Cherry Class have settled exceptionally well into Year 4 life and we have had lots of fun grasping new topics across the curriculum.
In Maths, we have worked hard to build upon our place value knowledge, learning the value of digits, adding and subtracting 1, 10, 100 and 1000, as well as learning Roman numerals and ordering and comparing numbers to 10,000. We have also been spending a lot of time practising our times tables.
In English, we have enjoyed writing a narrative based on ‘Feast’, a short Disney film. We have introduced new writing techniques and recapped previous ones. Guided Reading lessons have allowed us to explore ‘Roar’, which we are also enjoying as a class novel. We also focused on novels and non-fiction texts based on inspirational black people, such as Nelson Mandela, during the month of October to recognise Black History Month. We have focused on making links between books, retrieving information and defining new vocabulary. We have also finished our holiday brochure about Sicily. We enjoyed our own plane ride in the classroom and taking part in an Italian tasting session to gather new vocabulary and visualise what Sicily might be like.
We have focused on fitness in our PE lessons, exploring how to improve our balance, agility and speed. We have used stop watches to look at how we can further our speed and have worked closely in teams to support each other.
In Forest we have been climbing trees, building dens and playing in the mud kitchen. Furthermore, we have created leaf mobiles, had s’mores around the fire and linked our session to a real life situation creating a shelter to support ourselves from rain and wind.
In History our focus has been the Ancient Greeks, we have explored who were the smartest Greeks, become familiar with who Alexander the Great was and identified what legacy the Greeks left behind, we have done all of this through a variety of oracy tasks, which has been great!
In PSHE, we have focused on ‘Being Me in My World’, we have had many class discussions on how we fit into our communities, and what democracy is and putting that into practice by voting for our class school counsellor.
Our Art lessons consisted of learning how to use shading to create a 3D image. We later developed tone, texture and proportion in our drawings.
A firm favourite of ours this half term has definitely been our Science lessons which focused on states of matter. We have learnt the properties of solids, liquids and gases and have been able to sort and group materials. We have carried out some investigations to identify how temperature affects state; focusing on melting point and also what the water cycle is and if temperature and location affect rates of evaporation.
I hope that you all have a great half term and come back feeling refreshed ready for the lead up to Christmas!
Keep checking the Longvernal Facebook Page to see what Cherry Class have been up to!
Best wishes
Miss Black
Logistics:
Homework – Children are to learn their personal spellings, read a minimum of 3 times a week (recorded in their reading log), complete a scrapbook style journal entry and complete 10 minutes of Doodle Maths or Doodle Tables. Ideally, children need to practise their times tables as often as possible.
Forest – Tuesday afternoon
PE – Friday afternoon
Welcome to Cherry Class!
What a lovely few days Cherry Class has had! It has been fantastic to begin teaching this wonderful class again and exploring life together in Year 4. The children have all settled back into school life so well and they have loved being back with their friends. The children have got straight back into learning new things and working hard.
We have started our place value topic in Maths, along with beginning to practice and rehearse our times tables (a huge focus for us this year!) In English we have started writing a narrative based on the short Disney film, Feast. The children are very excited to find out what happens as we get further into the plot. In Science we are exploring states of matter and are very much looking forward to making Oobleck to identify the differences between states! These are just a few of the highlights so far and there is much more to come so keep an eye on our Facebook page and website for further Cherry Class updates.
Important Information:
Tuesday – Forest
Forest school will take place regardless of the weather (unless extreme) so please can you ensure your child is wearing appropriate clothing (long sleeve tops and trousers) as well as bringing their wellies and waterproofs in a separate labelled bag to change in and out of, if necessary.
Thursday – PE
Please could children come into school wearing the correct PE kit (Longvernal P.E. t-shirt, black shorts or sports trousers and trainers). PE will be outside for the first term, so black Longvernal fleeces or green Longvernal jumpers can also be worn.
Homework –
Weekly (personal) spellings – your child will have these written down, and they will be tested on them every Friday.
Read a minimum of 3 times a week (recorded in their reading log)
Complete a scrapbook style journal entry
Complete 10 minutes of Doodle Maths/Tables
Practise their times tables as often as possible.
Finally, please could you give the office an up-to-date ‘approved pick up list’ for your child, which we can update in records. This should include anyone who may be likely to pick your child up at the end of the day. For safety reasons, I will not let your child go home with anyone who is not on the list or been discussed with either
myself or the office prior to pick up, regardless of whether the child knows the person or not. Thank you with your cooperation with this matter.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me either before or after school with any questions, or alternatively, my email is ablack@longvernal.mnsp.org.uk.
I am very much looking forward to an exciting year ahead!