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. 

 

Year 4 Spelling test on Monday

 

Just a quick note to let you know that next week's spelling test will be on Monday afternoon and NOT on Tuesday - which is written on the spelling sheet that went home. 

Apologies for the change. Spelling tests will normally be on Mondays, with new spellings coming home on Tuesdays. 

Additional year 3 & 4 and personalised spelling lists for your child can also be accessed via spelling shed (ed shed).    

Home learning and this week's spellings

 Hello everyone,

This week's home learning gives the children the opportunity to do some more maths activities based on learning they have been doing in class. The children are also invited to do some research on William Shakespeare which they can use next week when they write a Shakespeare biography. 

All children have been sent home with a paper copy of their home leaning but should they have not made it home please feel free to ask for another copy or an electronic version can be found here. 

In addition to the maths and Shakespeare activities, the children should ideally be reading regularly (and recording what they read in their reading journals), practising their times tables and learning their Macbeth lines and weekly spellings. 

Could all reading journals be returned every Friday please! Middle schools have the expectation that children complete and return their reading records weekly. Whilst we do not have any sanctions at POW for not completing home learning, we strongly recommend encouraging your child to develop home learning routines now to help with the transition in September. 

This week's spellings:

Logan group:

Avant Garde Group:

Upcoming Dates:

Monday 8th January - Pavilion visit (see emailed letter)

Thursday 11th January - Parent & carer Information session (9am in staffroom)

Thursday 11th January - DASP singing concert rehearsal (in school) 

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

Wednesday 7th February - Shakespeare by the sea (tickets now on sale link)

Thursday 8th February - Last day of term 

Friday 9th February - INSET DAY

12th - 16th February - Half Term

19th February - All children return to school

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

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

Kind regards,

The Year 4 Team

 

Welcome back - can you help with fastenings?

 

Hello everyone, 

We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New year. We are looking forward to welcoming you back to school on Tuesday 2nd January. 

From Tuesday, children can bring into school their own pencil cases with pens and pencils (no scissors please). This is something the children will need to do from September at middle school but in year 4 pencil cases are optional and we will always provide everything your child will need in school.  

This term has a big focus on Shakespeare and our play Macbeth. I will go into more detail about what to expect this term at our parent and carer information session on Thursday 11th January (9am). The class will visit Weymouth Pavilion on Monday 8th January (come to school in uniform as normal) to familiarise themselves with the stage and it would be very helpful if families started supporting their children to become familiar with their scripts. 

Can you help provide some fastenings to support the children's learning on the first day back to school? In DT we will be learning about textiles and we need lots of examples of how different textiles are fastened together. If you have any examples of clothing or accessories that have the following fastenings please could you bring them in on Tuesday 2nd January (we especially need items with toggles, buckles, press studs and velcro). We will return all items after school on Tuesday. 

I will send out a blog about dates and other updates later in the week but key dates coming up are:

Tuesday 2nd - Everyone back to school

Thursday 4th - 9am parent forum

Monday 8th -   Class trip to Pavilion (am)

Thursday 11th - 9am Parent and carer information session 

We can't wait to see you and your lovely children. We have another exciting term of learning and activities ahead of us. 

Kind regards,

The year 4 team.