Welcome to our Year 4 Class Blog!
W/C 18/7/16
They say that time flies when you’re having fun. Well that’s certainly true as we come to the end of such a wonderful academic year! The children have surpassed themselves this year and have all made great progress both academically and personally. We have also enjoyed a variety of educational visits, from sporting activities in our local area, marching through Chester City Centre as Roman Soldiers and not to forget our fantastic PGL residential. I only hope that the children have had as much fun as we have and that they have made many wonderful memories. It has been an absolute pleasure to experience Year 4 with you and I wish you every success for Year 5!
I would like to thank all parents and carers for your help and support over the year. I hope you have a lovely, relaxing summer.
See you in September!
Mrs Sharrocks, Miss Sheffield and Mr Robinson.
WC 11/7/16
In Maths this week, the children worked really hard recognising and writing decimal equivalents to 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4. I wonder if they can remember and tell you what the decimal equivalent is for each. We explored the effect of dividing a one- or two-digit number by 10 and 100. We identified the value of the digits in the answer as ones, tenths and hundredths. Fantastic effort year 4! Well done!
In Computing, we learnt all about how the internet works and discovered where all the information comes from. It was a tricky task, but the children worked hard to create a flow chart explaining what happens when we use the internet.
In Science this week, the children explored how water is transported in plants. We set up an investigation using flowers in coloured water. The children predicted what they thought would happen using scientific language, drawings and labelled diagrams. We are looking forward to observing the flowers to see if our predications are right. The children found it fascinating when they dissected the various parts of the flower; we named and learnt more about each role in pollinating and fertilisation.
We had a fantastic afternoon on Tuesday, performing some pieces of music to the rest of the school and parents. The children have thoroughly enjoyed brass lessons this year and have made amazing progress. Please remember to let a member of Year 4 staff know if your child would like to continue these lessons next year.
We hope you have a great weekend!
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 team.
W/B 4/7/16
In RE this week, the children looked at Journeys and Pilgrimage. We had some fantastic discussions about what it means to go on a journey and the types of journeys we have experienced. The children carefully considered journeys linked to holidays, family, learning and faiths. We had lots of fun using road symbols as metaphors and associated them with different journeys that we have faced. The children reflected on how these symbols represented particular incidents in their lives. Amazing work Year 4! Well done.
During our topic on The Normans, we debated which of four potential candidates would make the best King of England after the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066. We even had a ballot box and voted for our favourite. Harold Godwinson was the winner; however it was William, Duke of Normandy who actually took the crown. Then, we looked at what The Normans were best at, building castles! We learnt about Motte and Bailey as well as Stone Keep castles. Finally, this week we have enjoyed researching The Normans on the Internet and creating a group PowerPoint which we presented confidently to the class on Wednesday afternoon.
In our Science lesson, year 4 made some fantastic observations based on what has happened to each of their plants during our investigation. The children particularly enjoyed making conclusions based on their observations and used some great scientific vocabulary when presenting their findings to the rest of the class.
We hope you have a great weekend!
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 team.
Dates for your Diary
Tuesday – Y4 Swimming (last session)
WB 27/6/16
What an exciting week!
In Maths this week, year 4 confidently ordered and compared decimal numbers. We used a place-value board to make links between the digit and its place value. Children took turns to roll a dice and played against their partner, the winner was the person to make the largest decimal number. Children then explained their tactics and how they knew the best way to win. We discussed what digit we needed to compare first and so on. We then recorded the numbers created using place-value discs, as well as placing the numbers on the number line. We discovered that the number line helped us to compare the numbers visually.
In English, we recapped features of chronological reports. Year four worked really hard to give more information and vary their sentences by including conjunctions or prepositions to express time and cause. Children were challenged to extend some of their sentences using this skill. We discovered that a clause can be placed in different parts of the sentence to give a different impact. Later this week, we learnt all about Rosa Parks and read snippets of her biography, the children were fantastic at identifying features of this type of chronological report.
On Tuesday Year four had lots of fun developing their rugby skills with our Everton Rugby Coaches. This week the children learnt how to hold, pass and move with the ball correctly.
We hope you have a great weekend!
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team
Dates for your Diary
Tuesday – Y4 Swimming
WB 20/6/16
What another busy week!
In Maths this week, year 4 have continued with our Decimal unit. We learnt how to recognise and write decimal equivalents of any number of tenths or hundredths and discovered the effect of dividing a one or two-digit number by 10 and 100. We solved a variety of different pictorial representations and identified the value of the digits in the answer as ones, tenths and hundredths. We focused on the units of measure when solving problems involving kitchen scales and used base 10 apparatus to help us represent the decimal numbers.
In Science this week, we identified seven things which determine if an object is living or not and discovered ‘Mrs Gren’ to help us remember. I wonder if the children can tell you about each of these processes. The children then shared their experiences about looking after plants and what they did to help them grow. In groups, we discussed ideas about how we can test if plants really need these things to grow well. The children then formed their own observational investigation to answer this question, using their chosen condition for their plant.
In English, the children enjoyed hearing more about Henry Brown and his magnificent journey. Year 4 worked extremely hard when using past tense verbs to retell the story about Henry Brown mailing himself to freedom. Later in the week, the children wrote in role to produce a chronological report based on the events from this story. We designed our own success critieria and used this to check that all the features were included in our writing. Fantastic work year 4. Well done!
We hope you have a great weekend!
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team
Dates for your Diary
Tuesday – Y4 Swimming
Friday 1st July @ 3.30pm – School Summer Fair
Tuesday 12th July – Year 4 Brass Performance
13/6/16
In English this week we started our unit on Chronological Order through reading and discussing the inspirational true life text of Henry’s Freedom Box. The children explored dialogue through drama and recorded powerful speech verbs for reporting clauses and adverbs to say how something is said. We shared examples of our work and the children worked really hard to make improvements to the vocabulary they had used. Next week we will punctuate our dialogue and will consider authentic sounding speech, and include action to give clues about the characters.
In Science we started our new topic ‘Plants’. We learnt lots of new vocabulary as we made careful observations when looking at a selection of house plants and we discussed which parts of the plant we could and could not see. We discovered what the function of each part of the plant does and thought about how the structure of the part helps it to function.
During our topic session we discussed what we have learnt about the Normans over the half term holiday. We looked at the history of Britain using a timeline and identified where the history of the Normans is situated. We discovered that in 1066 the Normans took over Britain and there were four claimants to the throne. In groups, the children discussed the four candidates and thought about their qualities and flaws. The children then presented their argument as to who they thought should be King and the reasons why.
On Friday, the children took part in an orienteering lesson. The children had a great time working as a team, using maps, scales and compass skills to solve navigation problems. Many found this tricky at first, but they persevered and soon got the hang of it. Well done Year 4!
We hope you have a great weekend
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 team.
Dates for your Diary
Tuesday 14th June – Y4 Swimming
Friday 24th June - Sports Day
Friday 1st July - Summer Fair 3.30pm - 5.00pm
WB 6/6/16
Welcome back. We hope you enjoyed a well-deserved rest.
We have had a busy couple of days this week. On Wednesday, Year 4 began our new unit in maths – Decimals. The children began by writing as many facts as they could for a variety of shaded tenths. Some children made connections with fractions and recognised when some decimals were equivalent to a half. The children became very confident in finding tenths of an amount and understanding the place value of tenths. Keep up the good work Year 4!
On Thursday, Year 4 had a fantastic morning at Church, learning all about her Royal Highness the Queen as she approaches her 90th Birthday. In preparation for our whole school garden party, Year 4 designed some wonderful bunting using the information we discovered. On Friday, we had an amazing afternoon celebrating this event. The weather held off so we were able to have a whole school picnic. Friends and family (as well as a very special visitor) joined us in the hall to round off the day with singing and dancing. Thank you to everyone who brought in cakes and scones which helped to create our wonderful picnic.
Thank you to all the children who brought in their home learning projects this week. We had some fantastic work returned and the children were very proud to share what they had done. The children’s work will be put on our Normans class display for all to see and enjoy.
We hope you have a great weekend!
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team
Dates for your Diary
Tuesday 14th June – Y4 Swimming
Friday 24th June - Sports Day
WB 23/5/16
What a fantastic week!
In school this week, we have been celebrating World Culture Week. The children were extremely excited to have a visit from the Reptile Man! He brought in a range of wonderful spiders, reptiles and amphibians for us to look at. Some children were tremendously brave and held some of the animals. We used this experience as our writing stimulus and the children wrote fantastic information texts using facts that they had discovered.
On Wednesday, year 4 designed their own Save the Children Kites with Mr Campbell. This linked well with our culture week as we learnt lots about the charity. The children then carried out a Science experiment to find which string length made a kite fly the best.
On Monday, Year 3 and 4 spent some time creating a variety of cultural dances. They had a great time practising Bollywood, Egyptian, Spanish Flamenco and Greek Zorba dancing.
In English, we explored a poem called ‘If all the world were paper’ by Joseph Coelho. We identified lots of poetic features within the poem and even made suggestions on how we could improve it. The children then created their own poem in the style of Joseph Coelho. Some decided to rename theirs ‘If all the world were Lego’, and ‘If all the world were chocolate’. On Friday we had a lovely time performing our poems, which were simply incredible. Fantastic work Year 4!
Home learning projects have been sent home for our next topic, The Normans. I hope the children have fun creating something to bring in to school. We will share their work when we return.
We hope you have a lovely break!
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team
Dates for your Diary
Thursday 8th June am - Year 4 Visit to church (Change of date due to swimming)
Friday 10th June - Garden Party
Friday 24th June - Sports Day
WC 16/5/16
What a busy week!
On Monday, Year 3 and 4 had a fantastic time at Chester Museum learning more about our topic ‘The Romans’. The children took part in a Roman Soldier Tour and wore replica armour and carried shields as they marched through the City Centre to the amphitheatre, where they began their formations training.
We had a great time exploring Roman life in the Roman workshop. We learnt all about Roman kitchens and food, the bath house, mosaic making and roof building. We also looked at real and replica artefacts and had lots of fun being Archaeologists, sorting materials and working out what rots and what does not.
At the end of our busy day, we spent some time in the Roman Galleries looking at life in Roman Chester and the wonderful collection of Roman tombstones – ‘Stories in Stone’. What a wonderful day and as usual, excellent behaviour Year 4, well done!
In English/Art this week, the children showed off their artistic talents by designing and drawing a fun, high-spirited outfit in the style of Vivienne Westwood. They used examples of fashion drawings to create their own fun outfit and annotated their designs using noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and prepositional phrases. They used their designs and annotations as a stimulus for Thursday’s writing task when they wrote some amazing fashion reviews.
During our RE lesson this week, we were lucky to have a visitor, Mrs Morris from our local church. She brought along some bibles for the children to read and explore. The children asked some interesting questions about the bible and its structure and we shared some of the parables that we have been learning about over the past few weeks. I am looking forward to next week’s parable ‘The Lost Sheep’ and discovering the meaning and message within it.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team
Dates for the Diary
Monday 23rd May - Dance Festival at the Theatre Royal for Morning Dance Club members
WC 9/5/16
In Maths this week, the children have worked really hard on multiplication and division problems. We have been finding the quotient (and remainder) to written stories using images, partitioning and bus stop method. Children chose their preferred approach and carefully explained their reasoning making sure that their partner could follow their instructions. Fantastic work Year 4!
During our computing lesson ‘Data Collection’ the children had great fun discussing the different ways of collecting information. Using the data collected last week about Year 4’s favourite food, we created a bar chart to present this information. Children were able to use this information to analyse data and used their bar charts to think of a question to test the teacher.
For PE we had a great time learning how to pass a baton. The children began by passing a large ball from the front player to the back, passing over/under alternately. When a baton was introduced, we found this a bit trickier. We found that if we stood evenly spaced apart and passed accurately we succeeded. Year 4 were so good at improving their technique, we had a go at passing the baton in relay races. It was really hard to jog facing forwards with our arm outstretched behind ready to receive the baton.
Dates for your Diary
Monday 16th May - Y3/4 Roman Trip to Grosvenor Museum. Children are to come to school in their uniforms and bring a packed lunch.
Monday 23rd May - Dance Festival at the Theatre Royal for Morning Dance Club members
We hope you have a great weekend
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team.
WC 2/5/16
In English this week, the children learnt all about Court Circulars and how they are used to record events that the Royal Family attends. We had lots of fun taking part in a short improvisation of a conversation from Tudor times between a King or Queen and a tailor. The role of the reporter was to write the direct speech between the characters trying to convey their emotions and characteristics. The children worked extremely hard when using this information to turn their notes into reported speech generating a court circular.
In History, the children discovered how the Roman Empire affected different people. The children introduced themselves in the role of their character (Venelli: A Slave, Tiber: A romans Governor, Rastus: A Trader, Boudicca: A Celtic Queen, Milo: A Roman Soldier and Drest: A Celtic Farmer. They were fantastic at empathising with all the different situations that their character faced such as the death of Prastagus, Boudicca’s rebellion and the final battle.
On Friday our school celebrated Art Day. Year 4 investigated the artwork of Claude Monet and learnt about the ideas of impressionism. We discovered that Monet liked to play with light and colour in his paintings and wanted to create paintings that give the impression that something is there without it being in the picture itself (for example the light he uses in a painting gives the impression the sun is setting but you can’t actually see the sun). The children really liked ‘The Water Lily Pond and Bridge’ - “Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas”. We had a great time creating our own artwork in the style of Monet.
Dates for the Diary
Monday 16th May - Y3/4 Roman Trip to Grosvenor Museum
Monday 23rd May - Dance Festival at the Theatre Royal for Morning Dance Club members
We hope you have a great weekend
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team.
WC 25/4/16
In English this week, the children wrote some fantastic information texts about Victorian school clothing. We identified similarities and differences between Victorian times and our uniform that is worn today. The children were successful in organising paragraphs around a theme, using organisation devices such as headings and subheadings. We continued with this theme and the children wrote wonderful detailed descriptions using noun and preposition phrases to create a persuasive advert for a Tudor costume. Great work Year 4!
In RE the children continued with our topic ‘Why did Jesus tell stories?' We discussed what a parable is, why Jesus told parables and we identified some of the parables that we know. This week, we learnt all about the story of 'The Lost Son'. The children showed a very good understanding of the Christian view of forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption.
In dance, the children continued with our theme on Fashion. With our dance instructor Emma, they explored some basic dance movements to warm up individual parts of the body. The children then discussed fashion and trends and how our clothes change over the years just like dance fashions and styles do. The children had great fun learning traditional and friendship/courtship style dances.
We hope you have a wonderful bank holiday weekend!
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team
Dates for your Diary
Friday 6th May - Art Day
Monday 16th May - Y3/4 Roman Trip to Grosvenor Museum
Monday 23rd May - Dance Festival at the Theatre Royal for Morning Dance Club members
WB 18/4/16
Welcome back Year 4!
It was lovely to see the children after spring break. They have certainly returned to school rested and eager to learn.
In Maths, the children have continued working on their multiplication and division problem solving skills. We have practised multiplying by 0, 1 and 3, multiplying three numbers and using commutativity to help in mental calculations. The children are showing how well they know their times tables in our times table challenge. We do this weekly and the children enjoy answering a variety of multiplication questions against the clock. Lots of children have achieved full marks on this challenge and are excited to try the harder questions next week. Great work year 4!
This week we started our new non-fiction topic, information texts. The children have enjoyed looking at the history of clothing and had great fun learning lots of new vocabulary. We improved our sentences by writing noun phrases, expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and prepositional phrases. On Friday, we used our new skill in our creative writing session. We had a great time describing a missing member from our class, who we named Dave. The children then produced some amazing pieces of writing in their ‘Missing Person Poster’.
As there was an important birthday this week, our school celebrated with a special assembly, we learnt lots of interesting facts about the Queen and the royal family. We also had great fun creating some wonderful portraits of the Queen which will be displayed around school.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team
WB 28.3.16
This week the children worked hard completing their Moral Dilemma Stories. The children are going from strength to strength with their writing and are trying hard to remember their individual targets and basic skills during written tasks.
During our final topic lesson, the children learnt about different punishment methods that were popular during the Tudor period. It is lovely to see the children enjoying their learning and how knowledgeable they have become with regard to Crime and Punishment from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day.
On Thursday, the children enjoyed our design and technology day. We had great fun learning about our topic ‘Can we fly our kite?’ We explored the different functions, parts and range of kite shapes and sizes. We discovered that kites can be extremely complicated or very simple but they all need to have a large area, called the body, to catch the wind. The children then explored a variety of different materials and used them to create a kite shape and test its strength. They were very excited to go outside and test the effectiveness of their kites. Afterwards, we returned to class and evaluated the kite designs. The children had some fantastic ideas on how to improve their designs. Well done Year 4!
We hope you have a wonderful spring term break.
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 team.
WB 21.3.16
This week the children worked extremely hard in maths, solving problems involving multiplication and division and in some cases with remainders. The children are really showing how well they know their times tables and are benefitting from this knowledge. Keep up the good work Year 4!
On Monday the children (and Miss Sheffield) had a great time keeping fit whilst taking part in a Zumba Class. We certainly have some talented dancers in Year 4.
During Science, the children were given a problem. 'A little boy wanted to choose a material to make some new curtains for his baby sister’s bedroom. The curtains needed to block light so that the baby didn't wake up too early.' The children planned and carried out their own investigation ensuring that it was a fair test. During the experiment, the children tested a variety of materials by shining a torch onto each material and observing the shadow it created. They then decided if the material was opaque, translucent or transparent.
On Tuesday, year 4 worked really hard during our First Aid training. The children learnt what to do in the event of different emergencies. They practised what to do if they found someone unconscious and how to put a person in to the recovery position. They also practised what to do in the case of a minor injury as well as how to apply bandages to more severe injuries.
The children began to write their own moral dilemma stories this week and have tried to include our learning objective 'fronted adverbials'. These are words or phrases at the beginning of a sentence, used to describe the action that follows. This learning objective was a big favourite of the children's and they had great fun thinking of different fronted adverbials to use in their writing. I wonder if the children can give you some examples at home? I am looking forward to completing our stories next week and finding out how the children will solve their dilemmas.
We hope you have a lovely Easter weekend,
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team.
WB 14.3.16
What a busy week!
Thank you to all the parents who managed to attended parents evening this week. I’m sure you will agree that the children are making great progress and as you can see from viewing your child’s work, they are working extremely hard. Well done Year 4.
On Tuesday, Year 4 spent some time at the Book Fayre. It was lovely to see the children so excited when sharing and exploring books. I know a lot of children returned to the book fayre to purchase some new books. This has created a fresh buzz and love of reading in our classroom which is wonderful.
In Topic this week, we explored how the legal system worked in Anglo-Saxon Britain. We learnt all about Wergild - a payment system used in Anglo-Saxon times to settle disputes between the criminal and the victim or the victim’s family. The children were given case studies and they worked in small groups being – Anglo Saxon people, Modern British people and the Jury. They enjoyed debating each case study then asked the jury to give their final decision and reasons for it.
We had a great time during our church visit this week, learning all about the Easter Story. The children took part in fun craft activities and an Easter egg hunt. It was lovely to hear compliments regarding Year 4’s wonderful manners and behaviour. Keep it up Year 4!
We hope you have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Sharrocks and the Year 4 Team.
Reminders
Wednesday 23rd March - Easter Bingo
WB 7/3/16
This week, Year 3 and 4 performed a wonderful assembly in front of the whole school about our recent RE topic, Islam. The children shared all that they have learnt over the past few weeks. They talked about what Islam is and what it means, as well as Ramadan and the Quran and why it is special to Muslims. The children enjoyed sharing some Islamic artwork that they made and they discussed the importance of intricate and detailed shapes and geometric patterns. Super effort both year groups, well done!
This week the children have worked hard in maths. We have been exploring multiplication and division problems and have been identifying the dividend, divisor and quotient when looking at division tasks. I wonder if the children can tell you what each is. Next week we will use inverse operations to check our answers to given problems.
In English we continued with our theme Moral Dilemmas. The children enjoyed reading the Balaclava Story, where a little boy called George found a balaclava on the floor, he knew it belonged to his friend but without thinking, he picked it up and put in the sleeve of his coat. We could tell from George’s feelings and actions, that he knew what he had done was wrong. We discussed that sometimes; we can all make the wrong choice or are sometimes faced with a dilemma that involves making an important decision. We thought of a resolution that George could do to put things right.
In Science, the children had great fun exploring mirrors and reflections. We explored the characteristics of good reflective surfaces and found out that surfaces that reflect light best are smooth, shiny and flat. This is because the light rays bounces off these surfaces at the same angle. If light hits a rough surface, the light rays all bounce off at different angles, meaning the light is scattered, therefore, it does not reflect well.
Outside the children tried to follow a wavy line drawn on the floor. They held a mirror over their head so they could see the line and feet reflected in it. By looking only in the mirror, the children tried to follow the wiggly line from one end to the other. We discovered that this was very tricky because the mirror reversed the wavy line in the reflection. Great work Year
