As Lent is almost upon us, it is important that we use this period of time to reflect on our lives, just as Jesus reflected and fasted in the desert. As Catholics it is important that we consider everything we are so fortunate to have in our lives as well as trying and make significant sacrifices. Hopefully through doing this, we will be able to acknowledge that not everyone in the world is as privileged and advantaged as many are in this country.

Lent gives us the time and opportunity to reawaken our faith in the days leading up to Jesus’ ultimate gift to the world; his forgiveness. Therefore, through our own sacrifices of what is important to us in our lives, we can truly become closer to Jesus as we understand what it is like to give up something in aid of others.

As well as readying ourselves for Lent, Year 4 have had a very busy week involving their Viking projects. The staff in class were all blown away by the creativity and passion displayed through the children’s home learning.

In Maths this week, Year 4 have spent time using their developed skill of written multiplication to solve problems. This has required them to recognise a problem, decide which operation and method they are going to use to solve it and follow multiple steps to get to a final answer. The class are getting much more confident at answering these sorts of questions independently! Year 4 have also been deepening their knowledge of multiplication by looking at number factors . The class have been broadening their understanding of number and investigating the different numbers, that paired together, multiply to make the same number.

In English, Year 4 have begun a brand new topic based around stories from another culture. The class have been learning all about the native tribes of Australia; the Aborigines. We learnt a little bit about their history and how these groups of people believe in the time of the Dreaming. This period of time, they believe, is when their ancestor’s spirits went through the land creating life and important points of the natural world before they themselves turned into this nature. We learnt that the Aboriginal People pass their cultural beliefs, their laws and their stories on through their words. They also pass this down through art, dancing and music. Year 4 then progressed onto beginning to look at some of these stories from the time of the Dreaming including; “How the Turtle got its Shell” and “How the Birds got their Colours”. Together, we explored these texts and the important messages they pass down to the people that read and believe them.

In RE, the class explored the idea that Jesus was both truly human as well as being truly God. This is a difficult concept to understand as it is hard to acknowledge that someone can be both human and God at the same time! We know that Jesus was inherently human as he was born to a young girl called Mary and took human form, he showed human emotions such as sadness when his close friend Lazarus died and he understood us as humans. However, Jesus was also the son of God and therefore a vital part of the Holy Trinity. Of course he also showed us willingly that he was truly God through all of the marvellous miracles he performed in aid of other people.

In PE, the class have begun their ball games topic and have been focusing this week on their passing and throwing. Year 4 primarily focused on chest pass today, exploring the shape your arms make to throw from your chest correctly. We also spent time considering how to aim correctly, throw the ball in the correct direction and maintain the right amount of power behind our throws. Year 4 showed real resilience during their PE time and worked together really well, even helping one another when they were struggling. They really let their Christian values shine through in this way!