“Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.” Roald Dahl

As we progress through our Autumn Term, we have been thinking about how we can nurture our joy for reading even more in Year 4. With a class full of fantastic readers, it felt only right to celebrate this!

Therefore next week, Year 4 will be embarking on a Winter reading challenge that will take us through Advent and up to Christmas!

We are all very excited to share this reading challenge together and want to read as many books as possible as a whole class, teachers included!

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have been learning how to analyse and annotate a piece of text this week. We focused on a modelled outsider narrative and annotated all of the key features that made the text powerful. Firstly, we focused on the text’s structure such as its use of paragraphs and being in chronological order. Then, we explored the key grammar within the narrative such as; fronted adverbials, powerful verbs and adjectives, prepositions and metaphors.

Later in the week, we focused on gathering a bank of prepositions that would be useful when planning our own outsider narrative.

Maths: Year 4 have been practising their column addition with four digit numbers. We spent this week gradually aiming towards solving problems using addition of four digit numbers.

RE and Liturgy: Our class have continued exploring stories from the Bible’s Old and New Testament.

During one of our class Liturgies this week, we started to think about the coming of Advent and what this special period of time is about. We also explored the beginning of the New Testament together and discussed who Mary was and how she readied herself to become the mother of Christ just as we are now readying ourselves for the coming of Christ all these years later.

To share the Wednesday Word together each week, please follow this link:

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 started looking at our Living Things and their Habitats topic this week. We began by exploring what the term ‘classification’ means. Then we investigated the different ways in which various living things can be grouped.

PE: Year 4 have been practising their ball skills this week, particularly dribbling and passing basketballs through a range of different exercises and activities.

History: This week, Year 4 continued exploring the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Year 4 had to discover the different artefacts that were found in King Tut’s tomb around the classroom and catalogue these in their books as well as describe what the artefacts looked like.

Spanish: Year 4 have started learning about Ancient Britain. We started this week by looking at the Spanish translations for the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Roman Age, the Anglo-Saxon Age and the Viking Age.

PSHE: Year 4 have been examining their relationships this week, including the different groups of people in their lives. Our class also worked hard to understand that everybody’s families and friendship groups are all unique and will look different to other’s.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars regularly.

Please make sure homework is handed in on a Thursday.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Oppourtunity lessons on Thursdays.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Lilly

Maths Award - Hallie

Writing Award - Zahra

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

A Busy Week!

The children in Year 4 have spent this morning focusing on remembering all those that put their lives at risk during difficult times of war and conflict to protect their country. As a class we promised that we would always remember them.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English:

Year 4 have been immersing themselves into the storybook Leaf this week.

We began by comparing a polar bear to lots of different woodland animals and exploring the different ways in which the polar bear was the outsider of the different species.

We then continued by studying the front cover of Leaf and explored the different aspects that we thought were important before making predictions about what the story was going to be about.

After reading the story together, Year 4 then wrote a setting description inspired by one of the pictures in the book of the polar bear floating alone on a block of ice under the night sky.

Maths: Year 4 have been using all of their knowledge of Place Value to practise their addition and subtraction skills. Year 4 have been examining partitioning as well as column addition and subtraction.

RE and Worship: Year 4 have continued exploring the story of David and Goliath this week and focused on linking the story with the real world today. Year 4 also considered the deeper meaning behind the story; that God will protect us and always be on our side to overcome greater obstacles in life.

To share a word from the coming Gospel together each week, please find a link for the Wednesday Word here:

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

PE: Year 4 have been using their team work skills to take part in Invasion Games. We focused this week on watching professional handball players and studying the techniques as well as the attitudes they used to be successful.

Spanish: Year 4 have been learning the translations for new vegetables during their Spanish lessons, we continued with; green beans, green chili peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and cucumber. We practised our reading, writing, listening and speaking skills using this content.

Topic: On Thursday, Year 4 had their long awaited Ancient Egyptian Day! We had a fantastic day and all children put in the effort with their costumes, thank you so much for the support from home!

Year 4 spent the first part of the morning studying hieroglyphs to create their own Egyptian cartouche as well as creating their own Ancient Egyptian death mask, all things they could put in their own tomb.

The class then spent the latter part of the morning exploring Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses together to create an information poster to share with their class.

In the afternoon, Year 4 finally put their theoretical knowledge of mummification into practice by mummifying a tomato! Through this practical experiment, Year 4 will be able to see the process of preserving an object, a similar process to what was used in Ancient Egypt when mummifying a body in preparation for the afterlife.

Year 4 then finished off the afternoon by trying different foods that were popular in various parts of the Ancient Egyptian period such as; flat breads dipped in honey, dates, figs and grapes.

On a separate note, Year 4 were also lucky enough to be visited by people from the new museum that is still under development in Blackpool, nearby to the Blackpool Tower Circus. This new museum will be all about the history of Blackpool and Our Lady’s have been involved with its development for several years now.

Year 4’s workshop today was focused around the history of Blackpool’s circus in particular. We looked at the history of our world-famous circus including the animals that were once part of the show as well as the different acts such as acrobats and famous clowns like August and September and Charlie.

Year 4 then had a go at designing their own Circus advertisement posters before creating their very own clown act in which they had to consider what their clown and its sidekick looked like, what the act consisted of, what props would be needed and what the speech would be.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars regularly.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Tommy

Maths Award - Lola Mae

Writing Award - Mia

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

"The earth is what we all have in common." Wendell Berry

Year 4 spent their time in PSHE this afternoon thinking about our earth and most importantly the dangers that it faces in our current times. Year 4 thought about all of the different ways we can live more sustainably to protect our earth from climate change and other challenges our environment faces.

Year 4 all thought of small ways in which they can try and help the planet throughout their everyday lives. We all then wrote down our favourite and most realistic ideas as promises on a private slip of paper to show how serious we are about being proactive in trying to make a change for the environment. Some of the ideas we came up with to contribute to saving our planet were:

• Growing our own fruit and vegetables.

• Walking and using public transport more to save fuel like petrol and diesel.

• Turning lights off when we do not need them.

• Reusing resources such as shopping bags, water bottles and metal drinking straws.

• Taking shorter showers to save water.

  There are more ideas on living more sustainably at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvcxtrd/articles/z2c6m39

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: This week, Year 4 have been working hard during their comprehension work, particularly focusing on their inference skills. We explored together the idea that often pieces of text or books can give us information about a character without actually telling us through explicit statements, therefore we can infer key information about what a character is feeling and motivations for their actions.

Year 4 also spent time learning about expanded noun phrases and how they can use such phrases to increase the quantity of their writing and make it more exciting. We used lots of different photographs of various scenes such as a haunted house, a flowery summer garden and a starry sky to try and inspire inventive expanded noun phrases to describe the scene.

Maths: Year 4 have been investigating number this week, particularly descending past zero and into the minus’. We spent time consolidating our understanding that as you descend down a number line and into negative numbers, the numbers continue to get smaller and smaller. We also practised using our addition and subtraction skills using negative numbers.

RE and Worship: Year 4 explored the story of David and Goliath this week and focused on listening to and understanding the story before recalling the key events of the Old Testament story in chronological order.

To share a word from the coming Gospel together each week, please find a link for the Wednesday Word here:

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 have been exploring food chains this week! Firstly, the class discovered that a food chain is a chain of organisms that rely on each other for food. We explored the key vocabulary of a food chain such as; producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, predators and prey. After this, we focused on creating some of our own food chains ensuring that they were realistic food chains and each stage was labelled correctly.

PE: Year 4 have been using their team work skills to take part in Invasion Games. We focused this week on using our new attacking and defending skills to play mixed games of handball.

Spanish: Year 4 have been learning the translations for different vegetables during their Spanish lessons, we began with ; carrots, onion, spinach, aubergine and potatoes. We practised our reading, writing, listening and speaking skills using this content and are ready to extend our knowledge further with more vegetables next week!

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars regularly.

Upcoming Events:

• On Thursday 10th November, Year 4 are having their Ancient Egyptian day! Please come dressed inspired by an aspect of Ancient Egyptian society.

  If you do not want your child to take part in the food tasting part of our Ancient Egyptian day, please contact the class email: year4@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk or the school office.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Hallie

Maths Award - Olivia

Writing Award - Corben

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

What a Wonderful World …

During our Harvest celebration assembly this week, the class of Year 4 concentrated on all of the positives of our wonderful world. We also celebrated the things in our life that bring us joy every single day.

Thank you so much to all of the donations to our harvest collection! As a school we have collected over four hundred tins of food for Blackpool foodbank to help those that need extra support.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: This week, Year 4 planned, drafted, edited and wrote up the final pieces of writing for their work on Twelfth Night. Our studies of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night have inspired lots of pieces of creative, fictional writing for our class and this final piece has been the best yet!

Year 4 wrote a diary entry from the perspective of Viola. They included all of the events she goes through in the play in chronological order as well as adding emotion and feeling into their writing. We made sure we included all of the features of a diary entry as well as our adjectives, powerful verbs, similes and metaphors.

Maths: Year 4 spent part of this week consolidating their understanding of rounding to the nearest thousand.

Year 4 then moved on to looking at counting in 25s and understanding the pattern to help them count in 25s well into the 100s.

RE and Worship: Year 4 have continued exploring the story of Moses. To consolidate our understanding of the story of Moses, Year 4 are each creating their own story of Moses storybook to share with some of the younger children in key stage one.

To share a word from the coming Gospel together each week, please find a link for the Wednesday Word here:

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 have continued exploring their Animals Including Humans topic. This week we observed the results of our tooth decay enquiry. The whole class were extremely excited to see whether water, apple juice, orange juice or coca cola would decay its egg shell the quickest.

We discovered that the water did no damage at all to the egg shell and the orange juice did not cause much damage either. However, the apple juice and the coca cola both caused their egg shell to turn a horrible black/brown colour, change the texture of the shell and cause significant decay.

We were all expecting the coca cola to cause damage due to the artificial preservatives in the drink but we were quite shocked at the damage the apple juice did!

PE: Year 4 have been using their team work skills to take part in Invasion Games. We focused this week on using our new attacking and defending skills to play mixed games of handball.

Computing: Year 4 have been exploring their basic programming skills to give simple instructions to a character on Scratch. We are now getting very close to being able to programme our own games on Scratch after exploring examples of other games and using our decomposition skills to look at all the individual parts that are needed on Scratch to make a complete game.

PSHE: This week, Year 4 thought about how everybody in our world is different. We explored the different ways in which we are all unique to one another and how we can try and be understanding and helpful to those around us that may have difficulties that we don’t face.

Notices:

Over half term, please make sure you are reading regularly and practising times tables on TT Rock stars.

Upcoming Events:

• On Thursday 10th November, Year 4 are having their Ancient Egyptian day! Please come dressed inspired by an aspect of Ancient Egyptian society.

  If you do not want your child to take part in the food tasting part of our Ancient Egyptian day, please contact the school office.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Elsie

Maths Award - Jana

Writing Award - Lily

Have a very happy half term!

"Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day" Dalai Lama

This week in Year 4 we have been doing their best to be positive learners in all aspects of their school life!

All of the staff have been impressed by the work the class of Year 4 have been doing to try and achieve a more positive mindset to continue to grow their learning. We have been focusing particularly on increasing our resilience so we are able to have a go, aim high and progress from our mistakes. Year 4 now understand that making mistakes can be a positive thing as well as being proof that we are learning.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: This week, we have been focusing on some of the punctuation and grammar important for our development in Year 4. Together, we have focused on the use of apostrophes to show possession. We explored what it means to possess/own something and how our apostrophe shows us when something belongs to a person, an object or a place.

We have also spent time consolidating our use of paragraphs in our work and what their purpose is in a piece of writing.

Maths: Year 4 have continued exploring Place Value. This week, we have continued to look at numbers in the thousands going all the way up to 10,000. Year 4 have spent time ordering numbers to 10,000 before moving on to rounding numbers to 10,000.

RE and Worship: Year 4 have continued to explore and analyse stories from the Bible. This week, we consolidated our understanding of the creation story, representing the six days of creation and the final day of God’s rest through artwork.

After this, we moved on to begin exploring the story of Moses.

Science: Year 4 have continued exploring their Animals Including Humans topic. This week we continued with our tooth decay enquiry. As a class, we reminded ourselves of what a scientific enquiry is and why scientists ask questions. Year 4 remembered what we needed to keep the same in our enquiry in order to ensure it is a fair test, as well as what our variable was and the equipment we needed.

We performed and observed our enquiry together, ensuring we followed all the steps correctly and the test was fair.

The class unanimously decided that they thought the coca cola would cause the most decay to the egg shell due to their prior knowledge that fizzy pop usually has high levels of processed sugar that can cause teeth to rot and decay. We will see over the coming days if we are correct!

History: This week we have continued to investigate who the Ancient Egyptians were. This week we discovered the interesting yet gruesome process of mummification! We analysed the different stages and rituals involved in the preparation of an Ancient Egyptian mummy. Some of the key vocabulary we discovered together included; canopic jars and sarcophagus.

PSHE: Examining our emotional wellbeing and the challenges that can come when making the right choices.

PE: Year 4 have been using their team work skills to take part in Invasion Games. We focused this week on what an attacker and a defender’s unique roles are. We also concentrated on rule following in a game and completing instructions the first time around, as quickly as possible.

Computing: Year 4 have been exploring their basic programming skills to give simple instructions to a character on scratch.

Spanish: Year 4 have been consolidating their Year 3 learning this half term and beginning to extend this. We have spent time practising our counting up to the number forty.

We also spent time exploring where Spain is on a map of Europe before labelling some of the main cities in Spain.

Notices:

Homework will now be handed out on a Friday and be due in each Thursday.

Spelling tests will also be completed each Thursday.

PE days for Year 4 this year are on a Tuesday and a Friday.

Please ensure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Please ensure times tables practice is done regularly, just ten minutes a day makes a huge difference!

Upcoming Events:

• On Thursday 20th October there will be an own clothes day to raise money for the PTA, we ask that there be a £1 per child donation.

• On 4th November from 6 to 7pm, the PTA are organising a KS2 Bonfire Night Disco. This will be £3 a ticket.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Darcy

Maths Award - Teddy

Writing Award - Connie

Jesus Heals Us All

This Sunday’s Gospel reading focuses on Jesus the healer. Jesus cleansed ten lepers and healed them of their illness. This particular Gospel story shows us Jesus’ never ending compassion, love, mercy and willingness to serve us instead of be served. What we are told in this Gospel reading, is more evidence for Christians that Jesus was sent to guide and save us, showing through his own actions how we can live the best life.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: We have continued studying our dilemma unit through Twelfth Night. Year 4 completed their pieces of descriptive writing to create an image of the dramatic storm and ship wreck at the beginning of Twelfth Night. The staff in Year 4 were highly impressed with the wide range of vocabulary, similes and metaphors used in their writing. Year 4 really showcased their descriptive writing skills to show and not tell their ship wreck.

Maths: Year 4 have continued exploring Place Value. This week, we have been focusing on more than and less than, particularly on crossing between thousands and hundreds. We have also put a focus on comparing 4 digit numbers using our more than, less than and equal to signs.

RE and Worship: Year 4 have continued to explore and analyse stories from the Bible. This week, we concentrated on the creation story. We recapped the Christian creation story together and then discussed and reflected upon the aspects of creation we would miss the most if they did not exist.

Science: Year 4 have continued exploring their Animals Including Humans topic. This week we began our tooth decay enquiry. As a class, we thought about what a scientific enquiry is and why scientists ask questions and then test their questions. Together we planned our experiment of using five different types of liquids; water, milk, orange juice, apple juice and coca cola to show the possibilities and stages of tooth decay. As a replacement for teeth, we will be using egg shells and leaving them in each liquid over a period of time to see which liquid will decay the egg shell the quickest. Year 4 thought about what we need to keep the same in our enquiry in order to ensure it is a fair test, as well as what our variable will be and the equipment we will need to use. Hopefully our predictions will be correct!

History: This week we have continued to investigate who the Ancient Egyptians were. Just like in our Science learning, we have continued to practise our enquiry skills as we have explored some of the most famous Ancient Egyptian pharaohs such as Tutankhamun and Cleopatra. Year 4 were challenged with researching key information for each pharaoh such as their reigning dates and the name of their kingdom to complete a research table.

PSHE: Examining our emotional wellbeing and the challenges that can come when making the right choices.

PE: Year 4 have been using their team work skills to take part in Invasion Games. We focused this week on what an attacker and a defender’s unique roles are. We also concentrated on rule following in a game and completing instructions the first time around, as quickly as possible.

Notices:

Homework will now be handed out on a Friday and be due in each Thursday.

Spelling tests will also be completed each Thursday.

PE days for Year 4 this year are on a Tuesday and a Friday.

Please ensure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Please ensure times tables practice is done regularly, just ten minutes a day makes a huge difference!

Upcoming Events:

• On Thursday 20th October there will be an own clothes day to raise money for the PTA, we ask that there be a £1 per child donation.

• On 4th November from 6 to 7pm, the PTA are organising a KS2 Bonfire Night Disco. This will be £3 a ticket.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Oscar

Maths Award - Lola Mae

Writing Award - Harriet

Care, learn and respect.

Year 4 have been working hard this new school year to understand and demonstrate their core school values of care, learn and respect.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: We have continued studying our Dilemma unit through Twelfth Night. Year 4 were so excited this week to welcome the RSC into school for our very own performance! It was a delight to watch Year 4 not only immerse themselves in the show but also follow the story and recognise plot points and vocabulary from their work in the classroom. The RSC even chose one of our class members to play the Priest in one of the scenes!

Not only did Year 4 get to watch all of the incredibly talented actors in their own school hall but they also got to see the props they had made in class in the performance. Year 4 spent their time earlier in the week creating very special bunting to be used during the RSC’s production of Twelfth Night. This bunting also had the purpose of being used at the Grand Theatre for successive productions!

Year 4 have also started planning a piece of descriptive writing inspired by Twelfth Night’s stormy shipwreck. Today Year 4 created a storm circle in which we used pictures, videos and musical instruments to create our storm. We then used our storm circle to discover and share exciting vocabulary and create a word carpet that will aid us in our final piece of writing.

Maths: Year 4 have worked very hard to understand Roman Numerals this week. The class found this learning difficult however have really shown their resilience as they progressed through their work to understand Roman Numerals to one hundred. It would be fantastic if the children could practise this skill at home to really master their understanding of Roman Numerals.

RE and Worship: Year 4 have spent more time examining the Bible and comparing stories from the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Science: This week Year 4 have continued exploring their Animals Including Humans topic. The class have started looking at both human and animal teeth and their functions. We looked at human teeth to begin with including; incisors, canines, premolars, molars and wisdom teeth and their purposes. We then moved on to comparing these to teeth of different species and groups of animals. We also examined the reason that carnivores, herbivores and omnivores might require different types of teeth for their varied diets.

History: This week we have explored the concept of timelines. We particularly focused on the difference between BC and AD and how on a BC timeline the years descend unlike an AD timeline in which the years ascend. Year 4 then built their own timelines in their books, showcasing some key Ancient Egyptian events/facts in the correct order.

Year 4 also used their observational and analytical skills to identify key parts of a picture source. Year 4 had to find significant parts of an Ancient Egyptian image such as hieroglyphs, headdresses and robes.

PSHE: Examining our emotional wellbeing and the challenges that can come when making the right choices.

PE: Year 4 have been concentrating on their tactical ball skills this half term to aid them in playing a successful game of dodgeball. The class have focused on under arm and over arm throws as well as successful catching positions and techniques.

Notices:

From Friday 7th October, homework will be handed out on Fridays to give Year 4 children a little extra time. Homework will still be due in on a Thursday. Please do not spend more than ten to fifteen minutes a night on this however as it is important for everyone to have time for their own personal wellbeing!

Spelling tests will be completed each Thursday.

PE days for Year 4 this year are on a Tuesday and a Friday.

Please ensure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Congratulations to our award winners this week:

Golden Award - Henry

Maths Award - Mia

Writing Award - Darcy

Time flies when you are having fun!

It is hard to believe that Year 4 are coming to the end of their third week! The staff in class and across school have been impressed and inspired with how caring and respectful Year 4 have presented themselves throughout the week.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: We have continued studying our dilemma unit through Twelfth Night. Year 4 have immersed themselves in the story through drama, becoming the characters to help their character understanding and analysis. Year 4 have used this knowledge to create their own character descriptions of Viola from the story using a range of descriptive language such as adjectives and similes.

Maths: Year 4 have continued exploring Place Value. This week we have focused gradually and significantly on our four digit numbers as well as the number ten thousand.

RE and Worship: This week, in light of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Monday, Year 4 have explored the concept of kings and queens. Together, we thought about and discussed what kings and queens look like on earth, concentrating on their thrones, wealth and importance. Then we thought about the kingdom of heaven and what kind of king Jesus is; he is a servant king. We decided together that Jesus does not rule for wealth and riches but instead serves us instead of expecting to be served. We then thought about which New Testament Bible stories we see evidence of our servant King through.

Science: This week Year 4 have continued exploring their Animals Including Humans topic. We have spent time examining the human digestive system including all of the main basic parts and their individual functions.

History: This week we have continued to investigate who the Ancient Egyptians were. We explored some of the different job roles throughout the Ancient Egyptian period and the different groups within society that would have undertaken these roles. Year 4 then discussed and chose which position they would have most liked to have!

PSHE: Examining our emotional wellbeing and the challenges that can come when making the right choices.

Notices:

Homework will be handed out on a Monday and be due in each Thursday.

Spelling tests will also be completed each Thursday.

PE days for Year 4 this year are on a Tuesday and a Friday.

Please ensure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Congratulations to our award winners this week:

Golden Award - Olivia W

Maths Award - Lilly C

Writing Award - Alexander

Welcome to Year 4!

Welcome to our brand new Year 4s!

Year 4 have had a fantastic first week, showing all of the staff in class and across the school the respectful role models they are. Every single Year 4 pupil has shown their care, love and respect towards all other members of our school community as well as immersing themselves fully into their new curriculum.

Year 4 have started to look at their brand new topics for the first half of Autumn term.

English: studying the concept of a Dilemma through the vehicle of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Maths: Place Value.

RE: Exploring the the holy book of Christianity, the Bible.

Science: Animals including humans.

History: Ancient Egypt.

PSHE: Examining our emotional wellbeing and the challenges that can come when making the right choices.

ART: Exploring the Autumn season using a range of materials and equipment.

Notices:

Homework will be handed out on a Monday and be due in each Thursday.

Spellings will be given out on a Thursday and spelling tests will also be completed each Thursday.

PE days for Year 4 this year are on a Tuesday and a Friday.

Please ensure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Congratulations to our award winners this week:

Golden Award - Ronnie.

Maths Award - Kurt.

Writing Award - Henry.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace.

Our Lady’s start to the school year has unfortunately included the sad passing of our longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Let us all pray that such a strong leader and significant role model finds peace in her passing as well as her family and loved ones find comfort during this difficult mourning period.

The Great Grand Theatre Trip!

What a busy week Year 4 have had!

Key Stage 2 kicked off the week with their fantastic Sports Day! Every single pupil in Key Stage 2 should be extremely proud of themselves for demonstrating their resilience, teamwork, dedication and support of all those around them. It was clear to see this Monday afternoon the ethos of the school shining through Our Lady’s pupils.

1st place - Layton (500)

2nd place - Marton (473)

3rd place - Clifton (470)

4th place - Newton (469)

The Grand Theatre!

The time came this week for the children in Year 4 to take part in their ‘Tales Retold’ sharing day at The Grand Theatre in partnership with The Knotted Project. The children took part in theatre games, rehearsed, got to mix with other local primary schools and most importantly; share their interpretation of a Gangsta Granny scene on the very stage itself! Our Lady’s chose the scene from the first book when Ben is forced to enter the local dance competition. The class performed their version of the scene from the book however they then inserted some resilient moves into the scene and changed the outcome of this vital moment in the story.

St Peter and Paul

Year 4 behaved beautifully at the Mass for St Peter and Paul on Wednesday, their respect for and dedication to being prayerful was really impressive and lovely to see.

Our learning this week:

Maths:

Year 4 have spent more time investigating decimals. The class have continued to extend and deepen their knowledge on tenths and hundredths and comparing these on a place value chart.

English:

Year 4 have continued to work in their own production teams on their play scripts! The class have now written and produced two scenes in their teams including; the title of their scenes, the characters in each scene, the dialogue included in the scenes, clear stage directions and even setting out on paper what that setting will look like and which props they would need.

Hopefully they will soon be ready to perform these to the class!

Science:

Year 4 have continued exploring the different states of matter. After last week’s practical lesson observing how water can change states, we moved on to looking at the water cycle. Year 4 spent time exploring and investigating the repetitive cycle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection.

Notices:

Please make sure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Please ensure all times tables are still being practised despite the check having been completed, ten minutes a day makes a big difference!

Please make sure children are coming into school with sun cream, sun hats and plastic water bottles as we progress further into the Summer.

Finally, in preparation for the end of summer term, please can children begin to bring in strong carrier bags to eventually take their school books home with them.

Thank you from everyone in Year 4!

A Busy Few Weeks Ahead!

Year 4 have lots to look forward to in the coming weeks!

Next week, on Thursday 23rd June, Year 4 will be going to St. Mary’s for a very special Mass where they will be sharing worship with other Catholic schools across Blackpool.

On Monday 27th June, it is of course KS2 sports day! It will be very important that children come in with sun cream, hats and water bottles on this day especially if we are lucky with the sunshine.

On Tuesday 28th June, Year 4 have their very special sharing day at The Grand Theatre where they will be sharing their interpretation of Gangsta Granny with other schools on the main stage! Children will be out all day, getting the coach at 9am and arriving back at school at approximately 3:20pm.

Our learning this week:

Maths:

Year 4 have spent this week exploring decimals further. Year 4 have worked so hard and excelled at investigating tenths and exploring these in comparison to hundreds, tens and ones. The class worked hard to then apply this place value knowledge to dividing whole numbers by ten.

English:

Year 4 have been introduced to playscripts this week! We spent some time discussing what a playscript is and how it is different from a normal story, we explored that a playscript does not just tell a story but is a means to perform one. Year 4 investigated all of the features that make up a playscript such as; scenes, character lists, setting descriptions, stage directions and punctuation like colons. We highlighted that no inverted commas for speech are needed!

Year 4 then got into their own production teams and spent a lesson reading their group member’s Anglo-Saxon stories. Now they have chosen their favourite story, they are ready to adapt and produce it into a script to be performed.

RE:

Year 4 explored the sacrament of Baptism this week, examining the items involved in this special celebration and more importantly their symbolism. The class looked at the candle which symbolises Jesus’ light and when he died, the oil which is a blessing, the font which represents new life and finally the gown which symbolises embodying Jesus.

Year 4 then used this knowledge to explore the story of Jesus’ own Baptism by John the Baptist which showed us his willingness to lead by example. This symbolised a sense of rebirth not just for Jesus and his followers but for a new faith which had love right at its very core.

PE:

Year 4 have been continuing with Athletics this week, practising their running on the sports day track!

Topic:

Year 4 have carried on with their Geography Topic, Evaluating the Local Environment. This week, Year 4 have delved deeper into the local town of Blackpool. Year 4 have been researching which County their town is in, the population of their town, local attractions and local points of nature.

Congratulations to our award winners this week -

Golden Award - Poppy

Writing Award - Bobby

Maths Award - William

Notices:

Please make sure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Please ensure all times tables are still being practised despite the check having been completed, ten minutes a day makes a big difference!

Please make sure children are coming into school with sun cream, sun hats and plastic water bottles as we progress further into the Summer.

Thank you and Happy Father’s Day from everyone in Year 4!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back from everyone in Year 4! We all hope everyone had a happy, healthy and restful May half term and Jubilee celebrations.

Year 4 finally had their official times tables check this week! The staff in Year 4 as well as Miss Haggerty are all immensely proud of how well the class did in their check. Every single person in the class gave the check their all and performed incredibly.

Our learning this week:

Maths:

Year 4 spent this week exploring finding fractions of a quantity. We investigated this topic with the help of our times tables which Year 4 have become extremely proficient and fluent in. Year 4 then moved on to use their knowledge of fractions to begin learning about decimals. We used our knowledge of place value to investigate tenths.

English:

Year 4 spent this week finishing off writing their stories with a historical setting. Our class’ chosen theme was Anglo-Saxon, inspired by our whole class guided reading book 'Anglo-Saxon Boy’. Year 4 have shown how far they have come with their writing this year, their stamina, resilience and independence in editing their work is now quite remarkable.

RE:

Year 4 explored the things in their life that make them who they are. Year 4 discussed the activities and hobbies in their lives that give them a sense of belonging.

Science:

Year 4 have been planning even more Science experiments! This time Year 4 are going to be observing the changing state of water from a solid into a liquid. Year 4 carefully planned all the details of the experiment such as; the equipment that will be needed, how we will make it a safe experiment, how we will make it a fair test and finally their predictions!

Year 4 also spent time exploring the scientific vocabulary for when water changes its state. This includes, melting, freezing, evaporation and condensation.

PE:

Year 4 have started their Athletics topic this week ready for the Summer and of course Sports Day! Our main focus this week has been on throwing; for both distance and accuracy. Year 4 participated in different stations that would help them refine their throwing and catching skills and were thoughtful in the kinds of throws they were using such as overarm and underarm throwing as well as selecting each one for each appropriate station.

Topic:

Year 4 have started to evaluate the local environment in their new Geography topic. The class spent this week considering what the word ‘evaluate’ means before starting to explore what our ‘local environment’ is. We used maps to look at where our country is in the world before honing in on our specific locality in Lancashire. We then started to consider what about our environment is man made and which parts are natural.

Congratulations to our award winners this week -

Golden Award - Oscar

Writing Award - Scott

Maths Award - Charlotte

Notices:

Please make sure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Please ensure all times tables are still being practised despite the check having been completed, ten minutes a day makes a big difference!

Thank you from everyone in Year 4!

Happy Platinum Jubilee!

What a day Year 4 have had! It has been so much fun to become a part of history celebrating the first monarch’s platinum jubilee in British history!

The children spent their morning in assembly singing the national anthem followed by KS2’s surprising Miss Haggerty with another patriotic song and waving their flags proudly! Listen to the song we performed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oErNqBl3rIQ .

We enjoyed our lunch today in the style of a street party picnic, waving our union jacks with pride as we celebrated our monarch.

Year 4 then spent the first part of the afternoon completing a rotation of fun garden party games on the field. These outdoor activities included: lawn bowls, jubilee corners, tug of war, giant jenga, pin the jewel on the crown and rounders.

Year 4 worked really hard to try and overcome the challenges of the games and made an effort to use their developing resilience and team work skills to enjoy the games.

Year 4 then closed their day with fun jubilee themed craft activities. All children also received special jubilee coins funded generously by the PTA. These coins celebrate the 2022 Platinum Jubilee with a special ‘Our Lady’s School’ engraving. Hopefully, in years to come the children at our school will cherish these reminders of an exciting day that will be part of history.

Tales Retold Sharing Day:

After half term, on Tuesday 28th June. Year 4 will be taking part in their sharing day at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool town centre. Year 4 have been working really hard with the knottedproject since September in their story led resilience workshops which has given the class an opportunity to use stories and the resilience framework to develop important life skills.

On this sharing day, lots of schools will come together to have a day of theatre games and also to perform their own Gangsta Granny inspired scenes on the Grand’s wonderful stage.

The children will need to be in school earlier on this day as the coach will be arriving at 8:30am to take us to the theatre and be returning at approximately 3:20pm, slightly later than our finish time.

Letters will be sent out with more information after half term.

Congratulations to our award winners this week:

Golden Award - Elsie

Writing Award - Oscar

Maths Award - Isabella

Notices:

After half term, Year 4 will be undertaking their official times tables check. Year 4 have worked so hard all year, not only in learning their tables but in ensuring fluency during their recollection. We need to make sure we are as quick as possible ready for those 6 seconds! Please practice times tables every day this holiday, some useful websites can be found here:

https://ttrockstars.com/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/times-table-collection/z4vv6v4

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables

Please make sure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

To stop the spread of head lice in school, please be vigilant in checking and treating children’s hair.

As we tread further into the summer term, please remember to make use of plastic water bottles, sun cream and hats to make us prepared and ready for our final half term.

Everyone in Year 4 wishes you a very happy and restful half term!

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink" Matthew 25:31-40

This week in Year 4’s collective worship, we explored the idea that Jesus feeds us our daily bread. It does not matter what we do, Jesus will always care for us by feeding us and giving us everything we need; physically, emotionally and most importantly spiritually. As long as we trust in him, we will never be hungry.

Therefore, it is important that we as Christians not only understand this message and its meaning of Jesus’ never ending love and willingness to provide for us but also replicate it in our own daily lives. Just as Jesus tried to teach us, using himself as an example, when we see someone who is hungry or thirsty we must sustain them and give them what they need. As Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me”, therefore as Christians we need to make sure we are replicating Jesus’ actions to become closer to God.

Our learning this week:

Maths:

Year 4 have continued exploring equivalent fractions. Year 4 have also started exploring the term simplify and its meaning regarding fractions. The class have begun to understand that finding a common factor of the numerator and the denominator then leads to correctly simplifying a fraction to its simplest form.

English:

Year 4 have continued with their historical fiction topic and have created an Anglo Saxon character as well as starting to plan a setting their story could take place in. As a class, we spent time making sure our character would be historically accurate from the job they would have done down to the clothes they would have worn, even considering what their hair colour would have been! In regard to creating our setting, again we had to make sure it was somewhere believable for a story set in Anglo Saxon Britain. We then progressed onto coming up with a bank of adjectives that will be of use when including powerful vocabulary in our writing.

RE:

This week, Year 4 have been learning all about Jesus making Peter the head of the Church. This act from the son of God was another example of how powerful his forgiveness and mercy is. Despite Peter having previously denied knowing Jesus three times before Jesus was put to death on the cross, Jesus still had so much love for Peter and entrusted him in leading when he knew he would be gone.

When Peter undid his betrayal to Jesus by saying he loved him three consecutive times, this proved his loyalty and repentance for his previous mistake.

Science:

Year 4 have been soaring with their States of Matter topic, this week primarily investigating gases. Using lemonade as an example, we examined what makes a drink fizzy have bubbles? The answer, we discovered, is all to do with carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is inserted into a liquid to make it fizzy and in a bottle of fizzy drink such as lemonade, the gas sits at the top of the bottle above the liquid in the small space which is why it hisses and fizzes when the bottle is unscrewed for the first time! Year 4 then created their own fizzy drink brand, creating a leaflet that not only tried to persuade people to buy there product but also explained how their drink was fizzy in the first place.

PE:

The children in Year 4 have continued their orienteering topic this week, demonstrating skills such as teamwork, communication, trust and following specific and detailed instructions.

Year 4 have been lucky enough to continue on the fit2go programme run by Blackpool Community Football Club. We had our third session on Thursday where the class spent time in their workbooks exploring the choices we can make to keep our bodies healthy. We also had a practical lesson of games in the hall.

Please return the permission slip next week to continue to partake in the fit2go programme.

PSHE:

As part of our school’s strong, zero tolerance anti bullying policy, Year 4 have been trying their best to stand up against all forms of bullying. This week we looked at all the different types of bullying, we explored what we should do if we think we are being bullied as well as what we should do if we see someone else being bullied.

The school as a whole would really appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day to complete this online survey.

The different links are below.

For pupils:
https://forms.gle/cYU1ATvH71FsZVd67

For parents:
https://forms.gle/TP2A4mnpJwBwmT6R6

Thank you very much!

Congratulations to our Golden award winner this week, Scott!

Notices:

Please make sure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Please ensure all times tables are being practised ready for the June Year 4 check, ten minutes a day makes a big difference!

Thank you from everyone in Year 4!

“Easter spells out beauty, the rare beauty of new life.” S.D. Gordon.

Year 4 thoroughly enjoyed their special dance day today! The staff in class could not have been prouder of the way the children threw themselves into the day despite nerves and uncertainty. The whole of Year 4, staff included, enjoyed a morning of Zumba with Hazel in which we learnt a dance originating from Puerto Rico. Then followed a session of traditional Country dancing on the field with Mrs Ormerod. The class really displayed the depth of their resilience and how much this has developed since the start of the year, not giving up even when they found the day hard. Our dance day also included performances from certain dancers in the school, children from across the Key Stages wowing us all with routines ranging from Ballet, Irish dancing, Hip Hop, Modern dance and many more.

We are continuing to look forward to celebrating the Sacrament of First Holy Communion together this Sunday with our second group of children. The children who have undertaken this journey to receive our Lord have been preparing for a long time and after attending their Tuesday after school sessions and practising how to receive the host, are finally ready!

Our learning this week:

Maths:

Year 4 have continued with their fractions topic after successfully exploring tenths and hundredths. Year 4 have continued exploring equivalent fractions. We have spent time using the interactive whiteboard and shapes to see clearly how certain fractions are equivalent despite having different numerators and denominators.

English:

Year 4 wrote up their final written piece of persuasive writing this week and hopefully we will have some letters to send to our local MP Mr Benton soon! We have been trying to convince him to be more proactive in promoting renewable energy to replace fossil fuels as we as a class are concerned that our planet is not being protected from global warming and other serious issues that affect our environment.

As another topic finished, another has started. Year 4’s next English area is fictional stories with a historical setting. As we spent so much time recently studying the Anglo-Saxons we decided it would be a good setting for our historical fiction. Year 4 spent Friday’s lesson exploring what historical fiction is and why it is such a popular genre. We also tried to understand that this genre requires a balanced blending of creativity and imagination as well as fact and research.

RE:

Year 4 continued exploring the story of ‘The Road to Emmaus’ and its meaning. The class’ challenge was to write a diary entry from the point of view of one of the men on the road to Emmaus who saw Jesus. The class made sure they understood that Jesus’ friends did not recognise him at first however showed their selflessness by not allowing this to prevent them from inviting him to eat dinner with them. They had followed Jesus’ teachings and provided empathy for their fellow man with no want of praise or reward.

Science:

Year 4 have now begun their new States of Matter topic. They spent this week exploring the difference between solids, liquids and gases and using real life examples to aid in their understanding. The class then also spent time examining how the particles behave differently depending on what state they are in. A solid’s particles will be pressed together in a neat arrangement and vibrate, a liquid’s particles will be starting to move around and no longer in a uniformed order and finally a gas’ particles will be flying around quickly. The class seemed to enjoy this topic immensely and moved swiftly through their work.

PE:

Year 4 have been lucky enough to continue on the fit2go programme run by Blackpool Community Football Club. We had our second session on Thursday where the class spent time in their workbooks exploring the choices we can make to keep our bodies healthy. We also had a practical lesson of games in the hall.

Please return the permission slip next week to continue to partake in the fit2go programme.

PSHE:

Year 4 have continued looking at the Holy Trinity and how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all contribute to God as one being as a whole. This is just like us as people, we all have different qualities that make us who we are, we are not just one thing.

Congratulations to our Golden award winner this week, Jack!

Notices:

Please make sure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Please ensure all times tables are being practised ready for the June Year 4 check, ten minutes a day makes a big difference!

Thank you from everyone in Year 4!

"The great gift of Easter is hope" - Basil Hume

Everyone in Year 4 hopes you had a very happy and restful Easter.

During these 50 days of Eastertide, it is important that we Christians do not end our time of reflection with Easter Sunday. During the weeks leading up to Pentecost, let us continue to remember the key Christian values that Jesus modelled for us when he died on the cross; forgiveness, compassion and humility.

We are all looking forward to celebrating the Sacrament of First Holy Communion together starting this Sunday. The children who have undertaken this journey to receive our Lord have been preparing for a long time and after attending their Tuesday after school sessions and practising how to receive the host, are finally ready!

Our learning this week:

Maths:

Year 4 have continued with their fractions topic after successfully exploring tenths and hundredths. We spent more time consolidating our vocabulary such as; numerator and denominator. We investigated how we could work out the numerator and denominator of a fraction and have gained much more confidence with this aspect. Year 4 have also started exploring equivalent fractions. We spent time looking at the word ‘equivalent’ and what it means before diving deeper and using fraction walls to find and identify fractions that have different numerators and denominators but are actually equivalent. The class really found this a difficult concept to master however their resilience and determination shone through and in the space of two days, great progress has been made.

English:

Year 4 are ready to write their final version of their persuasive letter to the school’s local MP, Scott Benton. This letter is appealing to our local representative to consider how our country’s use of fossil fuels and other forms of unsustainable energy is damaging our Earth. As a class, we are trying to convince them to use his voice in parliament to speak up for the benefits of power such as solar, hydro and wind.

RE:

Year 4 explored the story of ‘The Road to Emmaus’ and its meaning. This story is one of the most important to engage with during Eastertide as it is one of the early resurrection appearances of Jesus after his death on the cross. We see more evidence of Jesus being the son of God while still remaining a mystery to Christians because of all the wonderful and unexplainable things he can do. Despite this mystery, we Christians still choose to believe.

Science:

As Year 4 came to the end of their Electricity topic in Science, we explored how switches work in a circuit. To fully understand the role of a switch in an electrical circuit, we revised our knowledge of what makes a circuit complete and incomplete. We then investigated how a switch works in a circuit by causing a break in a complete circuit and stopping the electrons from travelling through. Finally we also looked at the different types of switches and why there are so many. For example, a dimmer switch allows you to control the level of light in a room or a key switch gives you control of who can turn that switch.

PE:

Year 4 have been lucky enough to be enrolled on the fit2go programme run by Blackpool Community Football Club. We had our first session on Thursday where the class spent time in their brand new workbooks exploring the choices we can make to keep our bodies healthy. We then had an hour of games outside despite the wind!

Please return the permission slip next week to continue to partake in the fit2go programme.

PSHE:

This week, Year 4 looked at community and why it is important to have a sense of belonging to live healthy and resilient lives. We used the idea of community to help us understand God as a whole and the Holy Trinity. We decided that just like we have parts of ourselves that make up who we are, God has three important qualities; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Notices:

Please make sure home reading is done regularly and recorded in reading records.

Please ensure all times tables are being practised ready for the June Year 4 check, ten minutes a day makes a big difference!

High Five lunchtime club has now been changed from a Friday to a Monday, please can those children that are taking part come in PE kits on a Monday.

Thank you from everyone in Year 4!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3

The class of Year 4 would like to wish everyone a happy and a holy Easter!

It is important as we approach Holy Week, to remember the real meaning behind our Easter holidays. Of course, we will celebrate with chocolate eggs and Easter hunts however let us also remember that it is a time for family and forgiveness. God has given us many great things in his glory however during this season we remember his greatest gift of all; his only son. Jesus came as a gift to us, to show us God in human form, to teach us the way, the truth and the life and finally to ultimately save us through his sacrifice. As humans we all make mistakes but what is so special about Lent is the opportunity to reconcile ourselves with God and remember together what it was that saved us. During Holy Week, let us reflect on the true sentiment of Easter and enjoy it with those we love.

Year 4 wowed Our Lady’s Parish once again at Mass on Thursday. The class behaved beautifully, joining in with the responses and participating with the Mass as a whole. Our readers all read their rather challenging readings beautifully.

In English this week, Year 4 have continued with their persuasive writing. We have started to write the middle section of our persuasive letters against using energy that is not renewable or sustainable such as fossil fuels and fracking. Year 4 were challenged to give evidence that this way of generating electricity is harmful to our environment and contributing to global warming. This evidence consisted of; the ice bergs melting, wild fires and animals becoming endangered or losing their habitats.

In Maths, Year 4 have begun their work on fractions. We explored tenths and hundredths and used hundreds squares to investigate the different amounts of tenths and hundredths we could make. Year 4 also started looking at the word “equivalent” and examining its meaning in relation to fractions.

In Science, Year 4 put their lab coats back on again after flourishing with their Sound experiments. This passion for exploring was than transferred to our Electricity topic and the class learnt all about what a circuit is, quickly moving on to identifying a complete circuit and an incomplete circuit. Year 4 were then able to analyse different circuits and explain coherently what made one circuit complete and another incomplete. We then spent time naming all of the different equipment we were going to use in our circuits before the children were able to get busy with their own. It was a miracle as every single bulb and every single battery worked first time! The children then started getting creative, joining up their circuits to make them bigger and exploring the different combinations they could make when they collaborated with other teams and their equipment.

A few quick notices:

As summer gets ever closer and the weather gets warmer, please make sure children are bringing in a plastic water bottle each day.

Times tables club will continue on a Thursday after Easter as normal.

Congratulations to our Golden Award winner, Isabella!

Thank you from everyone in Year 4!

"I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

As we progress ever closer to Holy Week, it is important that as Christians we use this remaining time in Lent to continue to be reflective of our selves and our ability to be forgiving to all others. This spirit of self reflection and forgiveness can be harnessed by all Catholics by regularly receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist at Mass each week or through the Sacrament of Reconciliation by going to Confession.

A wonderful group of our Year 4 children captured this spirit at the Catholic Primary Lenten Liturgy on Tuesday. The 13 children that came performed so beautifully that some of the audience were moved to tears! The theme of our scene was the washing of the disciples feet at the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday. The children presented themselves so respectfully and behaved so well throughout the service that the staff at Our Lady’s could not have been more proud.

This was the week that we finally got to go and watch the Gangsta Granny performance! The class of Year 4 had a marvelous time watching our beloved class book and some of our favourite fictional characters being brought to life live on stage. Once again Year 4 really rose to the occasion and represented their school at the Grand Theatre very well indeed.

We have been using the story of Gangsta Granny in partnership with the ‘Knotted Project’ theatre group that help us with our ‘Tales Retold’ workshop on Monday mornings. Joining it with our resilience framework, we have used scenes and characters from Gangsta Granny to help ourselves become more resilient individuals. We have also used it to improve our Drama and acting skills, increasing our confidence, teamwork and expression. Year 4 have come a long way in these skills since September!

In Maths this week, Year 4 have continued looking at how to calculate the area of a shape. We have focused the past few days on exploring how to form and calculate the area of a rectilinear shape. We have also spent time learning how to compare different shapes based on their area. Our greater than and less than symbols came in really handy during our comparison investigations!

In English, Year 4 have started the process of writing their persuasive letters. As a class we are using all of the features we have learnt that make a piece of writing persuasive such as; rhetorical questions, repetition, imperative verbs and expanded noun phrases, in our writing. Our main goal is to incorporate our current Science topic into our writing and write a letter to our local Member of Parliament explaining to him of our concern of the danger our environment is in at the moment and to try and persuade him to do more to promote renewable and sustainable ways of generating electricity such as; solar, wind and hydro power. We started the introduction for our letters this week, informing the reader of our purpose and using rhetorical questions to get the reader thinking. We hope to soon have lots of freshly sealed envelopes on their way to our local MP!

In Topic we spent our last Anglo-Saxon/Vikings lesson exploring the Battle of Hastings. We decided to incorporate our Drama skills into the lesson and retell the story through freeze frames. The class were split into four groups and each group was given a different section of the story we had gone through together. Each group then had to create a dramatic frozen scene representing their section of the story. The first scene showed us Harold and the Anglo-Saxons defending the English line well. The second showed the Anglo-Saxon’s fatal mistake in breaking their line to chase after retreating Normans. The third scene showed us William the Conqueror’s Norman cavalry coming in and dominating the English. Finally, the last scene represented poor Harold getting an arrow in his eye and the Anglo-Saxon’s defeat by the Norman invaders.

Congratulations to our award winners this week:

Golden Award - Ola.

Writing Award - Zak.

Maths Award - Hallie.

Thank you from everyone in Year 4.

World Book Day!

What a World Book Day Year 4 have had! The costumes this year have been absolutely phenomenal with so many unique interpretations of different books!

This week, Year 4 embarked on practising their pilgrimage. We were so fortunate with the glorious sunny weather on Wednesday afternoon to have a first go at our walk for CAFOD. Year 4 were so respectful for the reasons we were walking and all thought beforehand about who they were walking their steps in the name of. Therefore, there will soon be slips coming home asking for your support for our cause through sponsorships. Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated!

Year 4 also really impressed all of the staff in Year 4, Mrs Ormerod and Fr Frank at church on Thursday when the Holy Communion participants went to practise receiving the unconsecrated host in preparation for receiving the body and blood of Christ. Year 4 were so calm and respectful of their surroundings and of Father Frank, it was lovely to see!

For homework this week, Year 4 have been given the topic of Area in Maths. We began this topic in the middle of this week and the class picked it up very quickly! Year 4 made a comparison between Area and Perimeter and what the difference is between the two. We used the base ten in class to work out how many ones could fill a shape. Year 4 had to use their knowledge of 2D shapes, for example we used our knowledge of squares to work out if the length of 8 cubes, the width would also have to measure 8 cubes as well, this helped us to see why square numbers are in fact called square numbers in the first place.

This week in English, Year 4 have started their new topic of persuasive writing. Year 4 have been investigating the different grammatical features that make a piece of non fiction writing persuasive. As a class we explored together; imperative verbs, rhetorical questions, repetition and expanded noun phrases. After becoming more confident with these concepts, we applied our knowledge to an advert for alien toothpaste and tried to identify these important features within the persuasive text.

In RE, Year 4 have been exploring the story of the Last Supper and the holy day of Maundy Thursday. Through exploring the different, significant parts of that day, Year 4 have developed their understanding of Jesus’ biggest sacrifice for us and how it unfolded. On Maundy Thursday, Jesus proved to us that he was here to serve selflessly, by washing the disciples feet. This was a sign, that despite being the king sent to earth, Jesus did not expect anything of us and his sole purpose was to help all living things. This was also the day that Jesus first gave himself to us through sharing that special meal with the disciples. Before Jesus made his ultimate sacrifice, he wanted to ensure we would remember him; “Do this in memory of me”. Therefore, from this, we as Catholics have been able to to receive the body and blood of Christ during the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass each Sunday.

Year 4 are looking forward to their trip to Gangsta Granny next Friday 1st April at the Grand Theatre. Thank you for all of the donations and fundraising support we have received to help us make this trip possible! Please make sure your child comes in in full school uniform that Friday and bring a water bottle.

Congratulations to our Golden Award winner this week; Amelia!

Thank you from everyone in Year 4!

"Let us never tire of asking God's forgiveness. He is the loving Father who always forgives, who has that heart of mercy for all of us.” Pope Francis

This week in Year 4 we have been trying to incorporate the spirit of Lent in everything we do, that of forgiveness. We have been trying to understand that the purpose of Lent is to remember and reflect on Jesus’ biggest sacrifice for us; to forgive us of all of our sins and make us pure again. As part of our Lenten activities, Year 4 have decided to undertake their very own pilgrimage around the school grounds. The purpose of this journey will be to try to walk in somebody else’s shoes, to walk for the people who face prejudice and hardship in their everyday lives.

To prepare for Lent, the class also spent some of their RE time writing their own, independent Lenten prayers. In these prayers, the children in Year 4 made their own promises to better themselves during this holy time. These promises consisted of acts such as helping others in ordinary day-to-day life, being more caring and to take opportunities to do good deeds such as giving to charity. The class also readied for Lent during their RE time by exploring the story of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday together. The class looked at three main points of; where the story took place, what the story was about and how the story ended. Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, as described in all four canonical Gospels, on a donkey was a public affirmation that he was in fact the son of God and the beginning of our blessed Holy Week.

In Maths this week, Year 4 have continued mastering the skill of dividing 2 digit and 3 digit numbers with the possibility of a remainder. We have used our times tables (which continue to get even better as time passes) to help us work out with fluency how many times a number can be shared out equally with remainders left over. We have also used part whole models to help us and explored the multiple ways in which we can partition a whole number to then do more smaller divisions and therefore help us in tackling dividing bigger 3 digit numbers.

In English, Year 4 have put their author’s caps on and have written their fictional stories inspired by tales from another culture. We worked together during our writing, doing a small section of our stories each day to ensure we were taking care with and pride in our pieces. We made sure we were including; powerful adjectives and adverbs, similes, fronted adverbials and the correct punctuation. We had some fantastic work as well, Year 4’s writing is only getting better and better with each piece they produce.

In Science, we continued with our new electricity topic. We spent this week spending time revising the different places we get our electricity from; the mains and batteries. We identified appliances that used each type of source of electricity to function correctly. The class then went on to explore the dangers of electricity. On the interactive board, we looked at different scenarios in a normal family home and identified the risks we could see together such as electrical appliance being right next to a bath full of water! The class then switched on their independent working brains and used pictures in their book to identify all of the electronic dangers they could see in that everyday scenario and why they thought that might be a hazard.

In History, we continued looking at the last Anglo-Saxon Kings! We explored more about Edward the Confessor’s life and his close relationship with William Duke of Normandy while in exile. This then led to us exploring more about William the Conqueror and the reasons he had that made him feel he had a right to the throne over poor Harold!

Please can Holy Communion participants remember to bring their ‘I Belong’ books for Tuesday’s afterschool session.

Also a reminder that World Book Day is on 25th March next Friday!

Thank you from everyone in Year 4!