Greece is the Word!

This term's topic of Ancient Greece kicked off with a morning of exploring some of Modern Greece's culinary delights; namely, hummus, Greek salad and Greek butter biscuits!

The children were excellent chefs and even decorated their own Greek plates for the afternoon feast. 

We were also lucky to have a visit from a parent who told us all about life in modern Greece (a big thank you!). We learnt about the Greek alphabet, questioned her thoroughly about swimming pools on roofs and had great fun translating names. 

In lessons we've been exploring the weird and wonderful world of Greek myths which has involved some brilliant performances from the children. 

Alongside learning about life in Ancient Greece in our lessons, we've also got an afternoon with some year 12 history and drama students from Oldfield School to look forward to. We'll be exploring Ancient Greek theatre, history and art. 

A busy term in Year 4

Year 4 have had a very busy term.  We have been writing newspaper reports, learning about volcanoes and have improved our knowledge of times tables. We have had fun at Forest School, spotting signs of Autumn, making fires and toasting marshmallows.

Ho ho ho, it's Christmas singing time!

In the run-up to our Christmas assembly, Year 4 are learning the song 'Winter Wonderland'. The children will be receiving a copy of the lyrics this week with their homework, with the backing (and performance) tracks listed below. Melt away those winter blues with this upbeat Yuletide classic. 

Backing track:

Performance track:

Harvest Time

As Autumn drifts through the air and the colours begin to change, harvest time is almost upon us. To help celebrate the gathering of the crops and sharing of food, children in Year 4 are learning the song 'Let's Harvest'.

To support singing along at home, please find links below to the performance and backing tracks:

Performance track:


Backing track:

The terrible Tudors

We've been learning about Henry VIII and his fondness for getting married.  We were lucky to be able to travel back in time and interview the wives themselves.

Click here to hear the wives themselves speak.

Did you know that the Tudors were a stern lot?  You could be punished for lots of things - from trying to overthrow the king to gossiping.  And they had a range of brutal punishments too!

Below the children have been imagining themselves as Tudor criminals and experiencing Tudor punishments.

        

Hello Year 4 parents and carers

Getting to Know You

Just in case you couldn’t make the meeting, here is a list of things we touched on last week.

PE The children in Year 4 have PE on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please help them make sure that they always have a full PE kit in school.  We will send home a letter if they appear to be without one.

Forest School Year 4 will be doing this on Thursday afternoon and the classes will alternate each week.  We start with 4C next week (19^th September).  We go out in all weathers so please make sure the children have enough suitable layers and clothing to keep warm and dry.

Homework  This will go out on Thursdays.  Please look through it on Thursday evening and make sure your child is clear about what to do.  If they seem confused then encourage them to come in on Friday and ask for help.  Homework is due in on Tuesday.  If for any reason they are unable to get the work done eg if you have a really busy weekend, please send in a note explaining this and we can give them a bit longer to get it done.  If homework doesn’t appear then we will ask them to spend a bit of their own time catching up with it, in school (lunch or break time)

At the bottom of each homework sheet we will write the times table we would like you to practise with them for that week.  We will be giving them tests in the maths lessons on this. There is an expectation that they will know all their times tables facts by the end of the year and not having a good understanding of them will hold them back as they move up the school.   

Reading: Please encourage your child to read at least three times a week and remember to make a note of it and sign it in the Link Book. They will get merits for reading regularly.  Even though some children are fluent readers and enjoy reading by themselves, it is important that they also practise the skill of reading aloud and get the opportunity to discuss the text.

Rewards:  Each class has its own merit system where the children work towards certificates, treats or rewards.  There will be a weekly presentation of certificates in assembly on a Friday to celebrate the achievements of individual children.

Sanctions:  The children are regularly involved in agreeing the classroom rules and they are also reminded about how to behave around the school and on the playground.  If they break these rules, we will follow the traffic light system which they are familiar with and which is used consistently throughout the school.

Spellings will be given out on Monday and be tested on Friday.  There will be a greater emphasis on spelling patterns so please help your child learn these and look for other examples of words that follow this pattern. 

Mental Maths The children will continue to do a maths activity at the start of the day.  Each maths groups will choose one of the level books to work from.  Those children who finish quickly will be given extension work.  There will be an expectation that children will get the work completed with a high level of accuracy.  Any problems they encounter can then be sorted out in the daily maths lesson.

Volunteers We are looking for volunteers to help with hearing readers, comprehension activities and supporting children in the mental maths.  Of course there will be other events connected to the topics like making things, cooking, trips, special days etc when we would really appreciated your support.  If you can spare some time either as a one off or on a regular basis, then please let us know.

                     

Blogging  4M will be blogging a lot this year.  We will be spending lots of time learning how to stay safe on the internet and how to blog sensibly.  We invite you to visit our other blogspot at themighty4m.primaryblogger.co.uk where you can comment on what 4M have been doing in class. Please take care not to identify too much information about your child - comment as Anna's mum or John's nan.  We enjoy sharing our work: writing, images, audio and video. If you do not want your child's image to appear on our blogsite, please let Miss Malone know.

Contacting us  We will both be running clubs on a Monday after school.  Staff meetings are on Wednesday after school so please bear this in mind when trying to get hold of us.  Before school is always a bit frantic so if you need to let us know something urgently please send in a note or ring the office and they can pass on the message, take a contact number or arrange an appointment.  We will try and get back to you as soon as we can.

Many thanks

Ms Card and Ms Malone

paula_malone@newbridge.bathnes.sch.uk

Welcome to Year 4!

Welcome back to school after a really wonderful sunny summer holidays.  I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and is getting back into the routine of being in school.  I know - its difficult when its still so sunny outside!

The whole class have really impressed me this week with how quickly they've re-adjusted to school life and routines, especially since we've moved to the lower school (so that heaters can be fitted in our real classroom) and its been a little bit chaotic.

We are studying the Tudors this term.  The 14th and 15th centuries were a time of warfare so we've been arming ourselves this week - in case we need to fight to any battles.  We'll be tying this in with our Literacy and other subjects as much as possible.


One of my favourite subjects is ICT and, as well as recapping how to stay safe on the Internet, this term in ICT we'll be starting to blog.  For the time being we will be posting the majority of our work at themighty4m.primaryblogger.co.uk where you can watch/listen/read it and also comment on what we've been up to.  A quick tip about commenting- please be safe and don't post surnames. If you're commenting on your child's work, sign in as Tom's mum, Joe's uncle etc.

Lastly, I'm looking forward to seeing many of our parents at the Getting to Know you session next Wednesday at 2:15 where we'll be going over y4 expectations, timetable, homework and spelling tests, and other useful information.  If you can't make the session and have questions, or if you want to get in touch with me throughout the year, the best way is by email: paula_malone@newbridge.bathnes.sch.uk.

Miss Malone