Discussion - What have you been up to this half-term?

A big thank you to Jack in Year 2 who started a discussion in the whole-school area of our SWGfL Merlin pages asking: 'What are you doing this holiday?'. Why not share with Jack and others what you have been up to this half-term through adding text, an image, a video or a sketch? We would all love to hear what people have been doing as well as see the pupils practising their SWGfL Merlin skills. Mr. Spracklen

Can you embed?

In I.C.T today the pupils worked at improving their video game from last week using PurpleMash's 2DIY 3D through SWGfL Merlin. The pupils thought about increasing the complexity of the game by making their 'apples' and 'aliens' move. Following time to improve the game, pupils were encouraged to embed their games (using the embed code provided by PurpleMash) into their SWGfL Merlin e-portfolio. A video of me modelling this process to the class is now available on SWGfL Merlin, to access this video click Year 4 and then the ICT image in the curriculum gallery. I would expect all pupils to attempt doing at home through the half-term holiday so that their games can be evaluated by their class-mates on their return to school. Mr. Spracklen

POW on the BBC!

On Sunday 30th October at 6pm, BBC2 will showcase excellence in education when it broadcasts the 2011 UK Pearson Teaching Awards ceremony – held at the Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus in London. As you may know, pupils from our school made a film at the end of last term about our school and it has since been made a finalist in the National Teaching Awards, ‘Film my School’ competition. Pupils and staff will be traveling up to London for the awards ceremony and will be joined by host Lenny Henry at the event. Other stars presenting awards include Minnie Driver, Al Murray, David Morrissey and Beverley Knight. More information on the competition and other finalists can be seen at: http://www.teachingawards.com/film_my_school

Drunken Sailors

Today in ICT we have been storyboarding videos to accompany our “Drunken Sailor” song for class assembly in November. We will be filming the video next Wednesday afternoon and your child may need to bring in props and/or costumes if they haven't already. Please talk to them about this before next week. A few ideas involved people getting wet or messy (shaving foam was mentioned!). I have explained to the class that this can only happen if these pupils bring in a towel and a change of clothes.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me or Miss Johnson.

We do hope you’ll be able to join us in November for the assembly.

Mr Hopkins

Year 4 Game Designing (ICT)

In I.C.T, Year 4 have been creating their own video games using Purple Mash and 2DIY 3D. We completed these games in small response to the following news article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9503255.stm. Pupils in Year 4 can access each others games and play them using the links within a Year 4 discussion board. Two games you may particularly enjoy at home are Matthew's 'RED GAME':http://www.purplemash.com/members/programs/2diy3d/?play=3969 and Kai's 'INVISABLE ALIENS GAME': http://www.purplemash.com/members/programs/2diy3d/?play=4074. Comments welcome.

Organisation Success

I have had one parent to come to report that their child had a super organised week last week!  Well done you!  I'm sure there are more awesome organised people out there, so if your child is trying particularly hard to organise their home learning, school bags, etc please don't hesitate to let us know.

Mathletics Competition

Mr Spracklen and I have been thinking about how we can retain the glory days of Mathletics!  We have started a competition on Merlin where each class' weekly certificates will be totalised and shown on a bar chart.  Come on year 4, let's see how many certificates you can get!

DT project

After half term we will begin constructing our torches.  The children have enjoyed refining their designs for these this afternoon, they are all very imaginative.  Your child has a particular size and shape in mind for their torch.  Please can you help them resource an empty bottle or tube that they can use to make the main body of the torch?  They will need it for the week beginning 31st October.

Football club

Football club will be cancelled tomorrow due to year 3 being on a trip in the afternoon. Mrs Hibberd

Getting Organised

As we endeavour to get ourselves organised in year 4 I would like to know about any children who are showing signs of organisation and independence at home.  If your child consistently remembers things, is able to organise themselves for school, remembers to relay messages or is particularly conscientious with their home learning please let me know!  Praise points will be awarded to awesome organisors for the rest of this term.  Can you impress us with your organisation year 4?

Super Home Learning

Well done year 4, I've been so impressed by your homework so far this year.  Many of you have returned your work promptly and it is also of a very high standard.  Pirate rules, harvest art and character portraits are going up on the walls in the classroom and in the corridors and I will shortly be sending some of your work along to the Kingston Maurward Art Competition.