Autumn Term 2020

W.C. 7.12.20

We are edging ever closer to the end of term but that doesn't mean we've let up on the impressive work we've been producing. 

In Maths, we have begun our topic of multiplication and division. We have worked on multiplying and dividing by 1, 10 and 100 thinking more carefully about how each digit moves columns rather than just saying 'add or remove the zero!'. We know that this wouldn't work for all numbers so we've been excellent mathematicians and been able to really explain this process!

In English, we have sequenced all of 'FArTHER' carefully using adverbials to sequence each step. We have worked on making sure that we use adverbials more appropriate to narratives than instructions too. We have also planned and begun to draft our own sequel to the story where the father's son is now our main character and has his own dream! We have been working hard to include: subordinating conjunctions, adverbials to sequence, abstract nouns, personification and starting our sentences with verbs! Next week we will edit and neatly present this.

In Topic we have been finishing our topic of Lively Lincolnshire. We have been exploring the human and physical features of Sleaford and thinking about how this has changed over time. We have also worked on explaining how these changes have impacted Sleafordians! We had lots of fun on our walk in Sleaford this week and exploring the River Slea and linking this to the production of wheat at Cogglesford Mill. It was great to see all of our hard work be put into practice! We also sketched the river and began, on Friday, to create our own Van Gogh inspired version of the Sleaford landscape.

In ICT, we have been exploring databases and considering how to input data so it is easier to find key information. We have been using fields, recording data and inputting it effectively and also had lots of fun experimenting with colours and fonts!

With Miss Cragg, we have been looking at directions in French and finishing our work on Christianity! We have an exciting visit from Father Philip next week.

We also had loooooads of fun on Friday in our Santa Run! It was great to see all of our children pushing themselves to their limits!

We are also going to be trying some Lincolnshire Plum Bread next week and making our own bread - any questions, please ask!

W.C. 30.11.20

In Maths this week, we have continued to work hard on length and perimeter. We have learnt that perimeter is all the outside lengths of a shape added together. We began by measuring lengths, then explored finding perimeter on a grid before moving onto finding the perimeter of rectangles and squares. Some of us realised that we could find 2 sides (the length and the width) and then multiply it by 2! We also found the perimeter of rectilinear shapes including discovering the missing length. We finished the week on a post-test. Next week, we begin multiplication and division.

In English, we have continued with one of our favourite books to-date, FArTHER. We have been really focusing on taking the role of the characters this week. We have designed our own flying devices and written instructions on how to use them. We have also written a letter from the father's perspective after he has left for war. There were so many great examples of powerful verbs and abstract nouns! We have unfortunately finished the book... however, this meant we could think about what we enjoyed, disliked, what puzzled us and what connections we could make to other films and books. We are going to write a sequel to this next week!

In Topic, we have learnt about earthquakes! Did you know the Earth is formed of tectonic plats which are under the surface. These move in different ways such as convergent, divergent and transform. When they collide or move apart, they can cause earthquakes or form volcanoes and mountains! We learnt that Sleaford is unlikely to have an earthquake as we are not on the fault lines or plate boundaries but that we can still feel them here! We have also explored compass points and took part in some orienteering! We learnt that there are 4 cardinal points and 4 intercardinal points. We know that Lincoln is to the north of Sleaford and London is to the south!

In Art, we have worked on replicating Van Gogh's Starry Night painting by layering our work. We have focused on creating the swirls in our work rather than creating lots of straight lines. We have also recapped our colouring mixing to create tints and shades. We will next be creating our own interpretations of a Sleaford landscape!

In French with Miss Cragg we have learnt about the different parts of the human body and learnt their names. We also now know why weddings are important in the Christian religion and explored the different symbols such as the rings. In Music, we have appraised Mamma Mia by Abba and continued to work on our glockenspiel playing! 

W.C. 23.11.20

This week has been jampacked yet again! I have been really impressed with all the work produced.

In English, we have started our next text called FArTHER. We first made some predictions thinking about what we know and what we think. We next explored making questions using modal verbs (would, could, should, can... the list goes on!) about the story and what we want to know. We have also been writing a postcard in the role of our main character all whilst exploring abstract nouns such as 'a wave of excitement' or 'a shiver of strangeness' and the present perfect tense! To finish the week, on Friday, we explored starting our sentences with verbs to describe the father's workshop.

In Maths, we have continued with our unit of measure. We have been working hard to convert between different measurements such as millimetres, centimetres, metres and kilometres. It's been tricking to remember all the different multiplication and division with this but we've worked hard. We've been using this knowledge to add and subtract lengths making sure we put each of the numbers into the same unit first!

In Topic this week, our focus has been the history of Sleaford. We have learnt all about Cogglesford Mill and it's importance in the community as well as looking at different ways flour has been milled over the years! We have also discovered why so many places in Sleaford are named 'Carre' because of the Carre family. Did you know they founded Carre's Grammar School and the Almshouses?! We have also learnt about the Bass Maltings and created our own letter trying to persuade the people of Sleaford that it was a good thing to build!

In RE, Music and French with Miss Cragg, we have been continuing to learn about the Christian faith and learn all about confirmation and the Eucharist. We have been learning more melodies on the glockenspiel and have learnt about pitch. 

I cannot believe it's December next week!!! I think I can hear sleigh bells ringing in the distance....

W.C. 16.11.20

In English this week, we have been busy drafting, editing and writing up our explanation text all about the life cycle of a plant. We've been trying really hard to include personification, noun phrases, adverbial phrases and interesting subheadings! Next week, we will be completing a DIRT task on this and then moving onto our next book!

In Maths, we have finished our topic on addition and subtraction, completing our post-test. It was nice to see our confidence grow! We have also begun our new unit on measure, thinking about how centimetres and metres are related. Hopefully, we can link back to this in our work next week on millimetres and kilometres.

In Science, we completed an experiment on conductors and insulators. Did you know an insulator will stop an electrical current and a conductor will allow electricity to flow through? 

In History, we've commemorated Armistice Day by exploring the poem 'In Flanders Fields' and thinking about the symbolism of the poppy and why people wear them. We created our very own pieces of art by using water colours to draw a poppy over the poem. 

In RE with Miss Cragg, we have been finding out a lot more about Christenings and why this is an important part of a Christians life. In Music, we've been practicing more notes on the glockenspiel and have been able to recognise different modes of transport in French.

We've also been lucky enough to be visited by Mark Bamford from Sleaford Museum to help us with our topic of Lively Lincolnshire. He explained to us all about how transport has changed in Sleaford from the use of roads, to the waterways, to the railways and how we now use the roads primarily again!

We were also treated to a pantomime of 'The Wizard of Oz' by M&M productions - this was an unexpected surprise that we all really, really REALLY enjoyed - thank you Mr Clay!

A little note to say that I am so incredibly proud of all the children this week in completing their assessments. They have all made phenonemal progress and should be really pleased.

W.C. 9.11.20

We're back with a bang! What a great week we have had since returning from half term - I have been so impressed with all of the hard work I have seen this week!

In English, we have been working on our final pieces of work to do with the book 'Varmints'. We have worked on sorting information into different paragraphs (and thinking of creative names for them) as well as using different sentence openers by recapping our work on subordinate and main clauses. This has all been in preparation for our explanation text big write! We planned this on Wednesday by exploring the different parts of a plant's life cycle and began writing at the end of the week. Next week, we will continue this, edit and neatly present it!

In Maths, we have been continuing to work on addition and subtraction. This week we have recapped column subtraction with exchanges and discovered different ways that we can check our answers and make sure that they are accurate. We've also looked at efficient subtraction and equivalent difference which makes it much easier that subtracting from large numbers with lots of exchanges! To end the week, we have practiced using rounding to estimate what our answers will be near.

In Science, we have started our unit on electricity. We first looked at electrical appliances and sorted them between mains and battery powered - we did some fantastic homework on this too! Next, we worked on constructing our own circuits and learnt the names of key components such as bulb, motor, wire and buzzer. On Friday, we used our problem solving skills to work out why circuits would and wouldn't work.

In PE, we have started new units on netball and gymnastics. In Netball, we have been practicing our chest passes, making sure that our aim is accurate! In Gymnastics, we are focusing on balances but to begin, we have recapped our work from Year 3 on symmetry and asymmetry and different methods of travelling.

We're also lucky enough to be having Miss Cragg with us for some lessons - she is teaching us RE, Music and French. In RE, we have been starting to look at Christianity and the different rites of passage that all Christians go through: baptism, confirmation, weddings and funerals. In French, we have explored different modes of transportation as we begin our new using on travel. In Music, we have worked hard to using glockenspiels to learn the D, E and F notes.

Phew... what a busy week!

Reminder: Year 4 now have PE on a Tuesday and Thursday. Please wear your PE kits on these days.

W.C. 19.10.20

Another busy week for us in the lead up to a well deserved half term! In English this week, we have been continuing to read the Varmints book and watch the film too. We have been creating our own poems all about change, explaining our likes and dislikes and creating a first person retelling imagining that we are the Varmint!

In Maths, we have been finishing our work on addition using multiple exchanges and have since moved on to exploring subtracting. We have looked at 3 and 4 digit numbers with no exchanges and have begun to explore exchanging too. I have been impressed by the way the children are keen to show what they know in bar models too.

In our Topic work this week, we have used our Computing skills to move a sprite around different parts of the map of the United Kingdom using coordinates. We have also been exploring Van Gogh in our art work and how different brushes affect our work.

On Friday, we had a treat to finally watch 'The Iron Giant' based on the book we read at the start of term.

Have a great break all - see you in two weeks!

W.C. 12.10.20

In English this week, we have been looking at our new text The Varmints! It’s also a short film which has really helped us to understand the story a bit more. We have been creating noun phrases to describe the sounds we could hear in the trailer. We have also worked on personification. This we learnt it where we give human characteristics to an inanimate object. On Friday, we explored adverbial phrases to sequence the events of the story, which will help us with our retelling next week.

In Maths, we have been continuing to explore addition. We have slowly been getting used to adding using column method making sure that we carefully count up the totals. We have been exchanging too. This happens when we have a number larger than 9 in any column which means we have to exchange to the column above. I have also been impressed with the children’s work on showing their answers in different representations too. Next week is all about subtraction!

In Science, we have explored freezing and melting. We now understand that materials can freeze and melt at different temperatures. This is why a candle and an ice cube melt at different speeds too. We also learnt that freezing slows down the energy in the particles. As part of this work, we have also explored evaporation and condensation. Did you know that when the sun heats up a puddle, it causes it to evaporate? This means it turns into a gas! We have applied to this our understanding of the Water Cycle too.

 We also had a great time using ‘Now Press Play’ this week. This is a new resource that we have in school which allows us to use drama and listen to a story whilst understanding and learning new things. This helped us with our knowledge of evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection!

In French, we have learnt how to express what types of building and attractions we have in our town. I was really impressed with how the children’s pronunciation is developing and how they were able to spot similarities between English and French words!

What a week!

W.C. 5.10.2020

We have reached our first big write of Year 4! This week we have been really busy writing our own mystery story inspired by The Iron Man. We had to try hard to include: a range of sentence lengths, modal verbs, questions, expanded noun phrases, conjunctions and adverbials- PHEW!

In Maths, we have completed our unit of Place Value by finishing with negative numbers and Roman numerals. We have learnt that the Romans had a different number system to us - they used letters! I is 1, V is 5, X is 10, L is 50, C is 100, D is 500 and M is 1,000! They didn't have the number 0 and they had rules... You can't have more than 3 of the same symbol in a row! We also took our post-test and began our new unit of addition and subtraction.

In Science, we have begun our topic on States of Matter. We have explored what properties solids and liquids have and begun to sort between them. We have also started to understand how particles work in all three states including gases! 

In French, we have explored ways to say where we live. We have been able to state differences between villages, cities and other places including the countryside and mountains. We know that j'habite a Sleaford means 'I live in Sleaford.'

Reminder:

Parents' evening for Year 4 is on Wednesday. Each appointment is 5 minutes. Times have been texted to parents.

W.C. 28.9.2020

We have continued and (sadly) finished exploring our text of The Iron Man this week. We have written an astronomer's log, a poem about the Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon and begun to design a new character and plan our own mystery story ready for our big write next week.

In Maths, we have continued with our place value work. We have been able to compare numbers, order them in ascending and descending order, counted backwards and forwards in 25s, rounded to the nearest 1000 and started to understand what negative numbers are.

We have also completed an information piece on The Wash exploring why animals choose to live their (including millions of birds that migrate there every year!), why there are different plants that grow there and explaining its location. We have also been practicing our art skills and using our new sketch books to demonstrate our understanding. We have so far looked at primary, secondary and tertiary colours, including how they can be mixed, and thought about which colours we would used to express different emotions. 

Next week, we will be learning all about states of matter in Science!

W.C. 21.9.2020

In Maths this week, we have been exploring numbers to 10,000 in different representations. We have worked hard on our partitioning work and understanding that numbers can be shown in different ways but can still recombine to make our starting number. We have also worked on representing numbers to 10,000 on number lines, finding 1,10, 100 and 1,000 more or less than numbers as well as comparing numbers based on the values of digits.

In English, we have been reading more of our novel the Iron Man. We have been able to sequence chapter 2 well and even created impressive summaries. We wrote letters to Hogarth advising him on what we thought he should do next and we even got a reply! As well as this, we have looked at the author's intent with their choice of imagery for the Iron Man's eyes and designed metallic meals to stop the Iron Man from eating the machinery in the town!

We have begun our topic of Lively Lincolnshire too. So far, we have assessed what we know already about this topic including having a discussion about Sleaford. Next, we looked at what Lincolnshire is exactly and where we could locate it. We know it is in the United Kingdom, situated in England and it's a county in the East Midlands. Next, we began to think about the rivers in our area including the River Slea and the River Witham. We have looked at a river's journey and discovered that the River Witham's mouth is at the Wash! After this, we conducted our own research on The Wash itself including why it's so significant. We will be writing an information piece on this next week!

W.C. 14.9.2020

In Maths this week, we have continued practicing our rounding skills to the nearest 10 and 100 - remembering to look careful at the columns and reciting our rounding rule (0,1,2,3,4 round down, 5,6,7,8,9 round up). We've also been exploring numbers to 10,000 including counting in thousands and using counters to represent numbers.

There's been progress on our discovery in English too! So far, we've been working hard on our dialogue including both direct and reported speech. We had to use this skill in a mini-newspaper article to tell the villages all about Hogarth's discovery of the Iron Man (this is where we think the arm is from!) We've also been working to describe the Iron Man using similes and expanded noun phrases AND we've been thinking about the author's intentions in his writing!

We have also continued our PSHE focus in our afternoon lessons this week. Next week, we shall be moving on to our topic... LIVELY LINCOLNSHIRE!

W.C. 7.9.2020

A great first week and a bit back for the children! It has been lovely to see all their faces again and their attitudes to learning shining through! 

This week we have our work on place value in Maths. We have been able to recognise and represent numbers up to 1,000, practiced our work on number lines and begun to explore rounding.

In English, we had a strange discovery... there seems to have been a robot arm left in our room!! We've had to do some serious investigating and ask some questions all while using modal verbs. We've also been working on using a mixture of sentence types in our report writing.

Our Topic focus this week has been PSHE. We've been coming to terms with the new changes which have happened in school, the community and our world. We've looked at strategies we can use if we feel worried or stressed and thought about things we're looking forward to!

Useful information:

• Homework is given out on a Monday (Spellings and Maths) with test taking place on Fridays to check children's understanding
• Children are expected to read at least 3 times a week.