Summer Term 2017
W.C. 3.7.17
In English this week we have continued to learn about James and the Giant Peach. We have read a lot more and used our knowledge to have a debate! We all took part in our different teams to discuss who we thought was the biggest hero. I was extremely impressed with how the children respectfully listened to one another and then used their own opinions and thoughts to explain why they agreed or disagreed.
In Maths, we finished recapping multiplication and division. We looked at the different ways we can arrange multiplication sentences and still produce the same results. We understood that this doesn't work with division as you would get some different results! We used our knowledge to apply what we know to word problems. We are getting very good at working out what to do using the different terminologies.
In Science, we did an experiement on which liquids do the most damage to your teeth. We began to plan and set up our test, remembering how to ensure that we were making it fair to each of the liquids we tested. We made a couple of observations throughout the week but we will look at our final results next week!
In Art, we finished our canopic jars and some have made it up to our display outside! It is looking fantastic with all of our topic and art themed work!
On Friday we had our sports day. I was so impressed with how the children supported and encouraged on another and we had a fantastic, fun day! Well done to all the children who took part!
W.C. 26.6.17
This week we have been working super hard! We finished our end of year tests at the start of the week but we have continued to be determined and motivated to learn more! In English, we have begun looking at James and the Giant Peach in more detail. Currently, we are reading through chapters and completing activities so we can really get an understanding of Roald Dahl's work! We have looked at describing the insects inside the peach and have even used Dahl's adjectives to inspire our own 'wall' of words. I'm excited to see the children use these in their work.
In Maths, we have been continuing to look at multiplication and division. We looked more carefully at short division and were able to reason how to use it, including each individual step. Furthermore, we have also been able to explain factor pairs of numbers - we did an investigation to work out which number from 1-25 had the biggest numbers of factors. Can you guess which one it was?
In Science, we looked at food chains - we were able to understand the key terminology of animal kingdoms including producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer and tertiary consumer. We then used this to design a working food chain by knowing which living things were herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. The children had lots of interesting questions about which things get eaten by which!
In ICT, we have continued with our Egyptian game and they will be finished next week. We are learning lots about scripting and how to debug the programmes to help us improve them. In Topic, we showcased our mathematic skills by using our place value knowledge and using the Ancient Egyptian number system to decipher their numbers. The children were able to explain and solve large number problems and even made their own! In Art, we begun constructing our canopic jars, ready for someone's innards (make sure you stay on our good sides!). We have been using air dry clay and some pringles tubes (thank you for your contributions) to make them and mould them. We will finish these next week.
Don't forget our Sports Day is next Friday (7th). You can watch from 1.15 - remember your child needs a coloured top to match their school house!
W.C. 19.6.17
Wow, we are almost half way through this term already! This week has been a busy one for us! In English we began the week by planning our own set of instructions. We worked hard to complete our big writes by the end of the week and I am extremely pleased to say that all of the children have produced fantastic instructions on 'How to grow a huge peach like James'! They have learnt a lot of skills and showcased them brilliantly. In Maths, we've been continuing to look at the four operations and this week we focused on formal and mental methods for multiplication. The children also took some end of year tests this week in Maths; they should all be proud of themselves for their positive attitudes to the tests. In Science, we explored teeth! We looked at the 3 types of teeth we have as humans and could explain the function of each. We also understood that adults and children have a different number of teeth and that it is important for us to look after them carefully. We even counted our teeth and put them onto a diagram to show which ones we have ourselves. In ICT, we began designing our Topic themed game - we all had different ideas on how to incorporate the Egyptians into our work. We will be making these move next week!
The school also had the Summer Fayre this week. For this, we designed some candle holders - this meant we had to use our measuring skills and things that we have learnt in art too! We also created our own lemonade. For this we had to follow a set of instructions to make sure we made a delicious drink correctly! We even got to have a little taste before we sold it to our visitors!
Well done Year four, keep up your hard work!
W.C. 12.6.17
Another busy week for us in Year Four! We have been continuing to learn about instructions this week in English. We have been able to write James a set of instructions on how to use the 'Little Green Things' that the old man gave him! We also worked on improving instructions by using our response pens to edit them carefully. In Maths, we have been working on our column addition and subtraction making sure that we are properly carrying and exchanging. We were even able to do this with money and explain how we knew the answers to the questions. In Science we learnt about the different functions of the organs in the digestive system; we could explain why each one is useful and what it does! On Thursday, we had a very exciting day out at The Collection in Lincoln where we got to look at Egyptian artefacts! We acted out a play on Osiris, did some archaeological digging and even created our own amulets. It was lots of fun!
W.C. 5.6.17
Welcome back! We're on our last term of Year Four but that doesn't mean that we haven't been working out socks off! This week we started our new English book by Roald Dahl, it's called 'James and the Giant Peach.' It links with our Science topic of Animals including Humans and we're all really excited to read more. So far, we've understood about James's life and what it was like for him living with his aunts (not very nice at all!) We created character profiles on Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker and used these to draw our own versions of what we thought they might have looked like! We've also spent this week looking at instruction texts - we got even got to play some card games so that we could test them out! We now know what makes good instructions and what makes them bad; we can even find the key features in the texts! On Friday, we looked at picture instructions. We firstly thought about what was good and bad about them and then were able to use them ourselves when we created instructions on 'How to make the perfect teacher'!
In Maths, we have been recapping our work on addition and subtraction. We spent a couple of days looking at mental methods (including partitioning and adjustment) and then we moved back onto written methods! With Mr Clay this week, we even did some Year Six SATS style questions and we aced them! We have also looked at a different way that we could structure our addition and subtraction questions by using the bar model. We will be practicing this some more next week.
In Science, we began to look at the digestive system of humans. We were able to label the specific organs we have that help us to digest food correctly. We even draw and coloured some organs to go on our science display.
In ICT/Topic, we started to create our presentations on Egyptian pharaohs. We did some fantastic pieces of work and were able to experiment with animations, transitions, backgrounds, pictures and fonts! We will be continuing to work on these next week and will soon be ready to present them!
A great first week back! Don't forget next Thursday we have our trip! All children need to bring a packed lunch and be ready for school on time!
W.C. 15th May
Only one more week to go until half term, but that doesn't mean that we haven't been working hard! This week we have been learning all about newspaper reports, we have written our own headlines, identified the 5 Ws in reports (who, what, when, where and why), looked at the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb by Howard Carter, interviewed Jeremy and Patsy about their discovery and planned our big write for next week! In Maths, we have been busy comparing numbers beyond 1000, counting backwards beyond zero, using our understanding of multiples to find sequences and rounding! Phew! We have sped through our recap of place value and will be finishing up and taking our post-test next week! In Topic, we began researching a pharoah of our choice and will be creating powerpoints out of these next week.
Keep up your fantastic attitudes!
W.C. 8th May
Another very busy week with lots of fantastic effort from the children! This week we completed our post-test for our Maths topics of Geometry - all of the children have made excellent progress and should be incredibly proud of themselves! As we have finished our 6 key topics for Maths this year, we will now be revisiting the topics we did at the start of the year to ensure the children have a secure understanding of them (which they are already proving they do!). In English, the children wrote brilliant stories and were able to use lots of the key features within their work. They wrote them up beautifully in pen! We will next be looking at newspaper reports before writing an article about discovering an Egyptian tomb! In Topic, the children were also busy writing. This time, they wrote instructions on how to mummify a body! We then used these instructions to mummify Natalie on Friday (thankfully, no organs were actually removed! That would've been very messy!)
W.C: 1st May
Wow, we are already in Week 3 of this term! This week we have been very busy. In English, we have written our drafts of our narratives telling what we think could happen next in the story of Jeremy Brown. We will spend a couple of days next week editing and writing these up neat. In Maths, we have been looking at the properties of 3D shapes, different types of angles, the four different triangles and six quadrilaterals! Next week we will be taking our post tests and beginning to look back over topics that we did right at the start of Year Four! In Science, we looked at different ways that we could group animals, we used Venn diagrams (a skill that we had used in Maths) to sort animals according to their characteristics. Some of us even did more research ourselves to find more animals that would fit into the categories. We also worked hard to continue designing our Egyptian death masks and will be finishing the final paper mache layer next week before we can start painting them!
Continue your hard work, Year Four! I am very impressed!
W.C: 24th April
This week we have continued to develop our story telling skills. We have written some fantastic setting descriptions of a museum and a pyramid using our 5 senses as well as being able to edit a character description to make it better. We shall be writing our own continuations of Jeremy Brown and the Mummy's Curse next week! In Maths, we have been continuing to work hard on shape. We have looked at the properties of shape including lines of symmetry and using this understanding to draw reflections of shapes using horizontal, vertical and even some diagonal lines! In science, we looked at the different groups that animals can be grouped into (although we shall be going back over this as some children found it a little confusing!). In Topic we looked at the different gods that the Ancient Egyptians believed in and did some research on them. Lots of us used the skills we have learnt in English to our writing in topic which was fantastic to see. Finally, we began to create our death masks this week by constructing the masks using paper mache - it was fun and messy!
W.C: 17th April
Welcome back! This week we have already done so much and we are all looking forward to working hard this term. In Maths, we have started our new topic of Geometry and Shape. We have been looking closely this week at coordinates. We are now able to read them and plot them to create ploygons! In English, we have started reading and understanding our new book. It is called Jeremy Brown and the Mummy's Curse and it is set in Egypt. We have been able to understand the character of Jeremy Brown and have answered comprehension questions too. We will be soon writing our own chapters of the story! Our book also links in closely with our Topic this term which is Ancient Egypt! In Topic we have been able to locate the geography of Ancient Egypt and were able to locate where places of importance were including the River Nile and Cairo. In Art, we have begun looking at Egyptian rituals and artefacts. This week we learnt about the importance of Egyptian death masks and designed our own ones which we will be starting to make next week!
We are still busy perfecting our swimming skills on Wednesday afternoons - so don't forget your swim kits!
A great start back! Well done!
