Soccer tournament

Well done to the six boys and one girl from Year 4 who took part in the Charminster soccer tournament tonight! Having won all their matches, they progressed to the semi final where they narrowly lost (1-0) to Broadmayne. Congratulations!

Home learning 28th June

There is no extra home learning this week as the children are already having to prepare to come dressed as Romans on Monday and bring along their choice of food! We thought it would be enough to worry about for one weekend! We've got some fantastic ideas lined up for Monday so we are all looking forward to that!

Spellings have been sent home.

Year 4 team

CAKE SALE TODAY.....

CAKE SALE TODAY.....

We are having a cake sale today after school in aid of Cancer Research, please come and enjoy our homemade selection of cakes.

This is in memory of our lovely colleague Katrina Green.

Telling the time...

In maths this week we are focusing on time. Try to use the time as much as you can at home... record what time you have dinner, a bath, go to bed ...record how long it takes you to climb the stairs, wash up dinner, get dressed for school...

Yr 4 Roman Day!

Wow, time is flying,.... The date for our Roman day is Monday 1st July, a week on Monday.

We're hoping all the children will come to school dressed as a Roman and we're planning an exciting, thought provoking day.

Lunch - Our plan is to cook some food as well as bring in pieces to make a Yr 4 Roman banquet feast! So, we'll put up a piece of paper on the Yr 4 classroom door, please sign up for an offering....

Some super ideas came in from recent Home Learning (birds, meats, fish, unusual sauces - could items be made out of more palatable food for special effect??!) ... we'll post a picture of the spread on the blog so you can all see the spread!
 

POWSA Social

Hi there guys,
Just to let you know that the next POWSA meeting is being held on the 9th July at 19:45 at the new Wagamama restaurant in Brewery square. New faces are always welcome.  We are a small group of committed parents and teachers who enjoy raising money for our school and children, and without all your help and support this just wouldn't happen.  However, our core group is getting smaller and smaller and as a consequence recent events have been much harder to organise and run.  Therefore we would ask you to seriously consider coming along to the next meeting, ask your questions, find out what its all about and see if becoming a POWSA member is something you would like to do.  There is no expectation on your time, we wont sign you up to do anything, we just ask you come along, meet us and enjoy a nice meal.  If you do fancy coming would you be kind enough to let a POWSA member know, or leave your name with the school office, just so we can ensure a big enough table.
Hope to see there!.

Home learning 21st June

 

With our reading week coming up next week, we want you to think about and write down what your favourite book of all time is! We will be asking some of you to come up and share your thought and feelings with the class.

Things to think about:

What is the title of the book?

Why do you like it?

Has it inspired you to do something?

Did you learn anything new from the book?

We've given each of the children a thought bubble to write this in! Try to pick one specific book instead of a series.

We're also continuing our 'caught reading' initiative - what's the strangest place somebody can be caught reading this weekend?

Good luck!

Durotriges Big Dig 2013

What a fantastic day!

Year 4 headed off to Winterborne Kingston to explore Neolithic, Iron Age and Roman remains at Bournemouth University's Durotriges BIG DIG.

We were lead round by some students from the university who explained the various features around the site and the 'finds' they have had. Children asked intriguing and curious questions to deepen their understanding and classroom topic work on the Romans and Celts.

Then we had the opportunity to clean up some finds, learning about how remains are identified. Some volunteers and students then showed us some of the 'best finds' and told us interesting facts about their history.

It was a great day enjoyed by all the children, staff and parent helpers. There is an open day on Sunday 30th June where the public can explore the site as the dig comes to the end of its 5 year exploration.

More information about the BIG DIG can be found through these links:

http://courses.bournemouth.ac.uk/courses/Course.aspx?course=1294&school=CS&level=sc&code=PSCAFS

https://twitter.com/Durotrigesdig

Literacy Story Writing: The Shortcut

Today in literacy we began looking at how a story begins and how it could have many different endings depending on what happens in the story. We thought about the importance of creating clear characters and using our writing to show not tell the reader. This week year 4 will be planning the rest of The Shortcut using their own imagination, skill and expertise as authors.

The Shortcut

by Year 4

 

It all began on the way home from the park. Jack, Rose and Frank had been playing football. They always played football, Frank always won and they were always late home.  

“Come on!” shouted Jack “It’s time to go home!”

“Alright, alright! We’d better go Frank, Mum will be waiting.” Rose replied as she noticed it was starting to get quite dark. Frank began protesting that Rose and Jack always stopped playing when he was winning.

“Why can’t we play for a bit longer? You two are such goodie goodies!” grumbled Frank as he kicked the football over to the gate.

 

Worried of the punishment Mum would give them this week for being late the three Rogers children quickly started walking home. Jack, who was the eldest of the three, heard his mobile phone bleeping. It was Mum. Rose and Frank stopped walking to see what Mum had written in her text message,

 

“Where are you three? You were supposed to be home TEN MINUTES ago! Hurry up!”

 

Just as Jack finished reading it his phone battery died. The three Rogers children looked anxiously at one another. With no way to tell Mum they were still twenty minutes away they were certain to get in a lot of trouble when they got home. Rose looked at Frank,

 

“I wonder if we could take a shortcut. Rebecca always talks about her brother being able to hop over a wall to cut behind the cinema…”

Frank shrugged his shoulders and grunted

 

“Whatever…might as well if it’s quicker.”

 

Jack however started hopping nervously from one foot to the other.

 

“Shouldn’t we just go the normal way home. I mean Mum would know where to look for us then if she was really cross or worried?”

“Let’s take a vote”  Rose announced “All in favor of shortcut say aye!”

“Aye.” muttered Frank.

“Aye” squealed Rose, who had begun to get excited about their adventurous new route home.

“Oh…Aye” sighed Jack knowing he had been out voted once again.

Five minutes later they were stood face to face with ‘the wall’. It towered over them like a skyscraper in New York. Not wanting to show that she may have made a bad choice Rose began to say

 

“I know it looks quite high and difficult to get over but with all three of us it’ll be easy.”

“But we don’t even know what’s on the other side” protested a nervous Jack “It could be anything!”

Frank who had been looking at possible ways over the wall had found a crack. He shouted from the crack

 

“There’s only an old house on the other side. Stop being such a wimp Jack. “

“An old house…that’ll be worth exploring.” thought Rose.

 

The three children began climbing the wall. Rose first, then Frank and finally Jack.  

 

"Was this really going to be a shortcut?” they all wondered.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED...



No choir or orchestra this week...

Just to remind all that this Thurs 20th June there will be no choir or orchestra as I am out of school for the day. We will be rehearsing though on Tues 25th June ready for the concert so keep practising!

Mrs Mewett

Musical Soiree

Musical Soiree

This is a short reminder of our Musical Soiree taking place on Tuesday

25th June at 6.00pm at the Dorchester Middle School.

We moved the venue as we have exceeded our school’s capacity! Please also

recall that the performance is not suitable for small children to attend.

Finally, I am assuming that all children are taking part unless you have

informed the office or me?!  If your child would like to be involved and has lessons outside of school then please also see me!

As this is the sole concert of the year

expectations are that all children learning music at the school would

endeavour to be there. Thank you! Mrs Mewett

Science: Living Things

In Science this week we explored the schools pond and investigated what types of wildlife can be found there. We found  frogs, froglets, tadpoles, pond skaters and lots more. We then looked into a frogs life cycle and its habitat. Badgers, herons and pike were also investigated via the iPads to compare the different habitats different creatures have.
 
This week we will continue our pond life investigation, we will look at a dragonflies life cycle and learn about food chains.  In year 4's science pupil links there are some interesting websites for you to enjoy learning about pond life and living things. We will be using these over the next few weeks in class as well.
 




We would LOVE some home learning about the wildlife you have in your garden. Perhaps you could sketch a butterfly, sculpt a snail, graph the number of blackbirds, magpies and thrushes you see...
 


Please remember to treat wildlife with the respect and care you showed to the wildlife who live in and around the school pond.
 
 
 Miss Boyce
 

Fairthorne display...

We have a full wall of display regarding the children's Fairthorne trip up in the classroom. Please pop in to have a look at the photos and your child's writing they have produced!

This week's spellings...

Spelling – Year 4 –14^th June 2013

Choose your list and learn these spellings for next week.

List 1 –   went it’s help just tent belt

List 2–   light sight bright fright delight

List 3 –   sigh high nigh weight height deny

List 4 –   rough enough tough cough though through thorough although borough

List 2 is focussing on spelling pattern 'ight' - sound is the same as well
List 3 is focussing on 'igh' sound - this can be spelt with igh, eigh, and 'y' - more complicated phoneme sound!
List 4 is focussing on 'ough' spelling rule, again it does create a different sound so the children do need to remember this when using these words.

Spelling books are generally holding better scores now! Please feel free to come and have a look at your child's book on a Friday morning, a good way to see if the hard work learning them is paying off?!

Keep it up!

Mr Farrington is so impressed with the quality of Year 4's Home Learning! He is sure that this will really help the children when they transfer to middle schools in September!

"Who? Reading where? I DO NOT believe it! How FANTASTIC!" exclaimed Mr Farrington.

 

To build up to our Reading and Drama week we are having a whole school

EXTREME READING COMPETITION!

 

We would like photos and video clips of you reading in your favourite place or a bizarre and unusual place. Each class will have a winner who will receive a prize during the Reading and Drama week. 

Get creative and GET READING!

 

 

Spotted reading: David Walliams, author of Gangsta Granny (our class book at the moment).

 

 

Spotted reading: Keira Knightly, actress in Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

Boudicca Fact Files

•  Boudicca was the queen of the Iceni tribe.
• She was also the wife of Prasutagus, the king of Iceni.
• Nobody knows where she died.
• She lived in East Anglea.

•  The Iceni tribe was based around East Anglia and Boudicca was the queen.
• Boudicca's husband was Prasutagus, who promised the Romans that if they left him alone then they could have a bit of his land.
• But when Prasutagus died, the Romans took all of Boudicca's weapons, to make sure they didn't attack them.
• After Boudicca lost her final battle, she was thought to have poisoned herself to avoid being captured by the Romans.
• Boudicca's name literally means 'victory' because she was very victorious.

•  Boudicca always looked quite fierce.
• Boudicca is thought to have poisoned herself to avoid capture.
• Boudicca was queen of the Iceni tribe. She had long red hair and she lived in southern England.
• The Romans took everything; their weapons, food, clothes and houses.

•  The Romans conquered southern England in AD43
• Thousands were killed by Boudicca.
• Boudicca was married to Prasutagus.

•  Boudicca may have drunk poison.
• She was queen of the Iceni tribe. 
• She was married to Prasutagus.
• She defeated the Roman 9th legion.
• No one knows where her final battle was fought.

Children's Blogs...

Year 4 have been working on Boudicca Fact files over the last week and have now completed them. The intention was to select some of them and display them on the blog. I will include a picture of each groups work and type it up so it is clear to read. The children have worked very hard and have paid special attention to the presentation of their fact files. Well done to everyone!

Watch this space...

"You are a grumpy old man with a bad back!"

Today in year four we have begun a new unit of literacy, story writing. We will be pulling stories apart over the next four weeks and exploring their insides.

To begin with we are examining characters. This morning each child was given a card with a character description. For example, 'You are a grumpy old man with a bad back.' Then we acted out different characters 'showing not telling' our identities and created a piece of speech to match.

"Get out of my way you small boy!" grumbled Fredrick as he moaned and groaned his way to the doctors.

Miss Boyce would like to know what is the best story you have ever read and why? How does the author show not tell characters in your reading book? Write examples of character descriptions in your home learning diary.

Year 4 Home learning - 7th June

As you may well know, we have been studying the Romans and Celts in year 4 for a good few weeks now. Towards the end of the topic we are planning to have a ‘Roman day’. For one of the activities during the day we are planning to have a feast! With that in mind we would like the children to first research and then create a menu that includes the types of food that the Romans would have eaten.

To add an element of competition - once all the menus are in we will choose some of the items to be part of the great feast on our Roman day!

Good luck!

Year 4 Athletics Club Starting Next Week!

For the last 6 weeks of the summer term Miss Boyce will be running an athletics club on a Monday lunchtime. This will involve running, jumping and throwing activities. Children will need to change into their P.E kits to take part. The club will start on Monday 10th June.

As this club is a late starter children who have already signed up to a Monday club MUST organise it with their club leader if they wish to join the athletics club instead.

Any children interested in joining please see Miss Boyce tomorrow morning (Friday).

Year 4's final half term!

Well as year 4 are approaching their final weeks of Prince of Wales life I thought it would be nice to say all the things we've still got left to do! It’s a very busy term!

1. We're off on an archaeological dig on Thursday 20th June (only for the morning) so if there are any parent helpers available please let one of the year 4 team know!

2. We have a trip to Dorchester Town House and Museum in that will be a really nice conclusion to our current topic of Romans and Celts.

3. Year 4 will leave with a leaver’s book that they will all have had an input upon - we're off to the printers to see how they're made on the 11th July.

4. Transfer day will be taking place on the 4th July and there's a visit to DMS library booked in on 27th June to coincide with the schools reading week - All of this aiming to ensure that the transition from first school to middle school is smooth and comfortable for the children.

On top of all this there is sports day, the swimming gala, a Roman day where we'll be doing lots of fun activities, including racing an actual chariot (we'll start making that soon!), there is a sleepover happening in the roundhouse AND we have to prepare for our leavers assembly!

Phew!