Year 4 Tuesday 28th February 2017 - Book Day info/learning!

Bon Soir!!!!!!!!!!!😀

Well, how many pancakes/crepes have you eaten today????????????? I feel VERY full!!!!!!!!
As Mr. M said, it was a very successful afternoon - merci bien!

At the end of last week we had a visit from a few of the characters in Romeo and Juliet - we were able to hot seat them in order to find answers to some very interesting questions that had been "bothering" us, with regards to characters actions, feelings and responses!!!!!!!
(well done to those class members who were able to take on the role of those characters and be questioned, responding in character and without any preparation - it illustrated that you were all absorbed int he story and were able to empathise, infer and deduce, which was our learning objectives!)

This week we have begun with some characterisation work in order to explore the story at a greater depth. We will be continuing our learning exploring many genres of writing linked to Romeo and Juliet ............. we will keep you posted!
In Numeracy this week and next we will be learning about and deepening our learning about aspects of time. Do make this a focus at home if you can!

I cannot wait to see all the fantastic costumes to celebrate world book day on Thursday - we are very excited! 2 activities I have planned for the day are "speed reading" and a "book swap" - Please could each child bring in their favourite story that they will recommend to each child in the class in a 2 minute time slot - they need to be prepared to talk about the book.
Secondly, for the book swap - if your child has 1 book that they would like to swap with another child in year 4, with your permission, and as a permanent exchange, then please bring it in on Thursday and hopefully they will have someone to swap with (if they do not find a book they would like to swap then they can bring their original book home or choose to donate it to the school library - with your permission!) Please ensure that the book is age appropriate - thanks! A great way to try/get a new book!

Finally we have been rehearsing hard for the DASP singing concert, so just a reminder that it is only a couple of weeks away, as well as our class assembly.
FYI: coming up soon - Friday 10th March we will be visiting DMS in the afternoon to carry out an orienteering afternoon with Mr. Treble, we will be there for the afternoon and back in  time for the end of the day - there will be a note coming home about this, but children will need PE kits and trainers for this (warm tracksuits if it is cold!)

Any parents that were unable to come to Parent Consultations, please do come and arrange another 10 minute time convenient to yourselves.

See you tomorrow for swimming,

Mrs. J and the Year 4 Team

Fun with Pancakes/Crepes in our French Lesson

This afternoon, the children in Years 3 and 4 had fun with pancakes in their French lesson. They learned how to politely ask for a pancake with their personal choice of topping. We also did work on the computers and learned some French Dances.



Thank you to the parents for providing so many pancakes and such a range of toppings for us all to enjoy. It was a very successful afternoon.

We have put some photos of our afternoon in our Class Photo Gallery

DM et SJ

Year 4 Thursday 23rd Feb 2017!

Firstly, thank you to all this of you who were able to come to the Parent Consultation Evening, it was a joy to talk with you about your child and their progress!

You may have heard some disturbing news about a terrible crime that took place in our school on Monday - we were asked by the police to investigate and provide our deductions and inferences!!!!!!!!! Yes, in one week, we have investigated a crime and solved it, as well as acting out the whole of the terrible tragedy.................Romeo and Juliet of course!!!!!!!!!!! There were some superb deductions, excellent empathy skills along with inferential skills displayed during drama and some VERY mature thoughts and opinions about the deaths and the culprits!!!!!!!! (GCSE English here we come!!!!)

In Numeracy we have been learning about two famous mathematicians - Fibonacci and Pythagorus, we looked at their theories with relation to spiral patterns in nature and used our measuring skills to enable us to produce art work inspired by these theories and calculations.

We launched our History topic today, beginning to investigate The Stone Age! Interesting learning!
As well as this we also practised our conversational French in preparation for the French Cafe next Tuesday - Je voudrais.............s'il vous plait! (Do practise at home!)

All the tremendous effort put into the home learning projects have been celebrated by putting them on display in the main school corridor - do have a look! Well done everyone!!!!!!!!!!

Spellings and home learning will come home in the red folder tomorrow!

Thank you,

The Year 4 Team!

French Pancakes Year 3 and 4 - Tuesday 28th February

Dear Parents,
Next Tuesday (28^th), the children in Year 3 and 4 are celebrating Shrove Tuesday by having a French Pancake Café during their French lesson.

We will be ordering our toppings for our “crepe” in French, singing some French songs, dancing and, of course,  tossing pancakes.

Although we will be showing the children how a pancake is made, we do not intend to make 60+ pancakes. We would be very grateful to any parents who could help to provide pre-made pancakes (available at the supermarket), or any toppings (Nutella, lemon, jam etc). These would need to be brought to school on Monday or Tuesday next week.

Many thanks,      

Duncan MacBean and Sam Johnson

Year 4 Wednesday 8th Feb!

Happy Wednesday Evening!

Here we are at the "half way" marker of Year 4 - time is FLYING!!!!!!!!!!

A letter came out detailing the DASP Year 4 singing concert, which we are all very excited about and have been auditioning for possible solo/duet parts in our class song! WE look forward to seeing you all there! The day after the concert is our class assembly and then we will be full of excited anticipation for Hooke Court!!!!!!! Not only all this, but also a themed week alongside a new literacy, science and history topic!!!!!!!!

This week we have been working on a collaborative learning project in RE - the question was posed "How do Hindus show commitment to God?" The children worked in groups of 4, rotating the roles of Fairness Manager, Time Keeper, Quality Checker and Resource Manager and had 4 lessons set aside to work as a team to research and present their learning in their chosen way. The adults role was to simply observe, recording notes relating to group dynamics, conversations and, at given times, we would pause and share our notes so that the children could decide if they were positive findings or things that needed to be worked on. Not only was the learning based upon the RE but also on working as part of a team. It was a super successful project, producing models, posters, a Holy book and a lego temple all showing their research and well planned creativity! Very enjoyable learning!

In Literacy this week we have been looking at poetry, and in particular the performance element of poetry. The children have selected a poem from 10 that I presented to them, and in pairs or individually, they have been practising them focusing on the success criteria: volume, pace, expression, eye contact, movement/body language. We saw half today, which were a very high standard indeed, yet again demonstrating great attention to detail with excellent props and use of instruments, also the children using the success criteria in order to achieve the learning objective! Well done - we look forward to seeing the others tomorrow!

I hope you have all been practising your song words for a rehearsal tomorrow!

See you in the morning!

Mrs. J and The Year 4 Team!

Hooke Court - next instalment

This is a reminder that the next instalment for Hooke Court is due today.
Please come to the school office to pay.

Many thanks.
 

Year 4 Wednesday 2nd February - 2 requests!

Good evening,

Thank you to all of those of you who have already signed up for the Parent's Consultation Evenings after half term, do pop into the cloakroom and find an available time slot!

A big well done and thank you to all of you who managed to bring in bottles and cereal boxes - everyone has a papier mache sculpture in the making - we can't wait for glue to dry so that we can either add another layer, finish a layer or begin painting!!!!!!!! Get ready to dive into our underwater world display very soon. I also cannot wait to see the creative home learning projects come in after half term - these will really add the finishing touches to our display!

2 important requests:
1. Recently, there have been some "falling - out" incidents among some friendship groups, of course we have dealt with each issue and had several jigsaw/pshce lessons in order to address problems. Please could you continue discussions at home to reinforce our class rights and responsibilities, how we all deserve respect but also that we should respect others, thinking about other people's feelings and the words we use as well as keeping our hands and feet to ourselves! We would really appreciate your support in maintaining an approach of continuity between school and home as in our home/school agreement. Thank you!

2. It also came to my attention, yesterday, that there is an app that some children in the class are accessing on their devices at home called "kik"- it is a free messaging app, but following a discussion, there have been some instances of children saying unkind things to each other via a group chat, they also told me that quite often "unknown" people appear and say inappropriate things, which has concerned some children. I have been assured that these "strange" people cannot contact you personally unless you click to accept them! I would like to make you aware of this so that you are able to guide, advise and monitor your children reinforcing the e-safety messages we promote regularly at school.

Thank you again for your support in these matters and if you would like to discuss any of them further, please do come in and see me!

Mrs. J and the Year 4 Team,