No swimming on 13th February

Advanced warning.  There will be no swimming in the last week of this half term as we have an exciting day of workshops planned at school for our "one world, one country" week.

Trip to DMS

As you know we are off to Dorchester Middle School on Thursday.  We have lots of fun activities planned to continue to develop our writing and presentation.  One of the activities will involve the children using their fine motor skills to play games.  We are looking for games of Jenga, Pick up Sticks, Chairs, Penguin Balancing game, etc.  If you have any of these at home, please could your child bring it along with them on Thursday in a named box?  Many thanks.

REsearch

Today Year 4 have been looking again at Christian symbols such the cross, the fish, the dove. Next week they will be creating a design for a stained glass window or hassock using Revelation Art.

We have come across something to look into: on a crucifix above Jesus' head we have found the letters INRI. What do they mean?

Today's Brass lesson

The children have enjoyed their second brass lesson today.  Mr Penfold worked with the children on rhythm and pitch and showed them how to create a siren sound using two notes.  The children also had their valves oiled and slides lubricated as well as watching an entertaining and inspiring brass quartet playing some well known tunes on the interactive whiteboard.
Mr Penfold has asked them to try to introduce themselves by blowing the rhythm of their names on the mouthpiece and to practice the siren sound on the mouthpiece and with the two notes as they have been shown.
The more the valves are pressed the less likely they are to stick!
Happy playing!

A trip to DMS

Next Thursday 31st January we will be taking the year 4 children to DMS for the morning.  The purpose of this visit is to extend the experiences the children have had this week in working on their writing and presentation.  The year 4 children have already worked with the year 3 children (see wonderful writing blog), this time the children will be working with some of the year 5 children and to be inspired by their writing.  The children will be walking up to DMS and back and will return in time for lunch.

This weeks Home Learning - 25th January to 1st February

Home learning - 25^th January 2013

We have will be starting a new topic in Maths this week about time.  I would like you to have a go at the sheets attached and come up with a target for yourself.  What do you need to learn next about time?  For example you might need to:

1.  Remember which hand on the clock indicates the hours and which indicates the minutes.

2.  Be able to calculate how much time has passed between one time and another.

3.  Read 24 hour times.

4.  Learn the months of the year in order and how many days each month has.

These are just examples, you might use one of these or you might think of something else you would like to learn about.

Also this week we have been involved in the first of our themed weeks based on Writing and Presentation.  On the back of this piece of paper is a line guide for some handwriting practice.  You could practice the alphabet, spelling words or write out part of your favorite story or a poem.

Spellings to learn for 1st February

Wonderful handwriting!

 As part of our writing and presentation week, year 3 and 4 have been working with Miss Johnson to produce spells for Prospero (The Tempest by William Shakespeare).  Have a look at some of the amazing results.

RE this week

Today we were looking at the atlas and finding out where Palestine and Israel are and their significance in the beginning of Christianity. We spent the rest of the lesson looking at some Christian artefacts and symbols. Next week we shall be continuing to learn about the meaning of some Christian objects.

Writing and Presentation Week

This week we are working hard to develop our writing presentation.  So far the children in year 3 and 4 have been working with each other to produce some beautiful illuminated manuscripts in response to Mythical Creatures and Shakespeare input by Miss Johnson and Mr MacBean.  We will continue to develop this through the week and next week the year 4 children will be taking part in an exchange with some year 5 DMS students to continue to develop their presentational skills and be inspired by their peers.  Keep your eye on the blog for some of the outstanding work we have seen so far!

Provisional time for Parent's Info Session

I am provisionally booking the Year 4 Parent's Info Session for next Monday 28th January at 9am in the classroom (the children will be working in the suite).  I will be talking in a little more detail about this term's work than is on the newsletter.  Hope you can make it!

School closure Friday 18th January

The school is closed today due to the snow.

Parent's Information Session

I have had to postpone this until next week due to illness.  I will post a new date as soon as possible.

This term's RE lessons

This term Year 4 will be learning more about Christianity. Today we considered the sort of "Big Questions" that all religions seek to try to answer that perhaps science cannot. Please encourage your child to think up some deep and important "Big Questions"!

Clubs

Well the second term of clubs has begun this week and we’ve got a great array of clubs for your children to choose from. If you didn’t sign up for a club and your child wanted to please visit our school office to see if there are spaces.

 Choir will begin on Thurs lunchtime with Mrs Mewett, and this year we will be having the support of Mrs Gallego in this club. The choir will be open to all children in Yr 2, 3 and 4 and we hope we can entice children to attend with an attendance card which will be signed each time they come. There will be some rewards to work towards to encourage children to regularly attend the choir too!!!!

 Orchestra – this is very much taking the opportunity this year of our many talented proficient musicians. I endeavour to welcome all to orchestra, the children will need to have a range of notes to be able to play orchestral pieces thus why on the club lists I stated that the Music teachers will help me select children who are ready for this challenge! Anyway our task is to try to put one or two pieces together to showcase in the summer music concert! If you are able to help with this group then the more hands available the better so please contact me!

 

Recorder club – I will be talking to the school on Wednesday morning about this but wanted to let parents know that we will be offering a beginner recorder class from next Monday, open to Reception children and anyone else who wishes to begin.

 

The clubs are lots of fun for the children, can we ask you to help reinforce to your child that if they commit to a club then they do attend weekly? A lot of time is spent planning and preparing for these clubs, a benefit of when children regularly attend is that it really helps clubs which involve new learning each week like recorders and choir. I have been stunned by the progress recorder players made last year through committing to a weekly club.

 

Many thanks with your support. Any questions regarding clubs please see either the office team or myself.

 

Mrs Mewett

Spellings 11th Jan

Home learning 11th Jan

Home learning - 11^th January 2013

This week you will be bringing home your brass instrument.  I would like you to really get to know it better!  As well as the practice Mr Penfold has asked you to do, I would like you to sketch your instrument and see if you can find out more about it.  Where does it come from?  Who plays it? What is it made from?  How does it work? (Please don’t take it apart!)

Also, next week, we will begin to make our sock  puppets, you will need an old, clean sock, but we are also looking for old, clean tan tights, cardboard tubes from kitchen roll or wrapping paper and old fabric to reuse.  Please bring in anything you have.

Music for All

This Friday we will be starting our Music for All lessons.  The children will be having 10 lessons on a brass instrument which they will be bringing home to do lots of enthusiastic practice!  Each instrument will be labelled and registered to your child and they will have been told how to look after it!  Our guest teacher is Mr Penfold who is a great teacher and will no doubt inspire the children with his fantastic playing!
Hope you have a tuneful weekend!

Socks required!

Even on the first day back the children have been busy making finger puppets which they thoroughly enjoyed.  We will be writing short scripts and performing plays with these puppets which the children will record on the ipads.  Next week we would like to make sock puppets.  Please could you have a look at home for any old, clean socks that we could use and send them in next week.
Many Thanks!

Parents' information session

Miss Johnson will be holding an information session for Year 4 parents on Thursday 17th January at 9.00am to explain the plans for the new term.

Happy New Year

Looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday and finding out about what you've been up to during the Christmas break!  We will be covering two topics this term: Puppet Theatre which we link to "Shakespeare for kids" as a Literacy and DT based project
After half term we will be covering a new topic - Wonders of the World, a Geographical topic through which we will look at natural wonders of the world including extending our understanding of the Jurassic Coast and other world heritage sites.

Swimming Reminder

Just to remind you all that Year 4 will be swimming on the first day back at school.  Meet as usual at the leisure centre from 8:45am.  Mr Farrington and Mrs Scott will be heading from school at 8:30am if you would prefer to walk up with them.