Super Suspense Story Openings

In Year 4 Literacy we have been getting creative with our writing. We have thought about 'uplevelling' our work and making it effective for the reader. As we have been writing suspense story openings we have aimed to 'hook' the reader and build up tension to explore in the rest of the story.

Here are some examples Year 4 agreed would be successful at getting published in 'The POW Book Apprentice'. We hope you enjoy reading them and are left on the edge of your seat.

The school gate was left open...

By Year 4 pupils

The gate was open. Quickly, I sneaked inside the gate everything was dark. I walked as slow as possible but just at that moment a guard walked by. I had to think of something fast so I ducked behind a dustbin. I stayed behind it for five minutes then the guard had gone, so I got out of my hiding place and went back to my mission. I started creeping further into the gateway...

Hooked? We were.

The school gate had been left open in the middle of the night all the security cameras could see was two dark shadows. Jane could see a lot more though because she lived next door to the school. She looked out, meanwhile the security cameras were making out two outlines of two people trying to get into the medals and trophy cupboard ...

Will the burglars manage to steal the trophies? Why do they want to?

When Tom saw the gate had been left open he wanted to go and tell someone until... BANG BANG BANG! He heard a gun had been shot. Tom ran as fast as he could however the robbers chased after him.  Just then Izzy ran in front of him "Hi Izzy!" shouted Tom. "Hi Tom, just came out when I heard the gun. It's very scary." Izzy was Tom's girlfriend. Suddenly, the robber ran a different way. "Why has the robber got a gun?" cried Izzy. "This school isn't safe anymore." said Tom sadly. They heard another BANG. "Their in the library" said Tom. Just then when Tom turned around Izzy was gone. Tom screamed "Izzy!" I hope the robbers didn't take her he thought.

What has happened to Izzy? Why was the school being burgled?

We were hooked into 'buying' these books to find out what happens next. We hope you have enjoyed our suspense openings. Would you buy the book? Comment below.

Friday 26th April - spellings - two weeks to practise!

Spelling – Year 4 – 29^th April 2013

Choose your list and learn these spellings for two weeks time!

List 1 – apple bubble sizzle table candle

List 2– paddle wriggle hobble icicle circle cycle uncle

List 3 – chuckle prickle cackle vegetable miracle trouble grumble terrible

List 4 – Amphitheatre gladiator ballista barbarian Basilica camouflage hypocaust chariot mosaic Circus Maximus

 

Fairthorne Kit List...

As promised, here is a kit list for our trip to Fairthorne Manor next week:

Pyjamas (warm)
Wash kit and towels (x2)
Unbreakable mug/cup
Sleeping bag, pillow and pillow case (a bed sheet will be provided)
Waterproofs e.g. cagoule ESSENTIAL and over-trousers if possible
Anorak/Jacket (warm)
2 pairs of trainers (one old pair for wet activities) and wellingtons
Slippers for indoor wear
Woollen hat and gloves/sunhat and sun lotion
Sweaters/sweatshirts 
Jeans/trousers/tracksuits - preferably more tracksuits due to nature of activities
T shirts, long sleeve shirts
Shorts
Underwear
Socks - thick and think pair
Small day rucksack - ESSENTIAL
Poly bag for wet or dirty clothes
Torch
Small notebook and pencils
Stamps to send postcard home
Reading book
Small game or pack of cards
Pocket money - up to £4.00

Gameboys, radios, personal stereos, mobile phones, penknives and matches are NOT allowed.
The wearing of jewellery is NOT allowed when doing activities.

Home Learning 26/04/13 - 01/05/13

Getting ready for Fairthorne Home Learning...

In preparation for our VERY exciting trip next week to Fairthorne we would like you to create a poster describing three DASP caterpillars you will need at Fairthorne and why you think will need them .

Our DASP caterpillars celebrate citizens who are co-operative, confident, caring, considerate, conscientious and courteous.

Please try to bring your home learning in before we go to Fairthorne on Wednesday.

Year 4 Team

lost shoes!

Hi there!

Just a quick request - a pair of new school shoes have vanished following after school football on Monday - if you could please check bags that would be great!

Thanks,

Mrs. Johnson

A few things about Fairthorne and a plea!

Some of the children have been asking questions about what they are and are not allowed to take to Fairthorne next week and we are answering them when they arise or putting them in a labelled box that we will answer together before the end of the week. We would like to request that children DO NOT bring along any spray deodorant - roll-ons are perfectly acceptable though. 

If any children have any dietary or travel requirements please let the office or the year 4 team know. Also, if any children are particularly prone or hayfever we would like them to tell us and bring any medication into school in preparation for the trip. 

Finally... the plea! 

If any parents have any spare kitchen or bathroom tiles that they will not need, we would be very appreciative if you could bring them into school for use in our mosaics this week. We have enough for each child but we are limited to a handful of colours; dark blue, brown, some white and dark green. So if there are any other colours that could be spared we would be eternally grateful.  

Thank you!

WOW vocab, effective openers, cool connectives and poweful punctuation.

Year 4 have been doing some fantastic work in Literacy 'uplevelling' our sentences. We have been improving our work focusing on V.C.O.P (vocabulary, connectives, openers, punctuation).

 

 

We started with the sentence:

 

The mouse ate the cheese.

 

-  added some WOW vocabulary 'sneaky', 'mischievious', 'crafty', 'miniscule'.

 

The mischievous mouse ate the cheese.

 

- used a connective to extend our sentence 'but', 'meanwhile', 'although' ,'also', 'however' 'until'.

 

The mischievous mouse ate the cheese until he heard a purr from the doorway.

 

- gave it an opening using an adverb (-ly word) 'slowly', 'noisily', 'bravely'.

 

Quietly, the mischievous mouse ate the cheese until he heard a purr from the doorway.

 

- lastly, we added some powerful punctuation.

 

Quietly, the mischievous mouse ate the cheese until he heard a purr from the doorway...

 

 

Can you improve my sentence using V.C.O.P? Improved examples will be added to our Literacy wall. Parents feel free to comment your improved sentences below.

 

The cat ran along the wall.

Home Learning - not more!?

The children have all been assigned Mathletics activities to focus on so if you feel that you'd like your child to be accessing any maths work through the week then please do encourage them to log on!

Spelling lists will be focussed upon in class during week but the emphasis is on the children practising these at home, also knowing their meanings as well as the hope is these will be consolidated enough to add to their repertoire!

The class are working super hard; they're certainly ready for the Fairthorne trip!

Mrs Mewett

Update

Firstly, I would like to say a BIG thank you for some of the home learning so far this week! Incredible creativity! I look forward to receiving more home learning as the week progresses. 

With only a week to go the children (and staff) are getting quite excited about our residential trip to Fairthorne. If there are any questions or concerns please feel free to approach any of the year 4 team and we will address them ourselves or find out for you. I will post a kit-list on the blog just in case people have misplaced them.  

We had our trip to Maiden Castle Farm on Monday to see the lambing season in action as well. Most of the children have been on this trip before and were very keen to point out the 'gaps' in my knowledge! This time we were lucky enough to be allowed to feed the lambs which was an added bonus! 

Maiden Castle Trip on Monday 22nd April

Year 4 are due to go to Maiden Castle Farm this coming Monday to see the lambing season in action. Of course, we are hoping for lovely weather on Monday but just in case it turns nasty we would like the children to bring wellies with them to school on Monday. Children can wear jeans or comfortable trousers (that are ok to get a bit messy in) to school on Monday so we won't have to worry about getting changed.

Home learning from Friday 19th April

We have well and truly begun our Roman and Celts topic work this term and for the first piece of home learning for the term we would like the children to contribute to our class timeline!

It will span from 500BC to 500AD! The children can pick any event that happened or any person, or group of people, who lived in that time frame. They can then decide to do any piece of work that relates to their chosen event or person. It could be a piece of writing outlining what happened on the day of Julius Caesar’s murder. It could be a picture showing a Celtic settlement or a model of a Roman villa... Anything! One condition; it must have a year on it that is within our time frame.

I look forward to seeing all your brilliant ideas…

Week beginning Mon 22nd April Spellings

Spelling – Year 4 – 22^nd April 2013

Choose your list and learn these spellings for next week.  You can learn more than one list if you wish.

 

List 1 – been seen tree these people

List 2– there their they’re to too two knew new

List 3 – through threw hole whole wear where because Romans Celts

List 4 – separate definite poisonous abandoned generally similarly familiar

 

Afternoons in Year 4

 

We have dived, head first, into our topic work this term: Roman and Celts! The enthusiasm from the children has been fantastic and we hope to feed that as the weeks continue. We have looked at the difference between 'BC' and 'AD' (ask your children to decipher them and explain the difference. Special points if anyone can remember what 'AD' stands for). Today we also began making individual Roman mosaics and I know they will look wonderful when they are finished. We are also hoping to make a large class mosaic that will go in our school garden so if anyone has any ideas what the design can be, please feel free to draw it and bring it in! 

Take care

Orchestra

Orchestra will begin again THIS Thursday 18th April. Clubs begin next week. All players need to attend please, should have their instrument and two pieces of music. Bring a drink and snack and then we'll begin playing! Any extra hands would be gladly appreciated!

Mrs Mewett

First day into the summer term!

Year 4 started off the day by looking at some exciting websites to try and find out interesting facts about the Celts and Romans. These were then shared with other members of the class using the game 'snowball' - ask your child to explain! We have now written on yellow stickies and posted onto a class wall facts and questions we want to find the answers to through our topic.

In Maths we are continuing working upon our division strategies which are quite tricky, however the class all worked really hard on this and know that we are focussing upon this all week. Please pop in to see us if you want to know anymore about this work.

Please feel welcome to speak to Mrs Mewett, Mr Gibson or Miss Boyce about any aspect of Year 4, first thing in the morning is a good time but we can always find time to speak to you. We will be talking more about what we will be covering with Year 4 at the Parent Information Session which is on Monday 22nd April at 9am in the school hall. Looking forward to seeing you all through the course of the week!

Year 4 team

Summer sun and fun...

We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow and hearing all about your Easter holiday.

 

 

This term we will be looking at Celts and Romans as our main Humanities topic. Miss Boyce, Mrs Mewett and Mr Gibson have been busy thinking of exciting Literacy, Numeracy, D.T and Art projects that link to the Celts and Romans. In R.E we will be investigating the religion Islam. We are also hoping to make the most of the summer term in P.E with lots of outdoor field activities.

 

Miss Boyce has been to one of the oldest and most complete Roman Amphitheatres this holiday and has brought back some great photos, mosaics and facts to share with you all...

 

 

What do you already know about the Celts or Romans? What else would you like to find out?

 

 

 

See you tomorrow!

 

Yr 4 Team