On Monday Year 4 were lucky enough to have our Chinese visitors finally join them.
During the day they built Towers in mixed groups to see who could build the tallest structure. They also showed their guests some of the games they play in there PE lessons which everyone had a great go at.
It was a fantastic experience learning with all the new students and teachers and I hope we get to experience it again in the future.
Ancient Egyptian preparation for the afterlife.
11 April 2016
Dear Parent/Guardian
I hope you all had a lovely holiday – here is a quick update on the curriculum for the summer term.
English – We begin the term reading and developing a drama, and then our own writing, based on “Gregory Cool”, a book set in Tobago. Ancient Egyptian Myths and legends will be explored and used to progress our grammar and reading skills. We will also be writing an argument, here the children will develop the skills of expressing two points of view and read non-fiction texts. Spellings: The children will continue to learn a new spelling rule/pattern each week which they will practice daily at school. As last term, homework will be written their reading journal and will involve the children learning any spellings they found hard in class this week. Please check reading journals weekly and initial the spelling when your child has learnt them. Reading: Please continue to read at home with your child and record how they did or what they thought in their journal. It would be great if they could read for 15 minutes a day. Children can read their school or a home book.
P.E. – Year 4 are lucky to benefit from a gymnastics coach this term and we also hope to choreograph and perform an Egyptian dance. We will also be learning tennis skills and using our new nets. P.E. kits will be needed on Mondays and Wednesdays for the rest of the year.
Maths – I am delighted that most of Year 4 now know all of their times tables. Homework will continue to be weekly focusing on improving speed of recall in mixed tables. In lessons we will be developing the children’s reasoning and problem solving skills and that is currently being applied in a time context. Later children will use all four operations, selecting the best appropriate methods, to solve problems. We will also be developing our understanding of measurement; converting different units of measure and calculating area and perimeter.
Science – We will be exploring living things, their habitats and food chains. This will include a visitor bringing in many small creatures for the children to view, hold and discuss. The children should understand different classifications of animals e.g. mammal, vertebrates and that environments change and that this can sometimes pose dangers for animals and plants.
Topic – We are very excited to be studying the Ancient Egyptians this term. We will be using our history skills to investigate different sources to build a picture of events in Egyptian life focusing on Egyptian Gods, Pharaohs, mummification, tombs and inventions. We will also develop our geography skills locating Ancient Egypt on maps and in a timeline, as well as exploring how the natural landscape helped the success of the Ancient Egyptian civilisation.
Computing – We are all looking forward to our day trip where we will be programming using Wii Lego and robots. The children will also create a movie and develop a database on Egyptian Gods.
Music – The children will use the iPads to compose their own songs. We will also be exploring instruments used and the music made in Ancient Egyptian times.
D/T & art – Our artistic work will relate to our topic; we will make a papyrus picture which depicts ancient Egyptian life, write using hieroglyphs and design, make and evaluate an Egyptian shaduf.
I am really enjoying teaching this class and hope your child is making good progress and enjoying Year 4. If however you have any questions or issues feel free to catch me in the playground at home time or in the morning or leave a message at the main office. I look forward to sharing the years progress in your child’s report this term.
Kind Regards
Miss Summers
Year 4 Class Teacher
Yesterday was the national ‘sing up’ day and, as you would expect, we got heavily involved at Bede Burn!
The children were visited by Charlotte and Jack from the Sing Up organisation and they spent the morning visiting the classes and singing with each year group. The teachers stayed in their rooms and each class visited to sing a song in every room in the school. We then gathered together to sing the ‘Sing Up Anthem’ in the hall.
The day was rounded off by our attempt at a flash mob song after school!
For those of you on twitter, check out @SingUpChar she has posted some very complimentary tweets about her day with us!
There is a gallery of photographs here.
Hopefully there will be some video clips below this post soon!
IMG_0049 IMG_0048 IMG_0052 IMG_0051 IMG_0050 IMG_0045 IMG_0044 IMG_0043 IMG_0042
Year four have been really busy making their own musical instruments as part of their science topic!
Welcome back Year 4
I hope you had a fabulous holiday and thank you so much for all your generous gifts. I know you will now be ready to get your brains working so here’s some information on what we’ll be learning about this term:
Topic
Our new topic is exploring the country we live in. You will be using many geography skills to learn about how the UK is organised, as well as learning about the human an physical features of the UK. I hope you will enjoy creating mountain views and river pictures in the style of famous artists. As part of our PSHE programme you will al so explore what it means to be British.
English
We begin the term developing our grammar and writing skills through writing in the style of Dick King Smith, based on his novel Hodgeheg. We will then demonstrate our negotiation and communication skills by persuading others about the good or bad points of zoos.
Spellings: The spelling scheme we are using and thus the spelling homework will change this term. Instead, you will bring home 6 spellings in your reading journal each week that you found tricky, from the unit we’re studying in school. Get an adult to help you learn these spellings at home. Then ask the adult will put their initials next to each word when it is spelled correctly at home. This may be through writing it down or saying it aloud.
Reading: Please continue to read at home with an adult and record how you did or what you thought in your journal. It would be great if you could read for 15 minutes a day, but it should be twice a week minimum. You can read your school or a home book.
Maths
This term we began with a maths investigation which you looked like you really enjoyed. We will begin our work on fractions and decimals, which will apply your place value, times tables and operation skills developed in the Autumn term. After this we will cover measures, time and statistics as well as continuing to improve on our operations calculations.
Your continued hard work with times tables homework is crucial and please thank your parent for their help. Homework will continue to be given on a Friday to be tested the following week.
Science & D.T
We will recognise how sounds are made and associate them with vibrations. We will also conduct experiments to explore materials for sound proofing. You will be making their own musical instrument (so don’t throw out your celebration tins and wrapping paper tubes – you will be needing them.
Computing
You have already drafted your comic stories and photographed action frames on Ipads. From this you will create your own comic strip and movie using computing packages Movie maker and Publisher.
PE
Swimming lessons continue for this half term on Thursdays. I am sure you will enjoy the athletics coaching starting next week – PE is needed on Wednesdays.
Music, RE and French will continue to be taught by Miss Smith and Mrs Richardson.
Clubs
I hope you are able to participate in one of the many before and after school clubs we offer. Check the website, hall display or school windows for a full clubs timetable.
Miss Summers
