Year 4 assembly, spellings and dates

 

Hello everyone,

I hope you and your children had a good first week back to school and that you are happy with the middle school that your child has been accepted into for September. 

We have a busy few weeks ahead. On Thursday morning we have the year 4 parent and carer information session. It would be great to see you there to discuss what is happening this term. We do not have any parent and teacher consultation sessions planned this term, although if you would like to meet to discuss any aspect of your child's learning or the transition to middle school please get in touch. 

Year 4 assembly and home learning

Next week, year 4 will be doing their class assembly at 2.30pm on Friday afternoon.

The children's home learning is to learn their assembly lines, their spellings and as ever to practice their times tables. As I will discuss on Thursday's parent information session, the multiplication tables check will be happening in June for all year 4 children. Practicing tables will be helpful for this test, but having a secure knowledge of tables helps your child in all aspects of their maths learning. 

Children that have been given a character role in the assembly have some simple costume items to bring in (crucially not school uniform so they stand out more). These children have been asked to bring in a dress or trousers, depending on their role and a few other small items. If you have any concerns about their costumes, please ask a member of the year 4 team. All children have been sent home with an assembly script although if yours didn't make it home and electronic copy can be found here. 

This week's spellings:

Avant Garde:

Logan: As there are some homophones in the list please check that you r child understands the context of when to use each homophone. 

Upcoming Dates:

Thursday 25th April - Parent information session 9 - 9.30am

Friday 26th April - Year 4 Samba drums lessons start (weekly for 10 weeks)

Friday 26th April - Year 4 Class assembly (2.30pm)  

Monday 3rd May - Knob throwing event

Monday 6th May - Bank holiday 

Monday 13th May - Roundhouse building project 

Tuesday 14th May - Roundhouse building project 

Wednesday 22nd May - Class trip

Friday 24th May - End of term

Monday 3rd June - All children return to school

From 3rd June - Multiplication tables checks start

Wednesday 5th June - Boys event

Thursday 6th June - Girls event

I hope you have a lovely weekend, 

Kind regards,

The year 4 team. 

Summer term - welcome back

 

Hello everyone, 

Welcome back. We hope you and your families had a good break and are ready for summer term in year 4. 

On Tuesday, you will find out what middle school your child will be going to. I believe the emails are due to be sent out at 9.30am whilst your child is at school. Hopefully your child gets their first choice but if they don't or there are any other concerns please get in touch with a member of the team. Once places are confirmed, transition activities with the middle schools will be communicated. 

Children will have a PE lesson on Monday afternoon and so please can ALL children bring in their PE kits on Monday morning. Children will be expected to wear PE kits at middle school so this is a good habit to get into. Please let us know if your child has had a growth spurt and you are understandably reluctant to buy new uniform. There are some second hand uniform items that may be suitable.  

Please can you make sure your child's jumper, cardigan and water bottles are fully labelled. This seems to be the term that children are most likely to lose these items as the weather warms up and they are more likely to discard them outside. 

More details about what is coming up will be shared during the year 4 parent information session on Thursday 25th April. 

Upcoming Dates:

Monday 15th April - All children return to school.

Tuesday 16th April - Middle school places announced 

Wednesday 17th April - SCARF life education session (please see email for details) 

Friday 19th April - Springfest

Thursday 25th April - Parent information session 9 - 9.30am

Friday 26th April - Year 4 Samba drums lessons start (weekly for 10 weeks)

Friday 26th April - Year 4 Class assembly (2.30pm)  

As ever please get in touch if you have any questions, comments or concerns. 

Kind regards,

The year 4 team 

    

Happy end of Spring term

 

Hello everyone,

What a wonderful Spring term we have had in year 4. The term concluded today with a theatrical history show revising the children's learning about Mary Anning. 

In preparation for the new book the Humans that we will be reading next term, the children have been invited to think about their favourite human inventions for their home learning. As ever, if you are able to also find time for them to read and practice spellings and times tables, this would be very beneficial. 

Upcoming Dates:

Monday 15th April - All children return to school.

Tuesday 16th April - Middle school places announced 

Wednesday 17th April - SCARF life education session (please see email for details) 

Friday 19th April - Springfest

Thursday 25th April - Parent information session 9 - 9.30am

Friday 26th April - Year 4 Samba drums lessons start (weekly for 10 weeks)

Friday 26th April - Year 4 Class assembly (2.30pm). 

We hope you and your families have a good break. Hopefully the weather will improve soon. 🌞🌻🐥

Kind regards,

The Year 4 team

Farm visit tomorrow

 

Please remember it is year 4's farm trip tomorrow (Monday). Children should bring to school:

- Wellies

- Rain jacket

- Home trousers to change into for the farm.

Thank you,

The Year 4 team.   

Farm visit and this week's spellings

Hello everyone,

What a wonderfully busy few weeks we have had  - the children have wowed us with their World Book Day costumes, incredible singing at the Singing festival and their cooking skills at Wagamamas  to name a few recent activities. 

Next week is the last week of term before the two week break and we have the farm visit on Monday and a Mary Anning fossil show on Thursday. 

Farm Visit

On Monday, the children will be going on their last visit to the farm. Please could all children bring into school:

- a pair of wellies

- a waterproof jacket or coat

- a pair of home trousers to change into

If you would like to volunteer for this visit please email myself or Mr MacBean. 

This week's spellings:

  

Upcoming events 

Monday 25th March - Farm visit

Thursday 28th March - Mary Anning fossil show (in school)

Friday 29th March - School holidays 

Monday 15th April - All children return to school 

Friday 19th April - Springfest

Friday 26th April - Year 4 Class assembly (2.30pm). 

Tag Rugby

 

On Thursday 14th March a group of year 4 children will be involved in a tag rugby activity. 

Here are a few reminders for the day:

- Please send children into school wearing PE kits including the sports top that was sent home on Tuesday. They could wear this with something underneath and / or have a warm jumper to put on when they are not running around. 

- Children should come into school wearing trainers but bring in football boots to wear.  

- Children should have a lightweight waterproof coat. 

- Children should bring a change of clothes for when they are in school not taking part in the rugby activities. 

- All children should have a drink, snack and packed lunch. 

Parents and carers are warmly invited to come and watch their child. 

The children know if they are taking part in the activity. Please see the letter sent home for more information. 

Home Learning, Spellings and Dates

 

Hello everyone,

Key events this week are World Book day on Thursday and Non school uniform day on Friday (see the end of the blog for other upcoming dates). 

Home Learning

The Home learning for this week is for the children to think about what makes them them. What are their interests and hobbies? What are their favourite foods or colours?  In the week beginning 19th March the children will make a collage to represent themselves. It would be really helpful if you were able to start collecting pictures and (non precious) items that they could use in their collage to bring in on Monday 19th.  

Spellings

Here are the spelling for this week. 

Upcoming events 

Thursday 7th March - World Book Day

Friday 8th March - Non school uniform day

Monday 11th March - Start of the big walk and wheel

Monday 11th March - Wessex Singing festival

Thursday 14th March - Bike it breakfast

Friday 15th March - Comic relief & non school uniform day

Monday 18th March - Bikeability sessions

Tuesday 19th March - Class trip (see letter sent home for details and consent form)

Monday 25th March - Farm visit

Thursday 28th March - Mary Anning fossil show (in school)

Friday 29th March - School holidays 

Monday 15th April - All children return to school 

Friday 19th April - Springfest

World Book Day, Teeth, Collage items and spellings

 

Hello everyone,

On Thursday, we celebrate World Book Day where all children and staff are invited to dress up as a character from a book that they have enjoyed. The book choice is key - even if it's just a prop or a clue, please make sure your child is referencing a book rather than just in non school uniform (Please see the emailed letter for more information about the day). 

We are looking for some mystery readers to come and read to year 4 at 3.15pm from Tuesday to Friday. If you are available please let me know as soon as possible.  

Teeth Home learning

This week's home learning links to the children's science learning. In addition to the normal spellings, reading and tables practice, the children have been asked to either create a poster showing the names and functions of the different teeth or to log on to Purple Mash to complete a teeth to do activity. 

In class we have been discussing the importance of looking after your teeth and we watched an NHS video which has a recommended method to teeth brushing. I told the children I would share the video with families and the children will be challenged to demonstrate correct teeth brushing techniques next week using our model teeth. The NHS video can be accessed here.    

Collage

During our Art lessons the children have been learning about collage and have studied artists like Henri Matisse and Beatriz Milhazes. The children have been creating artwork inspired by these artists and it has been wonderful to see them experiment and develop their creativity. 

Next week, we will be looking at the work of Kurt Schwitters. Schwitters was famous for using random items that could be seen as rubbish in his artwork,  like sweet wrappers, bus tickets and old envelopes. On Tuesday the children will be creating their versions of Kurt Schwitters work Pine Trees (picture below). If you have any old items that we could use, we would be very grateful if you could send them in on Tuesday please. 

Spellings

Here are the spellings for this week:

Upcoming Dates:

Monday - Friday - Mystery Readers for Book day 

Tuesday 5th March - please send in your collage items

Thursday 7th March - World Book Day

Friday 8th March - Non school uniform day

Monday 11th March - Wessex Singing festival

Monday 18th March - Bikeability sessions

Tuesday 19th March - Class trip (details to follow shortly)

Thursday 28th March - Mary Anning fossil show (in school)

Friday 29th March - School holidays 

Monday 15th April - All children return to school 

Friday 19th April - Springfest

Welcome Back / Class celebration / Macbeth screening

 

Welcome back to Spring term 2 everyone, 

Having collected all their class rewards at the end of last term, the class will be having their class celebration on Friday which will be watching their amazing Macbeth performance. The majority of the class voted to dress up and so if your child would like to, please send in change of clothes for your child this Friday. 

This term we will be be writing play scripts linked to the book Tar Beach, whilst reading and examining the book The Poet's Dog. We have been doing some spelling assessments this week and so new spellings will come home next week. 

In maths we will finish off our multiplication and division unit before looking at fractions. Times tables will continue to be an important element in all aspects of maths this term and we will be focusing on the 6 times tables followed by the 7s and 8s. As ever, we strongly encourage you to encourage your child to practice their tables at home. 

In science we will be learning about teeth, digestion and food chains which is often a popular topic. Our humanities topics will see us comparing the human and physical features of the UK, France and Brazil. Whilst learning about the Christian celebration of Easter, whilst exploring the theme of forgiveness. 

Thank you to those of you that have returned your child's PE kit. Children should have PE tops, bottoms and shoes that they can change into for their PE lessons. I do appreciate that children grow quickly and that there is only half a year of POW left, so if your child has outgrown their kit please see a member of the year 4 team or POWSA who may be able to find you second hand uniform for a POWSA donation.    

Upcoming Dates:

Thursday 29th February - POWSA Disco  

Thursday 7th March - World Book Day

Monday 11th March - Wessex Singing (

Monday 18th March - Bikeability sessions

Tuesday 19th March - Class trip (details to follow shortly)

Thursday 28th March - Mary Anning fossil show (in school)

Friday 29th March - School holidays 

Monday 15th April - All children return to school 

Friday 19th April - Springfest

As ever, if you have any questions or comments please talk to a member of the team. 

Kind regards,

The year 4 team. 

English: Adjectives to infer emotions

Today in English we continued our worked linked to 'Tar Beach' by Faith Ringgold.

Before reading the book, we looked at pictures of Harlem in the 1930s as well as pictures of the George Washington Bridge. 

We talked about the  Harlem Renaissance and watched this YouTube video together -

After watching the video, we used this double page spread to infer emotions to record a thought bubble for each character in the first person, using adjectives, present tense and conjunctions -

Well done Year Four - you worked really hard today. I was very impressed.

Mr Spracklen 

Unit 3.1 - Coding - Lesson 4

Today in Computing with Mr Spracklen we used our coding knowledge to create a range of programs. During this lesson, we had to work hard to understand the importance of 'nesting' -

We worked in pairs because 'pair programming' is powerful, as the below slide explains -

Amazing dress rehearsal and checklist for tomorrow

 

Year four performed Macbeth to the children and staff in years 2 and 3 today. The class did a fantastic job and they should be so incredibly proud of everything that they have achieved this term. I hope that they can all have a relaxing evening and a good night's sleep, confident in the knowledge that they are ready to perform on stage tomorrow. 

In preparation for performance day here are the answers to some questions you may have about the day (please also refer to the letter from Mr Spracklen recently emailed).       

• Children should wear school uniform tomorrow. 
• Children should bring a backpack / normal school bag but please keep it as empty as possible except these items: 

                - drink bottle

                - packed lunch (unless they have a hot dinner ordered)

                - am snack (if appropriate)

                - afternoon and evening snacks

• Please could all children arrive at school 15 minutes earlier than stated in the emailed letter. 
• I have told the children that they may bring a book or fiddle toy if they feel that they will need them (possibly needed whilst we wait in dressing rooms). However, I strongly suggest that any items are not precious and are labelled where possible.  
• Doors open at 17:45 and the first performance will start at 18:30. 
• Families will take children home after all performances. This is likely to be around 8.45pm. 
• Children should come home with  school uniforms, performance clothes, lunchboxes, snack boxes and drink bottles and coats. Please ensure that all items are labelled (children will most likely be wearing performance clothes).   

I hope you and your children enjoy tomorrow. They have so much to be proud of and I can't wait for you to see how incredible they are. 

Kind regards,

Ms Browne 

Spellings and getting ready for next week

 

Hello everyone,

There will be no additional home learning tasks this week (beyond reading, spellings and times tables) as the children do their final preparations for Macbeth. 

The children have done a great job learning their lines and on Friday we worked hard to project our voices. This weekend, if you are able to sit with your child and listen to them recite their lines, encouraging them to speak them in a louder voice whilst using their bodies and facial expressions that would be really useful. 

If you haven't already seen the letter detailing what is happening on Wednesday, please check your inboxes (and possibly the spam folder) and contact me or Mr Spracklen if you don't have a copy. Children were also sent home with a media consent form on Friday. Please can these be returned to school on Tuesday at the latest. 

Spellings for this week are below. If you have any questions or comments please get in touch. 

Kind regards,

The year 4 team. 

 

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all doing well. (Only 5 more days of January - we've got this!). 

 

KAPLA

On Monday the whole school will be involved in a KAPLA construction workshop. This will take place in the school hall. Parents and carers may arrive at 3.15pm to view the creations and take their child home slightly earlier if they wish.

Clothes for Macbeth

If you haven't already, can you send in your child's clothes for Macbeth in a labelled plastic bag,  as soon as possible please. If you have any concerns or questions about costumes, please see me or Mrs Hall ASAP. 

Spellings

Don't worry -  your child hasn't lost their spellings.  They didn't get new ones this week as we are a little behind. To keep up routines, you may want to encourage your child to practice from their own personal spelling lists on spelling shed. 

Home learning 

The children were given the hard copies of their home learning on Wednesday (apologies for the later day), this can be returned by Tuesday please. We have seen an increase in the number of children returning their home learning which is fantastic.   An electronic version of this week's home learning can be found here. 

As ever if you have any questions, comments or concerns please get in touch. 

Kind regards,

The year 4 team. 

Macbeth costume & swords, Home Learning and Spellings and Times tables update

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

I have unfortunately made an error when it comes to the costumes for Macbeth. All children will need dark coloured soft soled shoes and dark bottoms (leggings, trousers or a skirt) although for some characters I think it will look better if they are wearing a white T-shirt not a black one. A list of what costumes will be needed for each character is below. A hard copy has also been sent home. 

T-shirts can be short or long sleeved. 

If you have needed to purchase a black T-shirt please don't worry, we can go with it whatever you have. If you do not have a white T-shirt and need one, please let me know and I will look into sourcing one for your child.  If the list states that we will provide additional costumes for your child the colour of their T-shirt will be of less importance.  Can labelled costumes come into school in labelled bags from Thursday 25th January please.  

This year, we are going to attempt sword fights with toy swords. If you have a toy swords that we could use please can you send them into school from this Thursday onwards. I have discussed with the class that it may not be them that uses their sword as we will need to match the same types of swords (plastic, foam etc). 

Home Learning

I was really happy to see that 20 children returned their home learning this week. This is a great improvement on last week and I hope that each week we will see more and more children getting into good home learning habits. This week's recorded home learning is relatively simple (listing favourite authors) as I would like the children to focus ion learning their Macbeth lines and becoming word perfect by next week. Hard copies of home learning were sent home today (Tuesday) but an electronic copy can be found here. 

As ever, please also encourage your child to read and record reading sessions in their reading journals. 

Spellings

This week's spellings were also sent home today (Tuesday) for a spelling test on Monday 22nd January. 

Times tables

In addition to encouraging your child to read and learn their spellings at home, helping your child to learn their times tables is one of the most important home learning activities that you can do. I strongly encourage you to find time for your child to practice their times tables on a very regular basis. Knowing their times tables in year 4 is useful for June Multiplication check and the multiplication and division units that we are studying now. However, knowing their tables is crucial for your child as they move into upper Key stage 2. 

At middle school, in years 5 and 6 the children will be moving onto much more complicated concepts like multiplying and dividing 4-digit numbers and problem solving using fractions and percentages. To enable your child to have a positive transition to year 5 and 6 maths it is vital that they enter year 5 confident in their times tables.

Using Times Tables Rockstars is my preferred program for your child to practice their tables. TTRS enables me to track how much time their spend practicing and also how their tables fluency is developing. 

You may also want to use other online programs initially whilst your child learns their tables although I would encourage them to return to TTRS as soon as possible. 

If you are unable to access TTRS or other online programs please let me know and I can provide your child with times tables booklets for them to fill in (this would best be done alongside an adult so they can immediately be made aware of any mistakes they may be making). 

If you have any questions about times tables, Macbeth or any other aspect of your child's learning please don't hesitate to get in touch. 

Kind regards,

Ms Browne and the Year 4 team.   

  

Macbeth update and this week's home learning and spellings

Macbeth update

The children visited the Weymouth Pavilion on Monday morning and got the opportunity to go on go behind the scenes, learn about the history of the Pavilion and Shakespeare and go on stage. The children experienced what it was like standing on the stage with the lights on. They all did a fantastic job and seem excited about when we return to perform. 

Lines: Please could all families help their children learn their lines at home. Taking times to learn lines is a very important aspect to the success of the play and we are very grateful of any support you can give you child to be successful.  

Costumes: All children will need black soft soled shoes (school plimsoles are fine), black tracksuit bottoms or leggings and a black t-shirt (long sleeved is ideal for warmth if possible). If you do not have black then dark blue should be fine but it is important that clothing is plain and without patterns or logos. If you think you will have difficulty providing these items please speak to a member of the team as soon as possible.     

Home Learning

Only 10 children returned their home learning for week 1. Home Learning is not compulsory at POW but, with 8 months until the children start middle school, we do recommend that you start helping your child develop home learning routines now. Setting time for your child to practice spellings, times tables and read in addition to the weekly activity will help them transition to their next school where they will also be expected to do these activities.        

This week's activities:

The most important home learning this week is for children to learn their Macbeth lines. 

After this (in addition to their weekly reading, spelling and table practice), I would like the children to reflect on how well they know their tables. The children have been sent home with a hard copy of the home learning which contains a table for the children to tick depending on how confident they are with each times table. An electronic copy can be accessed here. There were a number of paper copies left behind. If your children did not bring their's home please ask for a replacement. 

I have also sent the children a 2do on purple mash. This activity simulates the multiplication test that the children will all take in June. Some children may find the tables they are being tested on easy (2, 3, 5 and 10s) but the intention is to start getting them familiar with the format of the questioning.  

If your child van't access purple mash, there are 30 questions for them to time themselves answering on the back of the home learning sheet. 

This week's spellings:

Reading Records:

We had 16 reading records returned to us last Friday. Of those 12 of them had 12 recent reading entries. We would like to have ALL reading records returned this Friday 12th please. Ideally there should also be entries recording what the children have read. Both Dorchester middle schools use reading records. They have a set number of entries that children are expected to have recorded per week. Even for avid readers the practice of recording reading in the journals and bringing them into school is a habit that will help with middle school transition. 

If your child has lost their reading record please let us know and we can replace it. 

Upcoming dates:

Thursday 11th January - parent and carer information session 9am in the staff room

Monday 15th January - Closing date to apply for middle school (Link)

From 28th January - STEM Fortnight

Tuesday 30th January - Early parents evening

Thursday 1st February - Late parents evening

Wednesday 7th February - Shakespeare by the sea (link)

Thursday 8th February - Last day of term

Friday 9th February - INSET Day

12th - 16th February - Half Term

Monday 19th February - All children return

Wednesday 28th February - Parent forum 9am staff room

Thursday 7th March - World book day 

Monday 11th March - DASP singing concert (details to follow soon)

As ever, if you have any questions, comments or concerns please speak to or email a member of the team.

Kind regards,

The Year 4 team.