curdled, off milk in the Year 4 classroom, on Friday afternoon.  We were learning how acidic chemicals in our stomach breakdown the food we eat.  Next week, we will be a starting a descriptive piece of writing exploring a journey through our digestive system.  This, I’m sure, will be fairly gruesome and revolting.

In maths, we have started a new MNP chapter on addition and subtraction and challenged ourselves to fill in missing question numbers in column addition sums.  We had to be very careful to include the carried numbers in our calculations. 

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the Harvest Festival next Wednesday.  Remember to consent on Arbor – see the email from the office.

Have a lovely weekend – hopefully it will stop raining!

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright

Homework:

Literacy – please see attached.  This homework must be in school for Thursday as we will be referring to it in our literacy lessons.  Thank you

Times Tables – please continue to practice regularly at home for a test on Friday morning.

Monday 27th September 2021

Spellings (tested 4.10.21)

Adding the prefix il- before a root word starting with ‘l’ and the prefix ir- before a root word starting with ‘r’

illegal, illegible, illogical, illiterate, illicit, irregular, irrelevant, irresponsible, irrational, irresistible

High Frequency

he, up, no, from, day, I, had, mum, children, made

Friday 24^th September 2021

Assessment week is never anyone’s favourite time of year, but children understand that it helps us to help them more effectively and they knuckled down to a raft of tests with next to no complaint.

Between periods of silent scribbling, we were able to enjoy a little more of our class story, Odd and the Frost Giants, which is based in Viking Norway. As some of the characters in the book are turned into animals, we considered which creature we might like to become if the same fate befell us. We also explored the many types of adverb there are and the ways in which they can be positioned in a sentence. We will combine these elements of learning in a piece of writing in the lessons that lie ahead.

In maths, we are heading towards the end of our unit of work on place value and have been using rounding to give sensible estimates. Going forward, we will face some adding and subtraction challenges.

In other news, we’ve experimented with keyboard shortcuts when word processing, discussed Adam and Eve’s fall from grace and discovered just how much British territory the Anglo-Saxons managed to secure.

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework:

Maths:

Rounding to the nearest 10 and 100.

This sheet includes one or two very large numbers and also a couple of decimal numbers which children may not yet have encountered. Some resources are provided to help with explanations if needed. If these numbers prove too difficult however, please allow your child to leave the questions out.

• A place value chart is attached to help children identify which digit is in the tens or hundreds column and therefore which digit informs them about whether to round up or down.
• A blank numberline is also provided so that children can identify the multiple of ten or hundred on either side of the given number and thereby understand how to round it appropriately.
• There is a poster to show which digits round up and which round down.

Spellings (tested 27.9.21)

Adding the prefix im- before a root word starting with ‘m’ or ‘p’

immature, immeasurable, impossible, immortal, imperfect, impatient, immoveable, impolite, important, improper

High Frequency

said, can, little, into, too, in, are, as, back, by

Monday 20th September 2021

Spellings to learn this week

Adding the prefix im- before a root word starting with ‘m’ or ‘p’

immature, immeasurable, impossible, immortal, imperfect, impatient, immoveable, impolite, important, improper

High frequency:

said, can, little, into, too, in, are, as, back, by

Friday 17th September 2021

We have all enjoyed a Roald Dahl themed end to the week which involved a fabulous workshop based on the book ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’.  This culminated in a debate on whether Boggis, Bunce or Bean, the three farmers, or cunning Mr Fox were in the right.  It was definitely a half way split and a few children decided that they were all in the wrong.  The children also took part in a whole class comprehension activity based on the first two chapters of the book and later in the day enjoyed making 3D Mr Fox masks. 

In maths we are continuing with our place value topic, learning how to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000 and we have been celebrating some good progress towards learning our times tables – well done everyone. Keep up the hard work as there is still a way to go before we are times table stars! 

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Wetz & Ms Wright

Homework

Spellings:

Adding the prefix in- (meaning ‘not’ or ‘into’)

inactive, incorrect, inaccurate, insecure, indefinite, incomplete, infinite, inedible, inability, indecisive

High Frequency

a, all, were, come, house, to, we, go, will old

Literacy:

See attached a word class insect colouring sheet.  Also attached is a word class quiz and a support sheet.

Times tables:

Please continue to learn your times tables.  These are tested/taught on Fridays every week in school.

Monday 13th September 2021

While spellings are practised as often as possible in school, we would like to encourage children to practise daily at home. To this end, the current week's list will be posted at the beginning of the week for testing seven days later.

Adding the prefix in- (meaning ‘not’ or ‘into’)

inactive, incorrect, inaccurate, insecure, indefinite, incomplete, infinite, inedible, inability, indecisive

High Frequency

a, all, were, come, house, to, we, go, will old

Friday 10th September 2021

With a full week under our belts, we are well and truly back in the saddle.

In literacy, we have written poems that boast about our talents and used synonyms to express precisely how proficient we are at each.

In maths, we have reminded ourselves of the meaning and importance of place value and practised working systematically.

Our topic this term is entitled ‘Invasion’ and we have considered the chronology of

Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman Britain and begun to read from our class text Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman.

Our thanks to you for helping make the beginning of the school year go so smoothly by ensuring that children have everything they need when then need it. Never EVER before have I known the WHOLE class to have a handwriting pen. (In the circumstances, it would be churlish to mention that one person needed a refill.) Most pupils always have a reading book in school. If this is not the case, could you please see that they have one in their bag each day?

To those of you at home, we hope you’re feeling okay and look forward to seeing you soon.

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Spellings

These have been practised a few times in school and should be learned regularly at home. They will be tested on Monday morning.

Words with /aw/ spelled with augh and au

caught, naughty, taught, daughter, autumn, clause, cause, astronaut, applaud, author

High Frequency words (Check that you can spell these also.)

the, that, not, look, put, and, with, then, don’t , could

Literacy:

Please see attached information.  This is homework is due in on Thursday 16th September

Weekly maths homework will be issued from next week.

With Harvest Festival only a few weeks away, please get your child to look at the attached link in order to familiarise themselves with the tune and lyrics of the song we will be singing.

Friday 3rd September 

Welcome to Year 4!  It has been a fun packed start the term. 

We have created some very beautiful artwork using pastels inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian abstract painter.  Kandinsky thought a lot about what colours mean and how they make people feel. He believed that colours had a soul.

In literacy we have been reading Weslandia by Paul Fleischan, which is the story of a boy called Wesley, who had a very interesting summer project.   He creates his own staple food crop and founds his own civilization in his back garden.  The children have a new favourite ambitious word – myriad which means many, lots of…

In maths we have started our topic on place and numbers up to 10,000.  We have been successfully counting in 25s today!

Could the children please ensure they have a fully stocked pencil case for Monday, including a handwriting pen, pencils, a rubber and some colouring pencils.

P.E. kits should all be in school for Monday morning please, thank you.

Have a lovely weekend! 

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright

Friday 16^th July 2021

As we all struggle to contain our excitement about the approaching summer holidays, children have shown impressive maturity this week by coping admirably with several changes in routine. Well done, everyone.

Please remember that you must sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge at summerreadingchallenge.org.uk as soon as possible. This brilliant initiative is an excellent way to entice reluctant readers and to introduce new titles to bookworms. Reading is key to all aspects of learning and regular practice could easily slide during the long break ahead. The website offers an easy, attractive and helpful way of ensuring that children remain engaged with books. Once registered, you can access games, news, chat and reading suggestions. Dip in and enjoy!

In the handful of days that are left this term, we are looking forward to welcoming parents back onto the school site as the audience to our summer show. A reminder that all children need black leggings or trousers and black shoes – please make sure these are visibly named and brought into school on Monday.

Finally, can everybody bring a substantial carrier bag to school in which to carry home all the treasures that they are currently keeping in their trays and elsewhere in the classroom.

See you soon,

Ms W and Mrs W

Friday 9th July 2021

These final few weeks of the year are , as always, a mixture of the usual and the not so usual. While some timetabled lessons have continued to take place, they have been interspersed with painting, games, music, rehearsals and sporting competition.

We performed our song and dance for the Chiddingstone School Summer Show directors and received high praise. They liked it so much that a reprise was requested – so, if you haven’t learned the words to the second verse of 'Truly Scrumptious', please make sure you do. A copy can be found below.

And check you know the lyrics and tune to 'What a Lovely Midsummer Night' too.

Here is the YouTube link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/music-ks2-ks3-school-plays-musicals-a-midsummer-nights-dream-what-a-lovely-midsummer-night/zmpmjsg

The children will only need black leggings/trousers for the school play as we will provide pink/purple t-shirts for them to wear.

Abandoning her usual spot at the piano, Sally Higham, dedicated her weekend to preparing resources and, on Monday, led us all in a landscape painting session in which children did their best to apply their existing watercolour knowledge and learn about perspective. Recognising how difficult the task is, they were all hugely complimentary about each others’ work and the consideration they showed was lovely to witness.

We managed to hear everyone’s entry for the Y4 Class Playlist and what an absolute success it was. The variety of tunes selected was incredible with contributions ranging from old classics to the new and unknown. Children listened respectfully to other people’s presentations and chosen tracks, they threw some shapes and joined in with choruses. They were also kind enough to ask teaching staff to share their choices. It was perhaps my favourite project of the year.

A complicated pirate-themed co-ordinates game proved a popular, if contentious and noisy, maths challenge, while in literacy we reminded ourselves of the present perfect tense and wrote our end of year reports. In RE we explored Christian marriage and our topic work found children designing their own musical instruments. Please continue collecting clean and useful packaging, containers, bottle tops and other items that can be used in this ‘junk modelling’ activity. Some children have also brought home a list of specific items they think they require. It would be really helpful if you can help them gather what they need or suggest substitutes. Bags full of anything you can find should be brought to school on Monday so that we can begin building. Thank you for your help.

Our much delayed sports day is due to go ahead at the end of the week. Let’s hope the weather is finally kind and very good luck to you all.
(But even better luck to the England footballers on Sunday!)

Ms W and Mrs W

Friday 2nd July 2021

There is a definite red and pink theme in Year 4’s classroom this week with gorgeous heart inspired hats being created for the summer production, made from paper plates and copious amounts of tissue paper.  In maths, we have been recapping how to find the fraction of a whole using the bar model – a difficult concept but one which they have persevered with.

We enjoyed a lovely walk to see the beautiful blue flowered linseed crop growing in the fields around the school (see the photos below).  We discovered the plants are grown for their seeds which are crushed to extract their oil.  This oil is used as a preservative for wood, concrete and an ingredient in paints, varnishes and stains.

On Monday afternoon we are looking forward to learning more about landscape painting from the multi-talented Sally Layne. Would every child please equip themselves with an A3 (or slightly larger) piece of sturdy cardboard which will act as the support for their emerging artwork? Once again, this is needed on Monday. 

Can you also please begin to collect items that can be used for model-making? Suitable items include small boxes, plastic containers, plastic bottles, foil trays, cardboard, lollipop sticks, cocktail sticks, off-cuts of wood, newspaper, balloons, bottle lids, elastic bands, pipe cleaners, string and so on. We will be designing this week and building next. The more items we can gather, the more options children will have. Thank you.

Ms Skinner has kindly offered to host a Year 4 end of term party at the farm – fingers crossed for some lovely sunny weather.  Please see a separate parent email for details. 

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright  

Homework:

There is no literacy homework this week as books were being used in the presentation of the children's entertaining, surprising and moving class playlist.

Maths: 

Please see attached sheets - due in on Thursday 8th July. 

d

Spellings:

Take a look at the Y3-4 statutory spelling list and first 100 high frequency words. There will be a spelling challenge based on some of these.

Friday 25th June 2021

Music dominated our lessons this week. We explored traditional songs, instruments and dances from around the globe and learned the old-fashioned game of Oranges and Lemons. It would have been nice to perambulate outdoors, but sadly the weather had other ideas. However, the cramped space of the classroom did nothing to dampen the children’s enthusiasm for this simple, if slightly gruesome pastime.

In literacy, we finished our sound-based poems and everyone did an excellent job of finding ways to improve, correct and organise their initial ideas which is an important advancement in the writing process. We also listened to an excerpt from Jeff Wayne’s version of H G Wells’ The War of the Worlds and considered how music might be used to enhance the narration of our own verse.

There was more singing and dancing as Y4 began rehearsals for its part in the summer production. The lyrics to Truly Scrumptious and the big finale are attached. Please take some time to learn them over the coming days. Children know the tune to Truly Scrumptious and the link to What a Lovely Midsummer Night is: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/music-ks2-ks3-school-plays-musicals-a-midsummer-nights-dream-what-a-lovely-midsummer-night/zmpmjsg

Our maths focus – converting units of measurement and revising the 24-hour clock – had no soundtrack.

Commiserations to Scotland. Come on England and Wales!

Ms W and Mrs W

Spellings

Statutory: actually, although, eighth, enough, favourite, guide, interest, island, occasion, probably, surprise, thought

High Frequency:

came, your, make, looked, very, have, just, that

Maths homework

The children have a maths homework sheet stuck in their maths homework books but if they wish to try something a little harder or easier then please find attached all the different worksheets.  

Friday 18th June 2021

Assessments are over!

Year 4 have enjoyed swimming this week which has also been a good distraction from all the tests in class.  The children should be congratulated for trying their best and working so hard this week. So far the results are looking very pleasing.

Next week, we will be continuing with our topic Playlist learning, in science, how our ears work and carrying out an investigation.  In maths we will be continuing with our recap of the most significant areas of the numeracy curriculum, particularly place value from the start of the year.

Have a lovely Father’s Day weekend – hopefully the sun will put in an appearance.

Mrs W and Ms W

Homework

Please note that maths and literacy days have changed.

Literacy is now distributed and returned on Tuesdays and the maths deadline is Thursday.

Numeracy homework:

The children have all been given a maths sheet which should be stuck in their homework book.  If they find this too easy then please do print off a different sheet from the options below.  Most children should be able to tackle the ‘Multiplying and Dividing by 10 and 100’.  If you want a more challenging activity try the ‘Multiplying and Dividing Decimals by 10, 100 and 1000’.

Literacy homework:

Children have the homework sheet relevant to them stuck in their homework books. Below you will find copies in case of emergency!

Spellings

Class spellings were not tested this week due to other assessments so the previous list of words will be carried over until next week.

Statutory: breathe, continue, disappear, Earth, extreme, increase, learn, minute, medicine, natural, promise, quarter

High frequency: know, well, sea, found, laughed

Are you someone that learns the red statutory words as well as the high frequency list? 

Friday 11th June 2021

The final topic of the year is Playlist – all about noise! Our introduction to the world of sound involved listening to and attempting to identify familiar creatures and events. We also learned a little about how Foley artists create effects for films. Following this, we practised adopting good body posture, tried out some breathing techniques and facial warm-ups before embarking on ensemble singing. The aim was to be audible and have good diction and the result was a very pleasant surprise with all children trying in earnest to do a good job.

Literacy found us analysing Roger McGough’s poem The Sound Collector while, in maths, we did our best to decipher Roman numerals and began a recap of the most significant areas of learning we have covered this year. In RE we considered idea of life as a journey.

Next week, children will sit assessments to ascertain their end of year levels of attainment. On a brighter note, they will also be swimming in the afternoons from Tuesday to Friday (see separate letter).

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Please note that maths and literacy days have changed.

Literacy is now distributed and returned on Tuesdays and the maths deadline is Thursday.

Spellings

Statutory: breathe, continue, disappear, Earth, extreme, increase, learn, minute, medicine, natural, promise, quarter

High frequency: know, well, sea, found, laughed

A reminder that some of you are to learn the red statutory words as well as the high frequency list. If parents are in any doubt, please get in touch.

Friday 21^st May 2021

Having learned the names of different triangles and quadrilaterals, Class 4 this week practised describing the position of vertices using co-ordinates. I would ask everyone to check last week’s homework before embarking on the latest challenge, however, as we haven't all managed to distinguish between a parallelogram, a rhombus and a trapezium. Also, do remember that a right-angled triangle is either scalene or isosceles.

In literacy, we continued to compose narrative poetry while, in RE, the Hindu concept of reincarnation and karma really stimulated the children’s thinking and led to some deep reflection and a torrent of queries!

In the final of our topic lessons, we investigated which type of landscape lessens the impact of flood water and also learned about homeless llamas, Land Rover snorkels and other surprising aspects of the 2013 flooding of the Somerset Levels from a retired Avon and Somerset police inspector who lives and worked in the locality.

Wishing you all a pleasant half term holiday. For those of us remaining in Blighty, let’s hope it’s not too soggy!

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Spellings

Remember, some of you are to learn both the high frequency words and those printed in red.

Statutory: bicycle, circle, decide, eighth, length, material, mention, natural, opposite, regular, separate, suppose

High frequency: could, some, little, about, like, now, down, back

Maths: Identifying position/constructing polygons using co-ordinates.

Friday 14^th May 2021

Another busy week in Year 4. 

We were very lucky to have Flo from the Environment Agency come and give us a talk on rivers today.  We learnt all about river habitats, river features and how to protect and look after our rivers. 

The children also enjoyed a very relaxing and calming mindfulness moment amongst the wild garlic looking up at the tree canopy, listening to the gentle sounds of the stream and the wildlife around us – several of us felt our eyes drooping and sleep not far away.   

We also have to say a big thank you to Sally Higham (our piano teacher) for giving up her time to come and teach Year 4 some watercolour painting skills. Sally is not only a musician but an amazing artist too. We learnt how to be ‘ish’ (the children will explain) and not to worry about whether our artwork is any good but to just enjoy the experience, which we all did. Sally will be joining us again next week for more painting lessons.

In literacy we have been drafting a diary entry of a journey down a river, incorporating some fabulous noun phrases. We have enjoyed sharing some of our ideas and beautiful descriptions.

Don’t forget that the Royal Mail stamp design entries are due in next week.

Best wishes,

Mrs W and Ms W

Homework

Literacy – please see attached.  One star is the easiest and three stars is the most challenging.  If you are finding your sheet to difficult then do please print off an easier version.  This should be in school for Thursday.

Spellings

Statutory: answer, caught, continue, early, eight, fruit, height, peculiar, potatoes, purpose, minute, weight

High frequency: said, asked, called, people, children, them, they, saw

If parents of those children who are currently focusing on high frequency words would like them to extend their learning, please ask them to attempt the vocabulary printed in red. 

Maths

Homework sheets were distributed in class last week and stuck in the green homework books, but in case you need another copy these can be found below. Deadline is Tuesday, please.

Friday 7^th May 2021

Our topic began with rivers but we’ve moved on to mountains. This week we learned that there are five different types of mountain and explored how each is formed using a variety of household items including bath towels, balloons, books, boxes and butter icing!

In literacy we corrected and published a lengthy postcard that the character of Maia in Eva Ibbotson’s Journey to the Riversea might have written to a school friend in England upon her arrival in the Amazon. As children rightly predicted, we have discovered that all is not quite as she had hoped and expected.

The concept of area and how to calculate the size of the surface of a rectangle has been well understood in class and should be consolidated with the latest piece of homework. Our next challenge is geometry.

Apologies for the postponement of parent consultations this week. Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to catching up with those of you we have not yet seen next Wednesday.

Don’t forget that the Royal Mail stamp design entries are due in less than a fortnight.

Best wishes,

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Spellings

Statutory:  recent, quarter, often, island, increase, build, consider, ordinary, possess, address, experiment, disappear

High Frequency: what, when, went, was, will, here, there, their

(You have reached the end of the top 100 high frequency words, so here are some of the trickier ones for you to practise.)

Maths: Area challenges were distributed in haste following a hiccough with the photocopier. If you didn’t receive a copy, please download ONE of the sheets below. Select that which you think is most suitable. This is due no later than Tuesday.

Friday 30th April 

Dear Year 4,

It has been another busy and productive week in Year 4.

We have been learning how to calculate area and perimeter of shapes using square units in maths. 

In literacy we read a beautiful description of a river from the classic story, Wind in the Willows and unpicked the language in a whole class comprehension activity. Later in the week, we went for a walk down to Somerden and the river and sat on the riverbank listening to the sounds of nature all around us.  Using adjectives and descriptive language, the children created some fabulous sentences/phrases and lists of vocabulary which they will be using next week when we start to plan and write a diary entry of a journey down a river. 

In our topic work this week we looked at grid references on maps.  We are now experts in how to read or create a six-figure map grid reference on an Ordnance Survey physical map. 

In water colouring club the children started new paintings - either a beautiful mountain sunset landscape or a bunch of colourful carrots.  Both these paintings require the children to use different painting techniques and to have knowledge of the colour wheel.

The children have both literacy and numeracy homework this week so please do read on for further information about this. 

Homework:

Literacy: this is due in next Thursday.  Attached is a PowerPoint containing information on the different word classes if you need some help.  There are spare copies of this differentiated homework on the bench, at the front of the classroom, so if you are finding your sheet too difficult/easy then do please swap and take a different sheet. 

Spellings

Statutory: believe, difficult, famous, February, grammar, knowledge, learn, library, occasion, sentence, though, write

High frequency: but, so, very, your, an

Friday 23rd April 

It’s been all about water this week as we plunge into our new topic, Misty Mountain, Winding River. We’ve explored vocabulary that adds interest and stirs the imagination by studying poetry by Valerie Bloom, we’ve begun reading Journey to the Riversea by Eva Ibbotson, have explored the way water can create physical changes to the landscape and everyone can confidently name and define principal features of a river course.

The culmination of our latest work on fractions saw children turning mixed numbers into improper fractions in order to subtract. Our next mathematical focus will be on calculating with time.

We considered the range of roles we play in life to help us understand why Hindus honour different deities and enjoyed team races involving piggy backs, hopping, bottom shuffling and shuttle runs in addition to our usual PE lesson. As part of the Active 30 programme, children are encouraged to undertake extra outdoor/physical exercise at home as well as in school. To inspire and motivate you to do this, some home learning PE ideas will be provided on our website.

The Royal Mail is running a national competition for the design of a new collection of stamps celebrating heroes of the pandemic. Templates, instructions and information can be found below. Designs are to be sent into school by 18th May at the latest so that we can check that they include the right details. Entries received later than this date, will NOT be entered into the competition. Unfortunately, entries cannot be
returned, so do make a copy if you can.

Finally, we would like to congratulate Georgie on being announced KS2 runner up in the PTA photography competition with her picture of a rabbit hiding among the daffodils. Well done to bunny and photographer alike!

We look forward to meeting up with you all in parent consultations in the next two weeks.

Ms W and Mrs W

Homework

Spellings: accidentally, although, certain, century, describe, Earth, favourite, forward, naughty, possession, probably, therefore

High frequency: his, some, looked, people, make

Weekly maths and English homework will be issued from next week.

Friday 26th March 2021

It has been assessment week and, although this is never popular, children have shown great maturity in knuckling down to do what needed to be done. Between tests, they have enjoyed painting the clay models of sea creatures which were fashioned last week and outdoor time in the form of walking, PE and a raucous team-building exercise in which increasingly large groups of children had to turn over a mat while standing on it at all times!

On Thursday morning we enjoyed a talk from ScubaJunkiesSEAS on sharks – we all learnt so much! Did you know that the Greenland shark can live to be 500 years old?  There was a collective, “ahhh…,” for smallest species of shark called the dwarf lantern shark, which is only ten centimeters long. It can light up its belly, a process known as bioluminescence, as a form of camouflage from predators swimming beneath it in the sea. 

Year 4 had the exciting job of releasing a rescued hedgehog into the school vegetable garden and surrounding countryside.  We all wished the hedgehog a safe and happy life in his new home and hope one day to see him/her again.

We have written and rehearsed a whole class simile poem which we will perform at next week’s Easter Service on Wednesday. Everybody speaks part of the poem and you MUST learn your words off by heart by Monday. Please also take note of who speaks the line before yours so that you know when to come in. There is a copy of the poem attached below along with the lyrics to See What a Morning which you also need to learn. Those of you who are taking part in the bible reading should practise your words (see below), but do NOT need to learn them. 

Don’t forget that Wednesday is also the day to bring in your decorated Easter Bonnets or Boots so that you can take part in our spectacular parade.

Have an enjoyable weekend gluing, sticking, sewing and line-learning.

See you for end of term fun next week.

Ms W and Mrs W

Friday 19th March

Dear Year 4,

Another busy and productive week in Year 4. We have been trying our best to get to grips with fractions.  So far, we have found equivalent fractions and added fractions with common denominators, putting them in their simplest form (or lowest terms). It has become very apparent to everyone how important their times tables are in the topic of fractions. 

Next week, we have another talk from Cat and Dave at ScubaJunkiesSEAS. This time we will be learning about sharks – very exciting! We also have assessment tests for maths, reading, spelling and grammar and punctuation. This will inform our planning and teaching for next term, enabling us to identify any gaps in skills and knowledge. 

The children had a fun Red Nose Day coming to school ‘back-to-front’ – we even had some fabulous hairstyles with ponytails and plaits back-to-front. The ‘egg’ and spoon races caused much laughter and cheering.  After several exciting, close run heats, held in our class playground, Penelope was third, Ryder came second and our winner was Elsie, congratulations!

Have a lovely weekend!

Sarah Wetz and Rebecca Wright

Homework: 

Regular maths and literacy homework will resume after the Easter holidays. For now, please make sure that you are reading for at least 15 minutes a day and, as we have assessments next week, you should practise tricky spellings and times tables as often as possible.

Friday 11th March 2021

Whatever each of us was feeling last weekend about returning to school this week, I think we can all now agree that we are very pleased to be back. Well done to all the children for adapting so quickly to their new routines and our expectations and to parents for ensuring that their children had the right things in the right places at the right times. A big pat on the back to us all!

Year 4 children have clearly benefited from excellent home-schooling which meant that, in just a few days, we have been able to cover a lot of ground. Fractions has been our maths focus and we’ve considered time conjunctions and the features of a biography in literacy. Underwater food chains and associated vocabulary filled our topic sessions and extra outdoor time in the form of a catch-up-with-friends countryside ramble and human-chain relay races proved hugely popular and motivating.

Homework this week is to research information about the explorer, conservationist, filmmaker and inventor, Jacques Cousteau. Children already know the main facts about the man, but they should attempt to find out a further 6–10 interesting and different details to include in a biography of his life. These can be jotted down on the activity sheet found inside the homework book (and below) or written directly onto the page. Alternatively, a bullet point list could be typed and stuck in. Some useful sources of information are attached.

Please note that the biography will be structured and written in school next week. It should NOT be written at home.

Spellings

Statutory words: appear, breathe, calendar, experience, extreme, heart, imagine, important, popular, pressure

High frequency words: at, like, see, their, saw

Friday 11th December 2020

Year 4’s classroom is sparkling – we have definitely put the glitter to good use this week making gorgeous snowflakes to decorate the windows. We have also created a Bethlehem inspired backdrop, from an old sheet, for the Nativity next week.

Again, thank you to those who have already brought in their tea towel headgear and a stretchy band to secure it. Please make sure everyone’s is in school by Monday so we can be fully prepared for the dress rehearsal. Can we also ask you to provide your child with a sock – the larger the better? An adult’s thick woolly walking sock or welly boot liner or Christmas stocking is ideal. Do make sure everything you would like to see again is clearly named!

Rehearsals have been going well and Year 4 have enjoying practising their song and perfecting the actions/dance.

This week the children have finished editing and making improvements to their Merlin and Arthur, Sword in the Stone inspired adventure stories.  They are all very proud of their work and will be bringing home a copy of it, along with another example of their recent writing, for you to see next week.

Water colouring club have taken home their fabulous Christmas tree cards. We will definitely be continuing this lunchtime club next term as everyone, including Mrs Wetz and Ms Skinner have enjoyed it.  We will be watching a tutorial on water colour painting techniques the first week back and then we will all decide on our next exciting project. 

Next week is full on Christmas with the school Nativity on Wednesday and the birthday/Christmas party on Thursday morning when we will be playing some party games, indulging in some delicious cake and making party hats.

If anyone has any odd pieces of wool that they no longer want, we can put it to good use. Please send any spare yarn in on Monday. Thank you.

Best wishes,

Mrs Wetz and Ms Wright

Homework

Maths: Year 4 did very well with their challenging short multiplication homework last week - well done everyone! This week they have some fun times table Christmas colouring - enjoy. Please use a times table grid if you are unsure of your x9, x8, x7 and x6 tables.  

Literacy homework

We have been trying to master our use of the apostrophe this term.

The final challenge of the year is to show you understand that an apostrophe works in two ways:

a) to replace missing letters in contractions and

b) to indicate that someone owns something.

Although the apostrophe is sometimes used with a plural noun, it is NOT used to make a plural noun.

Friday 4th December 2020

The appearance of our classroom Christmas tree was this week was met with much excitement, despite its rather shabby form! Challenging though the year may have been, nothing, it seems, stops children looking forward to Christmas and they could barely wait to deck the halls.

Year 4 has started rehearsals for the outdoor nativity and we all feel our song is going rather well. The time that would normally be spent on literacy homework can this week be dedicated to learning the words and actions to 'We’re Not Washing Our Socks' (make sure you know the chorus as well as the verses) and 'O Holy Night' (the second verse needs some attention).

Thank you to those who have already brought in their tea towel headgear and a stretchy band to secure it. Please make sure everyone’s is in school by Tuesday next week. Can we also ask you to provide your child with a sock – the larger the better? An adult’s thick woolly walking sock or welly boot liner or Christmas stocking is ideal. Do make sure everything you would like to see again is clearly named!

On a more academic note, in maths we are learning formal written methods for multiplication and in literacy we have studied the features of play scripts and attempted to bring together our full range of grammatical techniques in a piece of writing about Viking life.

One more week of work before the fun and games begin…

Best wishes,

Ms Wright and Mrs Wetz

Homework

Literacy: Learn 'We’re Not Washing Our Socks' and 'O Holy Night'. All the way through. By Tuesday. No excuses. Copies of the words have been placed in the literacy homework books and can also be found by scrolling down below.

In addition, children need to know just the first two lines of the traditional carol 'While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks' which are as follows:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,

All seated on the ground...

Spellings:

question, mention, position, action, injection

possession, discussion, expression, conclusion, tension

High frequency words: of, my, one, him, time

Maths: differentiated sheets attached.  If children find the missing number sums too difficult then do please print off the short multiplication sheet instead.  Some children have already been given this sheet which should be in their school bags.  Some of the sheets have rather a large number of questions on them so please do only spend 20 minutes doing the homework - you are not expected to complete them all.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Friday 27th November 2020

This week Year 4 have been learning about pronouns and how, if used effectively, they help their writing flow well.  They wrote a short account, using pronouns,  of how Merlin and Arthur escaped the clutches of an angry pike in the film The Sword in the Stone. 

The glitter is back (it’s not even December I hear you all thinking) – the nature paperweights have been given a layer of sparkle for the festive season and will be coming home with the children this week.  

In the school Nativity Year 4 are shepherds so they will need a tea towel and an old pair of tights of large hairband for their costume.  Please could these be sent in to school in a named bag – thank you.  The children will be singing, ‘We’re not washing our socks’ and the lyrics are attached so they can start learning the words and practising at home. 

In water colouring club the children have almost completed their winter snowstorm scenes.  This week, they painted footprints in the snow and learnt about perspective and how objects become smaller the further away they are.  We have a few winter fir trees to add on the hill tops and a silhouette of a man walking his dog to complete the scene.  Our next project will be a shining angel to make a Christmas card. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Sarah Wetz & Rebecca Wright

Homework

Literacy:

Recognising and writing main and subordinate clauses. Children have each been given two pages of complex sentence activities to complete. If they find the task difficult, please make a note in their books to confirm that they have worked for at least 20 minutes. If there are different types of task, we ask that they attempt several of each rather than all of one and none of the other. Where an explanation is required, this should include information about types of clause and conjunction.

Spellings - plural endings:

woman/women, potato/potatoes, lady/ladies, story/stories, leaf/leaves, knife/knives, axe/axes

High frequency words: I, had, mum, children, made

Maths: 

Sheets attached.  Please can the children recap the names of 2D shapes while working out the total number of vertices in the bags.  

Friday 20th November 2020

Following our retelling of Norse myths last week, we tried out some performance techniques this week and children threw themselves wholeheartedly into exercises where they had to speak like an angry parent or walk while pretending their leg was in a cast! They were then given the chance to practise their newfound skills by reciting couplets from a Norse saga – Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Self-consciousness got the better of most in the end, but Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Maths lessons presented us with word problems involving multiplication and division. It is clear that some of you have been busily at work in the background getting times tables facts to stick and this is of huge benefit. Please keep going.

Mrs Wetz and some Year 4 pupils Zoomed a thought-provoking assembly about Sir David Attenborough, we displayed our kenning poetry on colourful sword templates and wrote delightful blessings in the style of the Christian Grace to hearten us and send us on our way at the end of the school day.

As rehearsals begin for our socially distanced Christmas nativity, we would be grateful if children could begin to familiarise themselves with the Calypso Carol and O Holy Night. Lyrics and links to the tunes are attached below.

Wishing you all a good weekend.

Ms Wright and Mrs Wetz

Homework

Literacy: Research new facts about King Alfred the Great and record them in full sentences. Please ensure that what you write is legible, that it makes sense and is properly punctuated – names and all! For Tuesday.

Spellings – homophones (it is important to be able to use these correctly in context).

medal/meddle, missed/mist, scene/seen, board/bored, which/witch

High frequency words: he, up, no, from, day

Maths -  see attached multiplication and division word problems x6 x7 and x9.  Some children have asked to do a further maths investigation which is also attached.  If they find this too challenging then they should just complete the word problems sheet.  

Friday 13th November 2020

As part of our exciting topic this term, Traders and Raiders, we have been reading the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  We now all understand the difference between legends, which have some basis in historical fact and tend to mention real people or events and myths, which are entirely fictional. We have also been making Viking longboats using cereal boxes and reams of selotape – so far these are looking good.  In geography, we have been looking at the journeys made by the Vikings and the parts of our country which were invaded by them.

On Thursday we went for a sunny, autumn walk, during our break-time, and collected interesting and beautiful seeds, autumn leaves, berries… to mount on a small wooden ash disk to make a paperweight. We will be going on another walk next Thursday too, so please do remember those wellies as it is quite muddy on some of the footpaths.

Watercolour painting club was well attended and the children experimented with different watercolour techniques to create a lollipop card.  Next week we will be starting our winter scene pictures learning about perspective and colour value. 

In maths, we have been attempting to master the inverses of multiplication and division sums and also division with remainders.  Our times tables are coming in very handy this week!

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms Wright and Mrs Wetz

Homework

Literacy is now due on TUESDAY and maths is due on THURSDAY.

Literacy:

Summarising texts is the theme of this week's literacy homework. Children should try to recognise which details are essential to the story and which are not.  A variety of challenges has been set including identifying the most accurate summarised version, creating a relevant chapter heading and/or describing what happens in their own words and within a limited word count. 

Spellings (soft ‘c’):

centre, century, certain, recent, experience, sentence, notice

circle, decide, special

Maths:

Maths homework this week is a recap of the properties of 2D shapes and the children have been asked to create their own set of shape top trump cards.  They have been sent home with the card templates on an A3 sheet. Please see attached a differentiated Powerpoint on the properties of 2D shapes.  The majority of the children in the class should refer to Powerpoint 2 or the more detailed Powerpoint 3.  However, if a simpler version is more appropriate please refer to Powerpoint 1.  Please note, if you run these Powerpoints as slide shows you will need to click on the questions down the side of each slide to see the answers.

Friday 6th November 2020

Our latest topic, Traders and Raiders, has excited much interest. Our new class story is written in the style of a Viking saga and children have analysed the text in careful detail to infer characteristics of the unlikely hero, a boy named Odd. They have also produced a colourful array of Saxon shields, complete with metal boss and a handgrip.

Maths, as warned, is all about multiplication and we have worked on building strategies that will help us use the facts we know to find the facts we don’t. This is useful even for those who already have good times tables recall because multiplication does not stop at 12!

We were allowed off site for the first (and perhaps the last) time on Wednesday when it was Class 4’s turn to attend an act of worship in the church. The lesson was about peace and it made a very pleasant change to our daily school-based routine.

As the weather has now turned chilly, please ensure that children bring coats – and gloves and hats if they need them. They understandably enjoy escaping the classroom and being outside and most still want to eat their lunch in the garden. With this in mind, it might be useful if your child could bring a large plastic bag or similar to sit on so that they can use their coats for warmth rather than as picnic blankets.

On Thursdays or Fridays each week, depending on the weather, Year 4 will be going for a bracing country walk during their break time so could all children please bring in named wellies and a raincoat for the end of the week. 

Many thanks,

Ms Wright and Mrs Wetz

Homework

Please note that literacy homework will be set by Ms Wright this term and the maths homework will fall to Mrs Wetz.

This means that literacy is now due on TUESDAY and maths is due on THURSDAY.

A couple of children appear to be without one or other or both of their books (you know who you are!). Please have a good look at home for them. If your exercise book was not in school this week, your homework is therefore on loose paper.

Literacy:

Viking reading comprehension. Please answer as fully as you can and in complete sentences using joined-up handwriting.

Writing should be in blue pen and drawings should be in pencil.

Spellings:

with, went, when, invade/invasion, divide/division, collide/collision, comprehend/comprehension

Maths:

Bonfire Night Multiplication Mosaic Colouring - this is a differentiated activity and the children have chosen which sheet they wish to tackle.  Some children have asked if they can complete more than one sheet which, of course, they are very welcome to do. 

Friday 16th October 2020

We have all had a fabulous and very productive first term – the children have been delightful and have settled well over the last few weeks.  We have accomplished some lovely pieces of writing, completed the invaluable place value topic in maths and have just finished addition and subtraction within 10,000. Scrumdiddlyumptious has been a great creative curriculum topic and we have all enjoyed learning about healthy eating and where our food comes from. This week we did some cooking and made Hot Frogs from Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach – very yummy!  

Next term our class topic is ‘Traders and Raiders’, which is based on the Saxons and Vikings. In maths we will be starting the term looking at multiplication and division so please brush up on those times tables as these will make life much easier.

Have a great half term holiday!

Sarah Wetz and Rebecca Wright

Homework

Times tables: frequent practice please.

Reading: ten minutes a day 

Friday 9th October 2020

The highlight this week was our Harvest Festival, held outdoors in weather that remained thankfully dry. After a shaky start and some last minute rehearsals, Year 4 children managed to learn a tricky multi-part song and Martha and Jude presented their Bible readings clearly and confidently. We enjoyed the dances, poetry and drama performed by other classes and happily joined in with the actions that accompanied songs sung by our youngest pupils. Everyone agreed that it was especially nice for the whole school to meet together even if we had to remain in our socially distanced bubbles.

In class, we attempted to get to grips with complex sentences and children are beginning to be able to distinguish between main and subordinate clauses. In maths, we tried, with mixed success, to learn some mental maths techniques and we practised column subtraction. RE gave us the opportunity to consider the Ten Commandments and, in our topic lessons, we matched familiar foods to their country of origin and discussed seasonality.

It was good to catch up with some of you at parents’ consultations and we look forward to meeting with everyone else in the week ahead.

Ms Wright and Mrs Wetz

Homework

Spellings:  because, our, no, know, where, wear, there, their, they’re

Alternative spellings: in, are, as, back, by

Maths: addition – column/mental. Due Tuesday.

Times tables: frequent practice please.

Reading: ten minutes a day 

Literacy: expanded noun phrases - please see attached

Friday 2nd October 2020

This week, we have started a new topic in maths on addition and subtraction.  We have been adding thousand numbers with carried numbers using the column method.  The children have been trying to use their number bonds to ten to help them with the mental addition in the column sums.  We have also enjoyed the narrative poem The Rascally Cake, writing our own recipes for the disgusting cake. We completed our science investigation to find the juiciest fruit or vegetable and were all (including Mrs Wetz) very surprised at the results – the winner was the radish. We had a good discussion about the validity of our results and whether we should repeat our experiment to check our findings.  One suggestion, from some of our budding scientists, was that radishes have very thin outside skins whereas, something like a lemon, has a think rind which does not contain so much water and therefore does not lose so much weight when dried in an oven.  Well done, everyone. 

We are looking forward to taking part in the school Harvest Festival next week.

Homework:

Literacy: please see sheet attached.  This is due in next Thursday. Pease do watch the BBC Bitesize link on the sheet as a reminder of how to punctuate a list - the children found it very amusing. 

Maths: negative numbers. Due on Tuesday.

Spellings: different, difficult, important, ordinary, enough

Alternative spellings: said, can, little, into, too

These will be tested on Tuesday (along with one or two words from previous weeks).

Friday 25^th September 2020

With our assessments all completed we are now able to forge ahead with revising and teaching the areas of the curriculum we have identified as requiring most focus.

This week we have learned and practised using prepositions to guess where hidden objects might be found; to enable a partner to draw a picture accurately and to describe the paintings of a renowned artist. Recipe formats informed the children’s instruction writing and resulted in some tasty scones.

In maths we are busy learning how (and why) we round numbers. After a hesitant start, children have all made excellent progress and many are now able to round numbers to 10, 100 and 1000 and are beginning to use this skill to estimate answers to addition problems.

Topic work featured the works of the painter, Arcimboldo. Children were fascinated by the way this sixteenth century Italian artist was able to produce portraits from fruit, vegetables, animals and other objects. This week, they went on a mini outdoor treasure-hunt to discover some biographical details about the man and next week they will use his ideas to create their own masterpieces.

As the weather has lately become more unpredictable, please send children to school with a coat. Although very few choose to wear one, it does provide something dry to sit on when the ground is wet and we would like to be able to eat lunch outside as often as possible.

Thank you,

Ms Wright and Mrs Wetz

Homework

Maths: Rounding. This can be found in your child’s green homework book and should be returned by next Tuesday. Several different activities have been distributed, so copies are NOT available on the website this week to prevent confusion. 

Spellings: thousand, hundred, one, two, four, eight, increase, decrease

Alternative spellings: all, were, come, house, to, we, go, will

Please practise once a day at home. Tested on Tuesday

Times tables: Please practise daily to ensure knowledge of 2x, 3x, 4,x 5,x 8x, 10x before moving onto 6x, 7x, 9x

Literacy: Instruction texts.  The children have been asked to write the instructions to make a sandwich.  It might be helpful for the children to make their chosen sandwich first, before writing their instructions.  Do please take some photos to attach to the homework. 

We have all had a lovely sunny week at school.  The children have enjoyed picnicking in their bubble garden. 

It was great to see so many of you on our zoom curriculum meeting earlier in the week – apologies again for the delayed start. Please find attached the curriculum overview for Year 4 and our class timetable. 

The class enjoyed our Roald Dahl day which focused on the fabulous story of Fantastic Mr Fox.  We read some of the book, studied the characters of the three farmers – Boggis, Bunce and Bean and wrote a description for them.  We then made WANTED posters for Mr Fox while watching part of the film, in the afternoon. 

Have a great weekend!

Sarah Wetz and Rebecca Wright

Homework:

Spellings: fruit, favourite, potatoes, tomatoes, exercise

Alternative spellings: with, then, could, would, should

We have worked on these in class, but they should be practised regularly at home. There will be a test on Tuesday.

Reading: daily for 15 minutes. Please read to an adult whenever possible, ask questions and discuss things you have noticed.

Maths: 

This has been sent home in a green exercise book and should be returned by Tuesday morning. In case of emergency, copies are attached below!

Times tables will be tested on Friday, so please spend plenty of time learning these important mathematical facts. Without them, you will find much of the work we have to do this year rather difficult.

Literacy: please see work in literacy homework books and attached below. Some of the class have chosen to tackle the more challenging sheet 2 but if they find it too difficult then they can print off sheet 1 and do that instead. This homework should be in by next Thursday, 24^th September.

Friday 11th September 2020

Hello everyone,

It's like we've never been away. The children have tackled a full week of lessons and tests without complaint and are managing our new school rules and routines superbly.

In literacy, we have recapped the grammatical rules of writing a list and explored ways of trying to spell words we don't yet know. In maths we have reinforced our understanding of place value and skip counting. Our RE focus was to consider what Christians may learn about God from the Creation Story and, in this term's topic (entitled Scrumdiddlyumptious), we have begun to understand the benefits of different nutrients and which foods provide what.

Next Thursday is Roald Dahl Day. You do not need to dress up, but there will be craft activities and other Roald Dahl-inspired lessons in the classroom. At the end of the week, you will also have to opportunity to vote for our next Head Boy and Head Girl.

We look forward to presenting our overview of the year ahead in our virtual curriculum meeting at midday next Wednesday. Details of how to join will be forwarded shortly.

See you then,

Ms Wright and Mrs Wetz

Homework

Spellings: pleasure, treasure, measure, leisure, picture, adventure, capture, creature, future

Alternative spellings: the, that, not, look, put, and

We have worked on these in class, but they should be practised regularly at home. There will be a test on Tuesday.

Reading: daily for 15 minutes. Please read to an adult whenever possible, ask questions and discuss things you have noticed.

Maths: place value

This has been sent home in a green exercise book and should be returned by Tuesday morning. In case of emergency, copies of the two different versions are attached below!

Times tables will be tested on Friday, so please spend plenty of time learning these important mathematical facts. Without them, you will find much of the work we have to do this year rather difficult.

Literacy: please see work in literacy homework books and attached below

Dear Year 4,

Welcome back to a new school year! The children have been fantastic this week and should be congratulated for settling back in to the school routines so quickly, with very little fuss.  

In literacy we have started a diary entry for a boy called Wesley, from the book Weslandia by Paul Fleischman.  A copy of the book can be found on the link below: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RetwwWOpt84

We have also been for a short walk to listen to the sounds of the countryside, completed a comprehension, painted some very large flowers for a classroom display and even carried out a science investigation on taste - all in just three days! 

Literacy and numeracy homework will be set from next week however, could the children please practise their times tables for a test on Friday afternoon.  

Have a fabulous weekend! 

Sarah Wetz and Rebecca Wright