Year 4 Blog - Friday 1st December 2023

Date: 1st Dec 2023 @ 1:14pm

Welcome to this week’s blog.

Year 4 Notices

Year 4 Reconciliation Day – Monday 4^th December. Parents are invited to attend the service in church at 2.15pm.

Class Hamper – each class has a colour theme to make up Rainbow Hampers for the PTFA Grand Christmas Raffle. Please donate what you can over the next 2 weeks. Year 4’s colour is blue – please donate anything blue that you can eat, drink, blue luxury items etc. 

Trip to Lancaster City Museum – Wednesday 6^th December. Please bring a packed lunch in a named carrier bag, but please do not send lunch boxes or flasks as all waste will be disposed of after lunch. Full school uniform must be worn together with a coat or jacket. 

Please also read the weekly newsletter which has lots of information about upcoming events before Christmas.  Many thanks

Year 4 Learning

In English, we started our new novel - The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.  We made predictions about the book by looking carefully at different front covers and reading the blurb on the back.  We also discussed which cover was the most effective in helping us with our predictions.

In Maths, we partitioned numbers to mentally multiply

Eg 45 x 3          40 x 3 = 120     

                          5 x 3 = 15

120 + 15 = 135

We then learnt how to double any number up to 4 digits using partitioning.

Finally, this week, we revised the written method of multiplication – the grid method.  Many of us understood the method very quickly, however we need to make sure we can recall our times tables quickly and accurately.

In RE, we started our new topic ‘Gift’ during which we will explore God’s gift of love and friendship in Jesus.  We started the topic by listening to a story and writing our own ‘recipe’ which showed what we look for in our ideal friend.

In French, we started our new topic of ‘At my house’ = ‘Chez moi’ and focused on describing where we live. We learned ‘Où habites-tu?’ = Where do you live? / ‘J’habite’ = I live / ‘dans une maison’ = in a house / ‘dans un appartement’ = in an apartment / ‘en ville’ = in a city / ‘à la compagne’ = in the countryside / ‘à la mer’ = by the seaside / ‘à la montagne’ = in the mountains. We then matched the correct pictures to each phrase.

In Music, we continued to learn Au Clair de la Lune on our recorders. We then practised the Carols for Christmas – Starry Night and O little town of Bethlehem. Following this, we sang our class song Mama Mia and completed the Silver Challenge which involved listening and playing back what we heard on our recorders. Finally, we attempted to play We wish you a Merry Christmas on the Boomwhackers.

In History, we learnt more about the Roman Army and the reasons why it was so successful:

• They only accepted the strongest soldiers
• They had advanced and effective equipment
• They used fighting formations
• They had top training
• They never accepted defeat

In PSHE, we learnt about discrimination and inclusion.We defined the words, gave examples of each, and discussed how we feel when these things happen.

In Science, we focussed on creating a simple circuit with the challenge of using different components (for example a buzzer, motor or bulb). We then drew a diagram for each one in our books. We also discussed reasons why a circuit might not work and the steps to follow to check all of the components.

In our dance session in PE, we worked with a partner to create a superhero sequence. In handball, we combined all invasion games skills to play games in teams. We especially focussed on passing and defending.

We also enjoyed some outdoor learning on Thursday afternoon. We used leaves and other natural items to make various different creations – from leaf letters to leaf Christmas trees. Have a look at our leaf gallery.

Year 4 Home Practice

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Make sure you discuss the story and the characters.  Find the meaning of any new words too.  Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding.

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 4’s and 25’s. 

For example, start at 0 and count up to 48 and back again

0   4   12   16     etc                            48   44    40   etc

Now have a go at counting in 25’s

Start at 0 and count to 250 and back again

0   25   50   75   etc                            250   220   200  etc                      

Times tables

Please practise your individual tables target for your test next week. Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?

You can practise your tables on Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk

Please also practise your number facts. It has become evident that many of you are finding this tricky when you have been completing your written addition and subtraction.

You can practise your number facts on Hit the Button

It is crucial that you learn all of your table facts and your number facts as this will help you with many aspects of maths.

Spellings

Here are your spellings for next week

they            weigh           eight           grey            sleigh

young           touch           blood           trouble        country

does            chef            brochure      parachute    machine

Sumdog challenges

You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:

• A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
• A times tables challenge based on the 4 and 8 times tables
• A challenge based on multiplying 2 and 3 digits by 1 digit

(eg 32 x 8          30 x 8 = 240     2 x 8 = 16       240 + 16 = 256

Use the grid method which we have practised in class this week for 3 digit multiplications)

Please make sure you log on and have a go!  Little and often is the key to success!

The Year 4 Team