Spring Term 2022

Week commencing 14th March 

   It has been assessment week, this week. We have completed a Reading, Maths (Arithmetic and Reasoning) and a Science assessment. I would like to say a massive well done to the children for their hard work and determination! Nobody enjoys assessment time so I'm really proud of the effort shown by the entire class!

 We have been completing some art in the afternoons. We are looking at Minimalism and the artists and skills behind this movement. The children have produced some wonderful work, that they should be very proud of.

 Back to 'normal' next week - something we're all looking forward to!!!

Week commencing 7th March 

  What a lovely week we have had. We have been using lots of equipment and resources to help us with our fractions work. Children have been drawing various part-whole models and shading in/crossing out to find the answers to addition and subtraction calculations.

   In English, we have continued to read our book The Lion and The Unicorn. Lenny has run away from his home in the country but found that the fields and gardens in the countryside can be quite scary places.

   In RE, we have learned what Bat and Bar Mitzvahs are - a rite of passage in the Jewish community. We have been baking cakes to show what happens when you add energy to LIQUID cake batter. Thankfully, the children's mixing skills showed that we turned a liquid to a solid by adding the energy (heat).

  As ever, we continue to swim on a Friday afternoon. The children are continuing to improve - week on week and look like some may even achieve their swimming length goal before Year 6!

Week commencing 28th February 

   This week we have been studying fractions a little more in-depth. We have been finding equivalent fractions as well as counting fractions greater than 1 - two very tricky skills, which to my absolute amazement, the children have mastered!!

    In English, we have been learning more about our book The Lion and The Unicorn: firstly looking at prepositional phrases and how to use them effectively. Then using synonyms and antonyms to create some incredible poems!

   In our non-core sessions, we have been learning about Alexander The Great and the legacy he has left the modern world as well as looking at the Antarctic circle and what it is like there. We learned some interesting facts about how cold it is, why people can't live there but that people actually go on holiday to Antarctica!!

   We continue to swim on a Friday afternoon: the children are making some incredible progress in the pool and some can already swim 10m comfortably!

Week commencing 21st February 

   Welcome back. We are now OFFICIALLY over half way through the year - where has the time gone? We have lots of exciting events planned this term: we are working closely with Tesco to complete some work experience and bag packing; we are visiting a Temple in Birmingham and on the same trip visiting the Science museum. We will continue to have swimming lessons on Fridays plus another special, top-secret trip planned for later in the year!!!

    With the curriculum, we have begun our Fractions section of Mathematics, but like I have said to the children, this doesn't mean we forget our times tables knowledge as it is still hugely relevent for Fractions.

   In English, we are FINALLY studying war - a subject Mr Barratt is very interested and knowledgeable in! We are reading a lovely story called: The Lion and The Unicorn. We will be using the book daily by reading it, using our inference skills to 'read between the lines' and use the elements of themes to write some lovely piece of work.

  We continue to study Ancient Greece in History. We will now be learning about 'Our World' in Geography and Materials in Science. Our Religion for this term is Judaism.

Week commencing 24th January 

I run out of superlatives to describe this class sometimes! They're one of the hardest working groups of children I have ever come across. We have been working hard on the work around our new book 'Cinnamon' which is a book based around a blind girl, living in the depths of the jungle...

   In Maths we continue to learn about our multiplication tables. This week we have introduced factors and factor pairs as well as the formal written method for multiplication.

  In History, we have been looking at Ancient Artefacts from Ancient Greece and speaking about the signifiance of these artefacts. In RE, we have been learning more from our rites of passage.

A special mention goes to Sara's group at swimming, who have made insane progress - one of the group has now moved in to the middle of the pool and absolutely smashing it!!

Week commencing 17th January 

  Yet another fantastic week in Year 4. We have been drafting and editing our sequel to Winter's Child. Some of the writing on display has been awesome! Check them out on twitter: @CL_Primary5

   In Maths, we have been working on our multiplication tables - the improvement has been brilliant. Multiplications tables takes a lot of practise and time to increase speed and efficiency and I am so proud of how well the children have been doing! Don't forget the QR codes that were sent home this week contain some really cool FREE websites to use!

  In our History lessons we have been looking at the differences...and similarities between Athens and Sparta (it's probably best not to mention the similarities as they wouldn't appreciate it). We have also been looking at more of the rites of passage in Hinduism and how similar they are to other religions around the world.

Week commencing 10th January 

  We began our second week with more Multiplication and Division, this time it was focusing on the 3 times table, which then led in to challenges around the 6 and 9 times table. I am noticing a huge difference in the multiplication knowledge of the children - I am impressed!!

   In English, we finished our book and have begun the early planning stages of writng a sequel - but will it be Spring's Son or Summer's Daughter?!?

   We learnt about Ecosystems and Habitats, in Science. This is a challenging area for young children to learn about and understand but the class took the challenge well and have produced some lovely work.

   In Geography, we have been learning about the different climates across Europe.

Week commencing 3rd January

  Welcome back and a very Happy New Year! I hope everybody had an awesome Christmas. The children came back raring to go and full of that Christmas energy.

   We have begun our Multiplication and Division unit of Maths - it has become even more important now to know your multiplication tables so please continue to learn and practise! 

  In English, we are reading a really nice book called "Winter's Child". Already we have had some deep chats about wishes and dreams and this has really helped with some of our writing.

   Across the other areas of the curriculum, we have introduced Ancient Greece, Europe and Hinduism. 

 Finally, we started our Swimming in PE. It was amazing to see the bravery and resilience shown in the pool by ALL children! Well done, Year 4!