Year 4 News July
This week...
I can’t believe we have reached the last day of the academic year and what a year it has been! All the children have been really lovely to teach and they have worked so hard this year. Having taught them for two of the last three years, they will always be my class. I will miss them all and wish them the very best for next year. I also want to thank all parents and carers on behalf of myself and Mrs Mallaburn for all the support you have given to the children and us with reading, times tables, spellings and with various trips and fundraising this year. Talking of fundraising, I also want to thank all the families that attended our Summer Fair last week. It was a lovely afternoon and it was great seeing the children have such a brilliant time. Finally, we just want to wish everyone a lovely and relaxing summer holiday!
Still, in class, we have been very busy these past few weeks. First of all, on Wednesday we had a fantastic time at The Great North Museum: Hancock where we got to spend time completing an interactive adventure ‘The Time Odyssey’. The children had to complete a number of challenges that let them explore different exhibitions in the museum linked to the Ancient Romans, Greeks, Egyptians and the Ice Age. The children loved completing the challenges and sending the computer characters back to their correct era.
We also had some self-led time where the children got to look at The Living Planet exhibition. Here, the children learnt about adaptations to help animals survive in their habitat. The children then got the opportunity to design a predator or herbivore made up of adaptations that they admired from other animals.
Finally, for DT day, we had a great time designing and building a torch. We researched different types of torches evaluating what features we liked and didn’t. The children were then given a client that they had to create a design criteria for. Next, the children got the chance to apply their work in Science on electricity to build a circuit and working switch. They then repurposed a plastic bottle to create their housing for the torch. This allowed the children to create a tin foil reflector. Finally, the children evaluated their makes identifying what worked well and how their design could be improved in the future.
Year 4 News June
This week…
Dear Parents and Carers,
Hope you are all well. First, I want to say a huge thank you to all parents and carers who attended our two performances of You Are Special! All the children have worked incredibly hard over the past term to prepare for this week, and I was delighted with how well the performances went. A huge thanks also from myself and Mrs Richardson to all parents that have helped their children learn lines and songs in preparation for this week.
As well as the performance, we had a fantastic Sports Day last week. We were blessed with amazing weather and the children all showed resilience and pride in their performances. We are undoubtedly a very sporty year group as this week our Year 4 Athletics Team won their regional competition comfortably against four other local schools and will now attend the finals at King Edward VI High School before the summer break.
Even though we only have a few weeks left before the summer holidays, there is still a lot to pack in. The children will have their transition day with Miss Brooks at the start of July and we have a trip arranged for the final week of term which you will receive a letter about soon.
In the classroom, in English, we have now completed writing a persuasive letter based on the picture book Between the Forest and The Sea by Jeanette Baker. The children wrote a persuasive letter to President Lula of Brazil to try and persuade him to prevent further deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest.
In Maths, the children have now completed their work on Fractions for Year 4. We have been working on converting between mixed numbers and improper fractions as well as counting in hundredths.
In Science, we have had a couple of very enjoyable lessons on electricity recently. The children have been learning about series circuits by building circuits that have included switches, bulbs and batteries. They have also been looking at different circuits and identifying what stops circuits them from working as well as looking at how to stay safe around electricity.
In PSHE the children have been learning a little bit about First Aid by looking at how to help someone suffering with Asthma. As well as this, the children have been looking at the difference between a secret and a surprise and they have looked at how people change as they get older both physically and in terms of lifestyle and responsibilities.
Year 4 News May
This week…
Dear Parents and Carers,
Hope this newsletter finds you well. First, I can’t believe we are only a week away from entering into our final half term as being a Year 4 class. Where does the time go! When the children return from half term, it will be the Multiplication Tables Check which is the big assessment this academic year. The children need to aim for a score of 21 out of 25 or more. The current class average is 19 so as much support as you can give the children with Times Table Rockstars over this half term would be incredibly helpful.
We had some amazing news in Year 4 this week. For Science Week all children entered a national competition called ‘Who Wants to be an Engineer?’ As part of this competition children had to design an invention that would fix a real-world problem. This week we received the amazing news that Josh’s design of an LED backpack to keep cyclists safe has won the Northeast regional prize for the 7-10 age range. As well as this, Sophia finished runner up receiving the Highly-Commended Award for her design of a park that is fully accessible to all. Both children have been invited to St Peter’s Campus at The University of Sunderland where they will receive their awards.
In English, we have started our new class novel Podkin One Ear by Keiran Larwood in our reading lessons. It is a fantasy story with an young rabbit whose warren is attacked by an evil army called The Gorm. Podkin needs to realise his potential to save the day. The class have really enjoyed reading so far.
In Writing we have been planning, writing and editing an alternative narrative to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. To help generate ideas for an alternative narrative, the children completed either a drama activity or designed a comic strip to outline the build-up, dilemma, solving of the problem and ending. You can see some good acting below!
In Maths we have spent time consolidating our understanding of telling the time to the nearest 5 minutes including on a 24-hour cock. We have also started to recap the formal written methods of calculation.
In PE we have been the first class in school to complete a unit of work on Golf after we received funding and resources from LIV Golf. The children have been learning to strike a ball off a tee using a club. The children have been very enthusiastic about their lessons and Coach Charlie has been really impressed with their progress.