Have a Happy Half Term!

Everyone in Year 4 hopes you all have a happy and restful half term!

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have continued using their vehicle text of ‘The Whale’ to inspire their Writing and English learning. This week we have been gathering more banks of vocabulary including powerful adjectives and nouns related to the story to prepare us for our writing.

We moved on to using this vocabulary to create different expanded noun phrases so they will be ready to slot into our final piece of Writing when we come to it. We added these expanded noun phrases into full sentences ensuring we were including a determiner, adjectives and nouns linked to our story. The children did so well with this that they were challenged to add prepositional phrases onto their expanded noun phrases. Year 4 felt very grown up and scholarly!

Maths: Year 4 have gone back to exploring how to calculate the perimeter of rectilinear shapes after mastering more efficient ways of counting last week. Last week’s interlude of practising our fluency in counting really helped us when adding up measurements to calculate the perimeter.

Year 4 then progressed to calculating the lengths of sides of a rectilinear shape. This is something the class found tricky at first and still need to practise over time but their hard work and resilience has resulted in clear progress!

Science: Year 4 had a fantastic Science lesson testing the hypothesis ‘The further the distance, the quieter the sound’. Our experiment consisted of making an old-styled cup and string telephone to communicate with each other and find out if sound is quieter or louder depending on the distance the sound waves have to travel.

RE/RSHE: This week, Year 4 were aiming to recognise the words of the Gospel and chose their favourite Bible passages, writing them in a bright and colourful way to celebrate the word of God.

History: Year 4 have been learning about the story of Saint Cuthbert this week. Saint Cuthbert was a Monk, who in the 670s travelled to the Monastery in Lindisfarne. In the year 687 AD Cuthbert died and after eleven years had passed, the Monks discovered his body had not decayed.

As well as exploring what is deemed to be a miracle to Christians around the world, Year 4 investigated how this story serves as evidence that by the 7th Century, Christianity was a prevalent religion within Anglo-Saxon Britain.

Art: Year 4 have been creating more landscape pieces inspired by the artist John Brunsdon. This week we incorporated oil pastels into our drawings to bring out strong and bold colours that contrasted with one another in the same paintings.

PSHE: Year 4 have been looking at the way our brains work and how they are responsible for the emotions we feel. Together we worked hard to come up with strategies that will help us be in charge of our emotions and prevent us from making wrong choices in challenging situations.

PE: Year 4 have continued progressing in creating routines to perform for their class to close off their Gymnastics topic before half term.

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 your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Corben

Maths Award - Tommy

Writing Award - Grace

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

Showing our love ...

This week, Year 4 have continued exploring how they can be supportive and encouraging friends, thinking about the qualities they should demonstrate and how to love one another as Jesus has loved us. We deepened this thinking further by thinking of the small everyday acts of kindness we can perform to show our love towards others, treating others how we would like to be treated.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: This week, Year 4 continued exploring ‘The Whale’ and used one of the drawings of a shipwreck as inspiration to write an incidental piece of descriptive writing. Year 4 were experts as they did so much descriptive writing about shipwrecks and storms when we studied ‘Twelfth Night’ so were excited to prove that they had maintained all of their skills from the Autumn Term.

We edited our work, ensuring we included the important features we have worked so hard on throughout the year including fronted adverbials, similes, powerful verbs and adjectives and all of our expected punctuation.

Maths: Year 4 have been concentrating on making our counting more efficient, especially when crossing over the tens, hundreds and thousands. We explored using our number bonds to help us count in a more fluent way without relying just on our fingers or column addition!

Science: Year 4 continued exploring why pitch can be high or low. We used a practical experiment of three cups filled up with different amounts of water. Our class hypothesis was, ‘The amount of water in a glass changes a sound’s pitch’. Year 4 made their predictions and worked out which variable we would change before we tested the pitch of a noise made when we tapped a pen against each glass.

Year 4 discovered that the glass with the largest amount of water made a sound with a lower pitch than the glass with the least amount of water as the pitch of a sound depends on how much space vibrations have to travel through.

History: Year 4 concentrated this week on where the Anglo-Saxons settled when they first came to Britain. We discovered that they settled predominantly in the South-East. We know this because of all of the artefacts archaeologists have discovered (for example the Staffordshire Hoard) and how this can tell a story of the types of people that once would have been there.

PE: Year 4 have linked their Gymnastics this week with their Science learning. The class are building routines in their groups to represent a sound’s journey from being a vibration, to colliding with air particles, travelling as sound waves, through the ear canal and ear drum before reaching the brain as electrical signals.

Spanish: Year 4 have been revising their learning so far in their ‘Ancient Britain’ topic including the different eras, how to say they are a boy/girl from an era, the different tools and inventions from each age and the different homes from different eras.

Year 4 created group posters to showcase all of their learning so far this topic. We only had one rule, all of the vocabulary on their posters had to be in Spanish!

Art: Year 4 have started creating landscape sketches inspired by the artwork of John Brunsdon and our experiences of living on the coast.

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 your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Harriet

Maths Award - Olivia W and Lilly C

Writing Award - James

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven." Matthew

This weeks Gospel tells us of Jesus’ teaching to us that we should be patient, that whatever our troubles, we can be rewarded when we get to heaven.

Year 4 have spent this week discussing friendship and what we look for in a good friend.

Year 4 have agreed that there are lots of things that add up altogether that make us a good friend. However, that we have to think about all of these different qualities, can be quite challenging.

We agreed that to be a good friend you have to be kind, caring and respectful. Year 4 also thought about the importance of being a trustworthy friend, a friend that stands up for what is right but is also not afraid to disagree with what is wrong, even if that person is their friend. The class also thought about our differences and how it is ok to be friends with someone that is different from us.

Overall, Year 4 are in agreement with the qualities they have selected that make a good friend and noticed that these qualities link well with our school values of care, learn and respect.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have started immersing themselves in a new book called ‘The Whale’ in preparation for their final piece of writing; a newspaper report.

Year 4 debated the newspaper headline from the story;‘Giant Whale or Giant Hoax’ , about a great spotted whale sighted 50 years ago. Year 4 had to decide if they believed the whale was real or if it was all a giant hoax invented and turned into legend over the 50 years. Year 4 concentrated on forming an argument based on their opinion and ensuring they backed it up with evidence.

Maths: Year 4 have been looking at units of measurement this week; metres and kilometres. We started the week by converting metres into kilometres and vice versa.

Year 4 then moved on to investigating the perimeter of squares and rectangles.

RE and Liturgy: This week, Year 4 explored the Jewish prayer ‘Shema’ and its importance in the Jewish faith.

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

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 have been exploring different musical instruments this week and investigating how they can make the sounds from the instruments louder, quieter, higher and lower. We discovered that the volume of a sound depends on the force and the pace used to create vibrations. Year 4 also learnt that the pitch of an object depends on the space vibrations have to travel through.

PE: Year 4 have consolidated the different balances, rolls and now jumps they have been learning about within their gymnastics topic this week, creating routines to perform for their class.

Spanish: Year 4 have been revising their learning so far in their ‘Ancient Britain’ topic including the different eras, how to say they are a boy/girl from an era, the different tools and inventions from each age and the different homes from different eras.

Computing: Year 4 used the computers this week to transfer their designs of a system to prevent extreme weather harming people or places on to a digital platform.

Art: Year 4 used a reference of a feather to develop and showcase their sketching and shading skills. We concentrated on our shading becoming gradually darker and darker to create texture as well as adding depth by subtly adding colour into our sketches.

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 your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Lily T

Maths Award - Darcy

Writing Award - Hallie

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

Rules, rights and responsibilities.

Year 4 have spent their PSHE time this week thinking about the rules, rights and responsibilities that they have in their school. As we follow our school values, we are learning to respect the set rules of our school to ensure everybody is safe and thriving. We are understanding the importance to care about each others rights within our community, our rights to say stop and to speak out against any injustices we may witness. Finally, we can learn about the responsibilities we have as individuals in our school.

Year 4 have spent this time discussing these issues as they will need to understand the rules, rights and responsibilities of society in our democratic country. We explored what it means to have rights such as freedom of speech, the right to vote and the right to live peacefully in our country’s society.

Year 4 have decided that understanding these three concepts well and in depth now, is going to make their wider school life and later on experience more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Having written their information reports all about polar bears and their habitats last week, Year 4 have spent this week rereading and editing their work. Year 4 wanted to take ownership of making their writing better by going over it, checking their grammar, spelling and punctuation and editing it to create a final and formal piece of writing.

Year 4 have also spent a good portion of their time practising their reading comprehension skills, particularly their ability to infer information from a text. We have examined how subtle information in a text can reveal how a character is feeling, what they are thinking and other important factors that contribute to a story’s plot.

Maths: Year 4 have continued extending and deepening their problem solving and reasoning skills using addition and subtraction. We have concentrated on exploring a word problem and underlining the important information within it. We then spent time using that important information to help us choose the most appropriate operation and calculation to use. Finally, we ensured that we were presenting and showing ALL of our calculations and working out to help us explain our answer clearly.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have revisited the parable of The Prodigal Son and have linked the story to our school values of care, learn and respect.

In the parable, the younger son takes responsibility for running away from his home and his family and wasting his share of inheritance by returning, apologising and accepting the consequences he believes he should face. This is just like how Year 4 have been working really hard on taking responsibility for their actions to guide them in learning from their experiences and making the right choices in the future.

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

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 practised recording information in the form of diagrams this week. The class have spent lots of time exploring how sound is made, how sound travels through a medium to the ear as sound waves and how the parts of our ear work for the sound to be heard and recognised by the brain. Year 4 drew a diagram of the inside of the ear, labelling its anatomy clearly.

PE: After spending time on mastering our balance in Gymnastics, Year 4 have started looking at rolls that can be used in a Gymnastics routine. We explored using pencil rolls, egg rolls and forward rolls safely on our mats. Year 4 then thought about how they could combine their balances and rolls into a routine; demonstrating their teamwork and resilience to achieve their learning objective.

Spanish: Year 4 have been revising their learning so far in their ‘Ancient Britain’ topic including the different eras, how to say they are a boy/girl from an era and the different tools and inventions from each age. We have also started to learn the different types of homes used in the various eras.

Computing: This week, Year 4 used their prior learning of the different types of extreme weather and started their preliminary plans and designs for a system that can either warn of or prevent extreme types of weather.

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 your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Alexander

Maths Award - Lily T

Writing Award - Ronnie

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

"We all have the duty to do good." Pope Francis

Year 4 have been continuing to work hard, this week, to be kind, caring and compassionate members of society. As a class, we have spent time thinking about how it is our duty to make the right choice and to be the best we can be, even if we find it challenging.

As a class at Our Lady’s, we always want to make sure we are following our school values of care, learn and respect.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have spent this week making final preparations and planning for their information texts all about polar bears and their habitats. As part of this, we have spent time revising how to use apostrophes for possession and add more information into our sentences using fronted adverbials. Finally, Year 4 were ready to write out their non-fiction information texts independently.

Maths: Year 4 have been exploring how to solve word problems using addition and subtraction.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have spent their RE time this week exploring who Jesus was as a person, his religion and the qualities that have made him the person he is. It is often difficult to understand why Jesus was given such an ordinary life, born into a hard working Jewish family that were not considered important during their time on earth. However, God wanted the human part of himself that he gave to the earth to represent and connect with the everyday people of the earth, understanding their problems. Through understanding and having access to our everyday lives, he was able to perform the amazing miracles with the people that really needed them the most.

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

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 explored in more detail how sound travels from its source all the way through the air particles as invisible sound waves, through the ear canal and ear drum before it is turned into electrical signals and reaches our brain.

PE: Year 4 have been thinking about and discussing the different types of balances used in gymnastics this week and how they can use individual balances, mirror balances and solo balances in their PE.

Computing: Year 4 have continued with their topic all about investigating the weather by exploring the different types of extreme weather experienced on the earth such as thunder and lightning, tornados, tsunamis, flooding and scorching heat. Year 4 then started thinking about and planning their ideas to create a mechanism or machine that could help warn against and prevent extreme types of weather and are ready to begin their designing process next week.

Art: Year 4 continued with their ‘Jeffrey the Maggot’ inspired drawings, thinking about their sketching and shading skills.

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 your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Olivia S

Maths Award - Zahra

Writing Award - Elsie

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

Welcome Back!

All of Year 4 hope you all had a very happy and restful Christmas time!

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have continued preparing to write their information reports about polar bears and their habitats. In preparation for this, we have spent time exploring similar information reports and analysing what makes them a good example to help us with our writing.

Maths: Year 4 have been revising our estimating skills using numbers up to 10,000.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have been exploring the story of the three wise men bringing their gifts to Jesus. Year 4 spent time comparing the three kings to Jesus’ other visitors, the shepherds, and discussed how we felt God wanted to represent all walks of life, rich and poor, by Jesus’ side.

The three wise men went searching on a long journey, trusting that they would find the new king after many days. Like this, Christians also search for many virtues and answers in their pursuit to find God, trusting that one day they will reach God and understand what they need to do to embrace him in their hearts.

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

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 have started to explore their new Science topic, Sound, this week. We spent time investigating how sound is made by making as much noise as we could! Then we explored how the vibrations that we produce are what cause sound to be made.

We then thought about the fact that the vibrations that are produced need air to be able to travel as sound waves before reaching the ear to be heard.

PE: Year 4 have started their new Gymnastics topic this week. We spent time discussing the importance of balance and posture to be a successful gymnast and to practise this, we spent time working on our counterbalancing skill in pairs.

PSHE: Year 4 have continued examining their relationships this week, including the different groups of people in their lives. The class then thought about the choices they could make to make these people in their lives happy.

Computing: Year 4 started their new Computing topic of investigating weather this week. We used the computers to go online and investigate the different time zones, temperatures and weather in different locations across the world before comparing them to our local weather in Blackpool.

Art: Year 4 explored the story of Jeffrey the Maggot together in class and his journey through the inside of a pumpkin; from the pumpkin being harvested, all the way to being used on Halloween to hold sweeties and candles.

The children discussed what they thought each stage of Jeffrey’s journey would look like before using different forms of media to sketch and shade their interpretation of the journey through the pumpkin.

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 your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will start on Friday 13th January after school for those who received a letter and have returned the attached slip.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - James

Maths Award - Emilia

Writing Award - Olivia

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

"You shall call him 'Jesus' for he will save his people from their sins." Mt 1:18-24

As our Autumn term draws to a close and Christmas comes ever closer, the children at Our Lady’s have been trying to take this time to stop and reflect during Advent.

The children in Year 4 have spent this week’s preparation exploring one of the most important figures involved in the birth of Jesus, a figure that is sometimes overlooked by others. In our RE and Liturgy work we have been investigating the significance of St. Joseph and the role he played in the birth of Christ. We explored the dream that Joseph had in which the Angel Gabriel shared the message of God with him. We then discussed Joseph’s choice from this to trust in God and look after Jesus as his earthly father.

Year 4 then spent time thinking about other stories across the Bible in which somebody trusted in God in whatever they were doing and followed God’s path whole heartedly because of this fact.

Our RE and Liturgy work this week has also been a reminder of the importance of family and loved ones over the Christmas period. Having those special people in your lives during this time of year is one of the factors that makes Christmas so magical.

Homework over the Christmas Holidays:

Homework will not be set in Homework Books over the Christmas holidays however please ensure that Year 4 pupils are still:

Reading either school reading books or home story books regularly.

Times tables practise is done either using TT Rockstars or The Daily Ten at: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10 .

Notices:

Our KS2 Carol Service will be on Monday 19th December at 2:00pm at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church.

Our Christmas themed own clothes day will be on Tuesday 20th December.

Our whole school celebration assembly for this week will be on Tuesday 20th December as we say goodbye to our Autumn term together.

A big Happy Christmas from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

In our RE and Liturgy time this week, Year 4 have been trying to deepen their thinking around Advent. Advent is a time to prepare for the birth of Jesus who came to save us and take away all of our wrong choices, giving us a clean slate.

Therefore, Year 4 have been making promises regarding what small actions they can take to better other people’s lives as a sign of acknowledgement of everything Jesus did for us.

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

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have continued using their vehicle text Leaf to aid their writing. Therefore, they have been using this book as an inspiration to write their own non fiction information reports all about polar bears and their habitats.

Maths: Year 4 have been revising their rounding skills using number lines. We have been practising our rounding skills to aid us in our estimating which we began exploring this week.

Science: Year 4 have continued looking at Living Things and their Habitats topic this week. Year 4 have explored environmental changes which can cause dangerous impacts on living things and their habitats. These changes consist of; littering, pollution, oil spills, deforestation, urbanisation and global warming.

Year 4 then investigated the different action plans that can be implemented to fight against these changes such as building Nature Reserves, Ecological Parks, Ponds and forming or taking part in Community Projects.

PE: Year 4 have used their practised skills of dribbling with and passing a ball to play team games of basketball this week.

Geography: This week Year 4 have been exploring how food is farmed in temperate climates.

Spanish: Year 4 have continued learning about Ancient Britain. This week we learnt about the different tools used in the different Ancient eras and how to say that we were using those tools from that era.

PSHE: Year 4 have continued examining their relationships this week, including the different groups of people in their lives. The class then thought about the choices they could make to make these people in their lives happy.

Notices:

Our KS2 Carol Service will be on Monday 19th December at Our Lady of the Assumption Church.

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 your school instruments are being practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Mia

Maths Award - Peter

Writing Award - Henry

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

"The one who is coming after me is mightier than I ... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Year 4 have kicked off their Winter Reading Challenge properly this week. Our goal is to read books, within our ZPDs at school, quiz on them and earn points for our individual teams. Groups have to hit milestones with their points to work their way up the tree, being a team to win the final prize on the star of the Christmas tree.

Good luck Year 4!

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have continued writing their very own outsider narratives inspired by the vehicle text and its illustrations from Leaf. This week the class published their writing, by editing their final pieces and taking on board feedback to make their work even better. Then Year 4 presented their work beautifully in their writing books and designed a front cover for their story that gave clues so that their reader could predict the events of their narrative.

Maths: Year 4 have been concentrating on what exchanging during subtraction with three and four digit numbers actually means. We used the base ten equipment so that we could prove visually that when we exchange we are borrowing from our different place value columns.

RE and Liturgy: Our class have explored the story of Mary this week and thought about all the different events that happened to an ordinary young girl from Nazareth that led up to the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Year 4 then retold the story in their own words.

Year 4 spent a good portion of their RE time thinking about the meaning of Advent and exploring the significance of the Advent wreath, God’s complete and unending love for us. Year 4 then explored the meaning of each of the candles on the wreath; hope, joy, peace and love. All being virtues that Jesus taught us.

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

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 have continued looking at Living Things and their Habitats topic this week. Year 4 used their knowledge of grouping living things in different ways to follow and analyse classification keys.

PE: Year 4 have used their practised skills of dribbling with and passing a ball to play team games of basketball this week.

Geography: Year 4 have been learning about where their food comes from. We continued learning about the Northern and Southern hemispheres as well as classifying countries and continents into these two groups.

For homework this week, Year 4 have been given homework that builds on our learning that the food we eat everyday comes from all over the world. Please complete the food diary for one day this week and research where the ingredients/produce used for your meals comes from.

Spanish: Year 4 have continued learning about Ancient Britain. We started this week by revisiting the Spanish translations for the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Roman Age, the Anglo-Saxon Age and the Viking Age. We then moved on to saying “I am a boy from” or “I am a girl from” any of the above eras.

PSHE: Year 4 have continued examining their relationships this week, including the different groups of people in their lives. The class then thought about the choices they could make to make these people in their lives happy.

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 your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Grace

Maths Award - Rosanna

Writing Award - Oscar

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

"Stay awake, then, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come."

This week’s Gospel reading teaches us that we must always be ready to greet Jesus as we do not know the day in which Christ is coming to us, it may be when we least expect it.

In a similar way, Year 4 have been thinking about how they can make themselves ready for the coming of Jesus throughout Advent. Year 4 have been trying their best to stop and reflect during this period and ensure they are making this time of preparation count.

One way in which many Year 4s are preparing themselves before Advent has even begun, is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. By giving their first confession tomorrow (Saturday 26th November) the children in our class can begin Advent with the certainty that they have wiped their slate clean and can have a fresh start as this Liturgical year comes to its close.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have been writing their very own outsider narratives inspired by the vehicle text and its illustrations from Leaf. Our main objective has been to use fronted adverbials, powerful verbs and powerful adjectives in our writing and we have spent much of this week analysing what those three things look like if used successfully. The staff in Year 4 have all been blown away by the quality of the writing completed this week, Year 4 have shown huge steps of progress within their writing as well as an increased concentration over their work.

Maths: Year 4 have been practising their column subtraction skills. We have focused on what happens to a number when we use subtraction and how it becomes less than it was before as numbers are taken away.

We have also been developing confidence in being able to exchange between our hundreds, tens and ones when subtracting numbers.

RE and Liturgy: Our class have continued exploring stories from the Bible’s Old and New Testament. Specifically this week, Year 4 have explored the story of Jonah and the Whale.

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

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 have continued looking at Living Things and their Habitats topic this week. We continued consolidating our understanding of the the term ‘classification’. Then we continued to investigate the different ways in which various living things can be grouped.

As well as exploring the use of more Venn diagrams, we investigated the use of Carroll diagrams which aided us in classifying vertebrates and invertebrates in different ways.

PE: Year 4 have used their practised skills of dribbling with and passing a ball to play team games of basketball this week.

Geography: Year 4 have been learning about where their food comes from. We discovered where the food we eat for breakfast everyday comes from such as; oranges that come from Spain and milk that comes from Great Britain.

Year 4 also learnt about the different hemispheres of the Earth and the fact of Great Britain being situated in the Northern hemisphere.

Spanish: Year 4 have continued learning about Ancient Britain. We started this week by revisiting the Spanish translations for the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Roman Age, the Anglo-Saxon Age and the Viking Age. Then we spent time ordering these ages in their chronological order and exploring where they would be on our time line.

PSHE: Year 4 have continued examining their relationships this week, including the different groups of people in their lives. The class then thought about the choices they could make to make these people in their lives happy.

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 your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Connie

Maths Award - Isaac

Writing Award - Ronnie

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

“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!