Friday, 26th April
This week we have continued with decimals- partitioning them flexibly, comparing and ordering them. We have looked at character descriptions in English and classified animals in Science. We had fun talking about the choices we make for ourselves and choices made for us in PSHE and drew Victorian houses in Rickmansworth.
On Monday we are going to do a practice times table check. We will also continue our study on Roald Dahl's autobiographical book, 'Boy'. We will complete our unit on decimals before moving onto money. In Science we will be classifying British plants and we will be comparing Rickmansworth before and post World War One using maps in History. Remember, the school will be closed for Polling day on Thursday, 2nd May.
Home Learning
Please continue to practice time tables using the sheets I sent home last week and/or the sheets I've sent this week.
Comprehension p.30-31
Spellings: 'ch' approach, scrunch, screech, stretch, church, which, lunch, switch, reach, peach
Keep reading and signing the reading record at least 5 times a week. Can you read extra for pleasure?
Please can you send in a picture of your child in one of their favourite outfits by Wednesday please?
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Garland
Friday, 19th April
Welcome back for the Summer term. It's been a fantastic week with planting in the Secret Garden, to new play equipment in the playground (year 4 got to be the first to use the sand pit today!), to a return to Merchant Taylors for swimming and capped off this afternoon with a wonderful Marafun in the Aquadrome. A big thank you to all our wonderful parent helpers and a big well done for all of year 4 having the 'courage' to give it a go. We are all excited to be supporting Miss Devlin as she partakes in the London Marathon in support of Cardiomyopathy UK.
Speaking of 'courage', this is our new school value for this term and we have begun to reflect on this during collective worship. This week, in English, we have been looking at the features of autobiographies and have been reading Roald Dahl's 'Boy', in maths, we have been making a whole using tenths and hundredths. In Science we found out about the seven process of life. Ask your child if they can remember what 'Mrs Gren' stands for. In R.E we looked at the meaning of duty and we have begun our local history topic based on our local area.
Next week we will be finding out about Victorian homes. (If anyone lives in a Victorian house, it would be great if you could send a photo in so we can look at the different features) We will be also ordering and comparing decimals in maths, classifying animals in Science and learning about Rama and Sita in R.E.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Garland
Home Learning
With the times table check quickly approaching we are focussing on recalling our times table facts. To assist this I have sent each child home with a pack of questions. It would be great if your child can do one page each day (at least 5 times in the week).
In PSHE we were thinking about the things that make us unique and special and as this ties in well to our English I would like the children to draw a pictures of themselves and write about five things that make them THEM! It could be something about their physical appearance, the qualities of their personality, special talents or something they have achieved that they are really proud of. I also encourage you to talk about any funny stories about them when they were little.
Please continue to read and sign the reading record at least 5 times this week. I will be checking books on Thursday.
Spellings: words ending with the /k/ sound spelt que: antique, unique, cheque, picturesque, grotesque, technique,
Sunday, 31st March
Wishing you all a very happy Easter.
Our last week of the Spring term was shorter but packed full. It was wonderful to see so many of you at our Easter church service on Wednesday evening. Year 4 worked so hard to prepare for their dramatised readings and songs. You'll agree, they all did a super job.
This past week we also completed our explanation texts on our inventions that could help around the home, we completed our unit on decimals before working on some Easter-themed maths and in Science we made string telephones. We also had a lot of fun sharing in the wonderful musical instruments that the children had created at home. (Thank you for your support in this.) Aside from this we reflected on the Easter story and enjoyed an Easter egg hunt around the school.
On our last morning, we were in our family groups finding out about different Easter traditions around the world. Activities ranged from rolling eggs down the reception garden hill to making a decorated Easter tree. We ended the term with a whole school collective worship.
I wish you all a wonderful break over this Easter time and look forward to seeing you all on April, 15th.
Warm regards,
Mrs. Garland.
P.S Keep reading! (And record it in your reading record)
Friday, 22nd March
Our penultimate week has been as busy as ever. Thank you very much for taking your time to come and see me at parents evening to discuss your children. It was lovely to see you. In English we have been thinking about prepositional phrases when designing inventions that could help you in your home and we have begun describing their features using extended noun phrases. In Maths, we have completed our unit on decimals and the children have been dividing 1 and 2 digit numbers by 10 and 100.
In Science we made pan-pipes and found out about how different pitches can be created and in R.E we have been preparing for our dramatized readings for next weeks church service.
Home Learning
If your child has come back with lines please encourage them to practice them with fluency and with a clear loud Voice.
In addition, please can all children practice our song, 'When I think about the Cross' ready for next week.
Keep reading at least 5 times this next week. Challenge: Read at least 2 different types of text:- Narrative/ poem/newspaper article/ non-fiction book. Note down any new vocabulary that you have found and look up their meanings.
Have a lovely weekend,
See you next week.
Mrs. Garland
Friday, 15th March
We had a fantastic time exploring sound with Dan Mayfield from the 'School of Noise' on Thursday. In the morning the children worked their way round different stations finding out about changes in frequency, how sound travels through different materials, they had an opportunity to play with different instruments including the Theremin and the Omnichord, and used a metal slinky to discover more about vibrations. In the afternoon the children created graphic scores and performed them, they each had a chance to be a Foley artist using some interesting objects to create the sounds for a movie reel and listened to pieces of music on the theme of water. It was a fun day with lots of learning and the children as always were noted for their excellent questioning and participation.
In R.E, we continued to look at the Last Supper and we found out about Jesus being a 'servant king' as he washed his disciples feet. On Wednesday, we welcomed Watford Schools Trust in who explained further why Christians remember the events at the Last Supper and how this impacts their faith. Next week year 4 will be preparing for the Easter service as it is our task to retell the Easter story.
Home Learning
Continue to read 5 times.
Comprehension: Reign of the Sea Dragons p.22
Maths: Dividing by 10 and 100 p.40-41
Spellings: (Doubling consonants) accident, address, appear, different, happening, occasionally, opposite, possession, possible, pressure
On Wednesday, 27th March, we will be holding our Easter Service at St. Mary's Church at 6pm. The children have been learning songs as a class and as a key stage in preparation and year 4 will be preparing to perform the Easter story too. Children need to be at church at 5.30pm on this day.
On Thursday 28th March (the last day of term), we are holding our Easter Bonnet Parade. Please make /bring in your bonnet/hat for this!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Garland
Friday, 8th March
It's been a wonderful week celebrating World Book Day culminating with the most wonderful book themed costumes yesterday. Thank you for how much effort so many of you went to make the characters come to life. In class we have explored the book, 'Dear Earth' and responded to the text by creating posters, writing letters to Earth and also representing the text through the medium of playdough. The children have also wrote limericks about their favourite books. It was fun trying to come up with some rhyming words that still make sense!
We have completed both maths and reading assessments this week and begun our unit on decimals in Maths. The children have already demonstrated a good grasp of decimals and how they relate to tenths. Next week we will be looking at place value and dividing by 10 before looking at hundredths.
In Science we explored how we can change the dynamics of a sound and how different pitches are created. In Art, the children have enjoyed exploring typography and designed their own letters and words. We began our music topic and worked in groups to respond to a piece of music through movement.
Next week, we are really looking forward to our Science workshop to explore sound further. We will also have a visit from Watford Schools Trust to help us understand the Last Supper, communion and Maundy Thursday better. We will be comparing Rickmansworth with Innsbruck in Austria looking at the different activities people do, the climates and different plants that grow in the two locations. In English we will be starting a new unit on explanation texts and basing our work upon the story, 'The first Charlie Small Journal: Gorilla City'.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs. Garland
Home Learning
Please continue to read at least 5 times this week and bring it in every day. I will be issuing stamps on Thursday.
Maths: p. 38-39
SPAG: p.67
Spellings: The suffix '-ous': anxious, enormous, fabulous, curious, marvellous, courageous, mountainous, humorous, obvious, serious.
Friday, 1st March
Welcome back to a short, but very busy half term. This week we welcomed two new, wonderful members of class and began a few of our new topics. In Maths we have continued to look at fractions and have been adding and subtracting both mixed numbers and improper fractions with the same denominators. In English, we have worked in pairs to create a page for our class book about the mountain ranges of the world to support our new topic about
The Alps. We found out that sound is created by vibrations and explored the different sounds we can hear around the school. We also began our audio theme in computing to complement our Science. We began our new topic in R.E looking at the events of the Last Supper and how it relates to the remembrance and celebration of the Jewish Passover meal. In art we are looking at typography this half term.
There has been additional fun events this week with Tri-Golf on Wednesday and the whole school enjoyed watching a very interactive production of Oliver Twist this morning.
Next week, we will be completing activities based around World Book Day and I look forward to seeing the wonderful book themed costumes on the children next Thursday. We will wrap up our unit on fractions and begin to look at decimals.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Garland.
Home Learning
I would like the children to design and make their own musical instrument out of recycled items. This is an ongoing homework to do at your leisure. I would just like them to be made by the final week of this half term.
Please continue to read 5 times at least each week and have the reading records signed. I stamp these on a Thursday and only had 6 books handed in. We do want the children to have their reading books and records in their bags every day as we have a view volunteers who listen to readers and it's best if the children are prepared.
Spellings- 'sure' and 'ture': pleasure, treasure, measure, leisure, pressure, picture, mixture, creature, adventure, future. Can the children put these into their own sentences.
Maths: Progress Test p.46-49
Saturday 17th, February
Another week and another half term comes to an end. This has been a thoroughly busy week beginning with the dance festival, doing our outdoor enrichment activity, filing our class bug hotel and then our baking day on Thursday. It was lovely seeing so many of you at the festival and at our class open afternoon. Running alongside these activities we have continued with our English building up to writing our own free verse poems based on 'The Small Dragon' and 'Overheard on the Saltmarsh'. We have also continued working with fractions in maths- converting mixed fractions into improper fractions and the reverse.
Next half term we will continue with fractions before introducing decimals. We will be studying sound in Science, finding out all about the Alps and writing our own explanation text about a mountain range of our choice.
It's been a great half term and I hope the children and yourselves have a lovely break.
There's no other homework, other than please continue to read as much as possible and keep learning and practicing those times tables.
Warm regards,
Mrs. Garland
Friday, 9th February
It's been a lovely afternoon up at Rickmansworth School rehearsing for the dance festival on Monday evening. The children behaved wonderfully and were great ambassadors for our school. This week we have been practising lots and making tweaks. Thank you for donating the white t-shirts that are now holey and stained. We are looking forward to showing you all what we've created.
This week we have also completed our geography topic on the climates of the world, our R.E topic about karma, created music based on a given colour and set up our investigation into how different drinks can damage our teeth. It has also been wellbeing week and we've spent time doing mindfulness activities and thought about different ways we can take care of ourselves.
Next week we will be taking part in enrichment activities, including creating our class bug hotel and furthermore we are finally going to be making our fruit pies on Thursday. To assist us in this activity, may I ask for a donation of £1 towards ingredients. (If the children would like to bring their pie home, a tupperware box to safely transport it, would be super helpful.
Home Learning
SPAG- p. 76 and 77- Suffixes Double letters.
Maths (Amended) p. 32-33 Counting in Hundredths and Equivalent Fractions
Spelling- double letters and ed: preferred, offered, equipped, jumped, limited, corrected, completed, stopped
Please carry on reading at least 5 times a week and get it signed. Please can children have their reading books and reading records at school everyday so that they are available if and when an adult helper wishes to hear them read. Many thanks.
Have a lovely weekend.
See you on Monday.
Mrs. Garland
Saturday, 2nd February
Sorry for the delay in this update. It was wonderful to take seven members of year 4 to Wembley yesterday for the Young Voices concert. They were wonderful ambassadors for our school and demonstrated how much time and dedication they had put into practicing for their performances. Well done to all of you who took part.
This week in year 4 we have researched countries in the tropics and discovered how there are a variety of climates found in these areas of our world., we have learned about our different teeth and their functions and we have begun our new area of maths looking at fractions. We have really enjoyed our new school garden, using it for our story time at the end of the day and our music lesson where we composed a vocal performance to represent the colours and shapes in a piece of abstract art.
Next week we will be spending a significant part of our timetable practicing for the dance competition, take part in a variety of wellbeing week activities and use poetry to build our vocabularies in English.
Home learning
I encourage you all read as much as possible a variety of texts and ensure that the reading records are signed to show that you have read at least 5 times.
English Comprehension- p,20-21 The Girl who walked on air.
Maths- p. 34 Adding and subtracting fractions
Spelling (The soft g sound- g, ge, dge,) emergency, knowledge, generous, gymnastics, imagine, bridge, rigid, hygiene, legend , vegetable
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Garland
Friday 26th, January
First of all, I would really like to say a big well done to everyone for their amazingly creative science homework. I've been so impressed with the variety of ways that the children presented their findings and also the amount of time and dedication it took for many of them (and you) to produce such great work. Thank you.
The class have been so enthusiastic with our science topic of digestion and today they got to demonstrate how the different parts of the body digest food practically. I will attempt to upload some photographs.
In English, we had to change book as I hadn't realised they had studied Alice in Wonderland last year. We began a new book called 'Leon and the place between'. The children have fully engaged with the circus theme and produced some wonderful circus posters to persuade people to come and today we created freeze frames to show how the different characters felt during different parts of the story. In maths, we have become confident at multiplying 2 and 3 digit numbers by a single digit using a formal method. Next week, we will be using this knowledge to help us solve correspondence problems.
Next week, we will continue to learn our dance, we will learn about how the belief in Karma effects the way a Hindu lives their daily life and in Geography we will be comparing the tropical climate with that of the UK.
Have a lovely weekend.
Home Learning
Maths p.29 Written multiplication
SPAG- p. p.94 and 95 Plurals and Apostrophes.#
Spelling- Homophones- Find the meanings and learn the spelling of the following homophones: berry, bury, peace, piece, weather, whether, scene, seen, grown, groan. (Ch. X Can the children write a list of as many homophones as they can think of)
Please continue to read and have your reading record signed at least 5 times a week.
Friday 19th, January
This week we have been retelling the story of 'Fly, Eagle fly' from the viewpoint of the eagle using prepositional phrases and making the best-fit verb choices. The children confidently multiplied and divided numbers by 10 and 100 and then applied this knowledge to find related facts. We learned about the lines of latitude and longitude in Geography and found different parts of the world using coordinates. In DT we found out about the different seasonal foods we grow in the UK and in music we explored how music can be experienced visually by associating sounds and rhythms with different colours. The highlight has been watching the children develop movements for their dance and being willing to give it all ago.
Next week, we will be starting our new unit on playscripts in English, formal multiplication and division in maths and continuing to go deeper into our learning about the poles, creating a graphic score and learning about what Sewa day is in R.E
Home Learning
Science: Can the children research one or more parts of the human digestive system and find out what their function is. They can represent their findings in anyway they would like. They can simply write notes, draw a diagram or make a model.
Maths: Informal written methods for multiplication. I will upload the worksheets. For those who need a paper copy I will hand them out on Monday.
Please continue to read and sign the reading record at least 5 times this coming week. They will be checked on Thursday.
Spellings: Please the learn the spelling and meanings of these words with the ei sound spelt- ei, eigh, ey:
vein, neighbour, beige, reign, weigh, they, veil, eight, obey, sleigh
Friday 12, January
It always surprises me how much we get done in a week. This week we explored countries in the Northern and Southern hemispheres and also those found on the equator, we found out the difference between a danger, a hazard and a risk, we created life size posters of the human digestive system, we explored further the Hindu belief of Karma, we recalled our knowledge about the different food groups and furthermore in Maths we explored factor pairs and in English learnt to summarise and write recounts of our story, 'Fly, Eagle Fly'. The class have been incredible- really focussed and ready to learn.
Next week we will be focusing on multiplying and dividing by 10. We will complete our study of 'Fly, Eagle Fly' by rewriting the story as if we were the eagle. We will learn more about how our bodies digest food and begin our music and computing topics.
Home Learning
Please continue to read 5 x a week and sign the reading record. These need to be brought in on a Thursday to receive a stamp.
Continue to practice the times table you are on.
Comprehension- p.14-15 (Time's first 'kid of the year')
Spelling- (Unless you have been given your own list) Words with the 'or' sound: important, therefore, caught, naughty, water, thought, forwards, quarter, score, yawn
Maths- Practice multiplying by 10 and 100. Create a 1,2 or 3 digit number by rolling a dice (or selecting a playing card from a pack). Multiply that number by 10 or 100. Record your calculations. Can you explain the rule for how you multiply by 10 or 100. Think* Place Value
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Garland
Friday, 5th January
Welcome back to our second term in year 4. The children have come back enthusiastic and ready to learn, which is fantastic.
First of all, I want to thank you all for our lovely and generous Christmas gifts. Myself, Mrs. Thomas, Ms Morris and Mrs. Collett are very grateful.
Although it has only been two days, we have fitted a lot of content already. We have discussed our school rules, changed how dinner times happen, begun practicing for our dance competition in P.E, began our R.E topic about karma, read the first part of our new book 'Fly, Eagle Fly' and created a story map. We have furthermore looked at food chains for our new Science topic and end the day acted these out. We had a lot of giggles.
I hope you have a relaxing, enjoyable weekend.
Home Learning
Please continue to read at least 5 times a week and get your reading record signed.
Practice the times table you are working on. There will be a test next Friday.
Learn the following spellings and their meanings: They are from the year 3/4 word list.
famous, question, actually, history, February, library, ordinary, century, business, medicine
Friday 15th, December
It's been a busy last week. The highlights being the amazing Key Stage 2 carol service with year 4 performing wonderfully and the fun trip to the pantomime on Wednesday afternoon. We also finished making our wire loop games. We researched and wrote instructions about how you can survive in extreme cold. We consolidated our knowledge of how to find a number between 0 and 10,000 on a number line, practiced our times tables, completed our PSHE topic on valuing difference. Today we did our outsiders project based on the book, 'Dogs can't dance' and discussed how we can be assertive and reflected on our year question which is 'How does our planet work?'. We ended today with a lovely class party. Thanks for your generous contributions of food and drink. We made cards, played games and sang very loudly.
Home Learning
Over the break, please continue to read as much as possible getting the reading record signed for any book/newspaper/comic read etc.
Keep practicing those times tables.
I will see you all on Monday and Tuesday for our final day and a half of school.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Garland.
Friday 8th, December
As always, it has been a very busy time in year 4. This week we have begun our advent reflections each morning opening a character from the nativity and considering one of their character traits. We have reflected on Mary, the angel Gabriel, Joseph, Baby Jesus and the shepherds so far.
We have spent much of our topic time learning about renewable energy culminating today with the children creating a fact file about a solar or wind farm in the UK. It gave us a chance to revisit the things we found out on our class trip at the start of November.
In English we have created freeze frames about the villagers in the Ice Palace and then written instructions based on popular playground games with a 'Starjik twist'. We completed our R.E unit on incarnation by looking at the trinity and then wrote our own ideas about who or what God is.
Next week we will complete our other units of work and create a piece of non-fiction writing about a place with a cold climate.
Home Learning
In preparation for our Carol Service on Tuesday at 6pm at the church I would really like the children to practice their song, 'Mary's Boy Child' and be really confident about the words in the verses. I will upload a copy of the lyrics below.
Can the children focus again on their times tables this weekend? Play TT Rockstars, sing along to times table songs on YouTube ask them random questions aloud.
Spelling- more prefixes- sub-,inter-,super-,anti-, auto-: submarine, interact, international, supermarket, superstar, antiseptic, anti-clockwise, antisocial, autobiography, autograph
Many thanks for all your support with your children's learning.
Have a lovely weekend.
I hope to see you all on Tuesday evening,
Mrs. Garland
Mary’s Boy Child
Long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible say,
Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day.
Hark, now hear the angels sing, a new king born today,
And we may live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
Trumpets sound and angels sing; listen to what they say.
That we may live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
While shepherds watch their flock by night,
They see a bright new shining star,
They hear a choir sing, the music seems to come from afar.
Now Joseph and his wife, Mary, come to Bethlehem that night.
He had no place to bear a son, not a single room was in sight
Hark, now hear the angels sing, a new king born today,
And we may live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
Trumpets sound and angels sing; listen to what they say.
That we may live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
By and by they found a little nook, in a stable all forlorn,And in a manger cold and dark, Mary's little boy was born.Long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible say,
Mary's boy child Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day.
Hark, now hear the angels sing, a new king born today,
And we may live for evermore, because of Christmas Day.
Trumpets sound and angels sing; listen to what they say.
Friday, 1st December
We have had an exciting day designing and making the base of our wire-loop games. The class have been able to use their knowledge from Science to explain how they will create a complete circuit for their game. Next week we will complete them and I will upload the pictures of the process and our finished games.
In R. E we had a special visit from the vicar, Gary, who shared his views about Christmas and the incarnation. Next week the children will reflect on their own ideas about Christmas and what it means to them.
In English the children performed their speeches about the dark and whether it should be banned or not and then we began to look at expanded noun phrases to describe a frozen landscape as we introduced our next story- 'Ice Palace' by Robert Swindells. Next week the children will be writing instructions for a game and begin research about a location with a cold climate.
We have been consolidating our knowledge of multiplication this week. Next week we will be learning about measuring length.
Next week we will also begin our advent reflections each morning, lighting our advent candle and opening the next box in our advent calendar.
Home learning
Please continue to read at ,least 5 times this week and sign the reading records.
Spelling- the prefixes: un-, did-, mis: unhappy, undo, unfair, mistaken, mishear, mislead, disagree, distrust, disappear.
Comprehension: Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball p.12-13
Maths: Factor Pairs p. 28
Have a lovely weekend and I hope those of you going to the Christmas fair have a wonderful time.
Mrs. Garland
Friday 24th, November
It was lovely to meet with everyone at parent consultations to celebrate your children's successes. Thank you very much for your time in supporting your children's education.
This week we have begun practicing for our carol service, which will take place at St Marys Church on the twelfth of December at 6p.m. We have now completed our electricity topic by learning about different switches and making one that works using a variety of materials. We will be using our new knowledge and applying it in DT. In maths we have continued looking at different multiples and had a fun introduction to Roman numerals today. We have enjoyed reading 'The king who banned the dark' with a highlight in English being an outdoor lesson exploring different verbs and adverbs.
Next week we are planning on doing our DT project to design and make a wire loop game. If possible could you send in your child with some card (sturdy but cuttable with scissors) by Thursday please?
We will be writing our persuasive speeches in defence of the dark and practice performing them. We will continue to look at the Incarnation in R.E and discuss what Christmas means to Christians.
Home learning
Maths-I've sent the children home with a sheet to complete about multiples. I'll put the link for those who were not in today (or for the ones that didn't make it home :) )
SPAG- p. 6 and 7 Verbs and Adverbs
Spelling- Words from the 3/4 spelling list: believe, breath, breathe, caught, certain, fruit, guard, weight, thought, through.
Read at least 5 times and get your reading records signed.
Keep practicing your times tables. There was a lot of improvement in this weeks written tests. (Well done!)
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Garland
Friday, 17th November
This Anti-Bullying week has been extremely busy with time spent in house and family groups. This has been a lot of fun as we've been able to be with children from other year groups and get to know them better. The theme this year has been 'One kind word' and Year 4 have been exploring how one person can make a difference by treating others with kindness and respect.
Our collaboration with other classes has not ended there. Today year four shared their Biscuit Bear stories with year one and listened to their stories based on 'Stanley's Stick'. This was great fun and a delight to see them caring for those younger than them.
We have been working hard on our times tables in Maths and most children have made significant improvement in their times table test today as well, which is wonderful.
Next week we will be completing our Science and Computing units on electricity and image editing respectively. After that our focus in the afternoons will shift to Geography and D.T. We will be continuing with finding multiplication and division facts in Maths and beginning to look at our new story, 'The kind who banned the dark' which we will use to plan a speech.
I'm looking forward to seeing you next week to discuss how your children are getting on in year 4.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Garland
Home Learning
Comprehension: An interview with Jacqueline Wilson p.10-11
Maths: This week can the childrten focus on the time table that they are currently working on.
Spelling: Words ending -cian
magician, musician, electrician, politician, mathematician, beautician, optician
(Please make sure your child knows what each of these professions are)
Friday, 10th November
I'll begin with a huge thank you to Mr Nolepa for coming in and working with half the class demonstrating electrical circuits. The children were so engaged and the other half of the class cannot wait to try the activities with you next week. Thanks again.
This week has been as busy as ever. The children have been learning how to use commas in a list to improve the fluency of their writing, we have begun to investigate the 3s, 6s and 9 times tables in maths. See if your child can remember the method to check whether any number is divisible by 9. In R.E we wrote a new verse for a Christmas carol based on Jon chapter 1.
Next week the children will be writing their very own children's story based on biscuit bear. We will continue to look at multiples of 3,6,9 before moving on to 7s, 11s and 12s. We will continue to look at complete and incomplete circuits in Science and look at what Christmas means to Christians in R.E.
Home Learning
Please continue to read at least 5 x a week and sign the reading records. We have 16 children already with their Bronze awards, which is a fabulous achievement.
Children are to practice the times table that they are working on. Recite them aloud, sing times table songs, practice writing them in order and in a random order too!
SPAG- p.42-43 (Commas for writing lists)
Maths p.26 Using Times Tables
Spelling- words ending -sion or -ssion
occasion, possession, division, invasion, confusion, decision, collision, television, expression, confusion.
Check your child knows what these words mean and see if they can orally put them into a sentence.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Garland.
Saturday, 4th November
Welcome back to another half term. We had a wonderful visit to Farmer Gows and Westmill Wind and Solar farm on Wednesday where we got to get up close and touch a 49 meter high wind turbine and feel the vibrations from within and see first hand the enormous space that the solar panels take up. We learnt about the benefits to the local wildlife and how these renewable sources of energy are transformed and taken to the National Grid. The children were amazing, as when we made our visit to Westmill the rain was coming down hard and the wind was up, they all listened incredibly well. In the afternoon, we were able to play with some models to demonstrate how wind power generates electricity before a fun game of lotto where the children burnt off some of their energy searching for cards hidden in a stack of hay bales. The children were all excellent representatives of the school. This was a great start to our topic on electricity.
Also this week, we read Biscuit Bear and wrote diary entries based on the story and introduced the idea of area in Maths. We began our computing topic about editing images, looked at the first fourteen verses of John chapter 1 and compared it to the nativity story that we are more familiar with from the other gospels in R.E, and discussed how negotiation and compromise are great skills to help us get along with others.
We returned to Merchant Taylors on Thursday and the children really enjoyed getting back into the water and choosing their lunches. Just a quick reminder- please make sure swim caps get taken out of the swimming bags between swims so they get a chance to dry out.
Home learning
This week we did our first paper times table test based on where they were at the end of year 3. The children know which times table they need to be working on. Please encourage them to focus their practice on these, in addition to practice on TT Rockstars. There are lots of times table songs on YouTube that may help some.
Maths- p. 54-55
Comprehension- The Panda and the Pangolin p.8-9
Spelling- words ending in -tion
invention, injection, action, hesitation, completion, mention, position, question, location, decoration
Have a lovely weekend. Looking forward to seeing many of you at the Fireworks on Sunday.
Mrs. Garland
Friday 20th September
First, I would like to say a big thank you for a wonderful start to year 4. The children have all done you all so proud with their hard work and settling in.
This week we completed our Science topic looking at the water cycle and how that links with the changing of state of water particles. We solved lots of subtraction problems with exchanges in maths and have written poems about nature. They also did some beautiful landscape pictures in art with Mrs. Collett.
Today we worked on our display, that you will be invited to come and see next half term, about Josephine Baker- our Black History Month hero. The children have written poems about her and created a little artwork for you to see.
I'm very sorry that you didn't get much notice about our upcoming school trip on the 1st November. However, I'm very excited to be starting our topic on Electricity by visiting Farmer Gows and Westmill Wind and Solar Farm.
In P. E we will be continuing with Swimming on Thursdays.
Home Learning
Please encourage your children to continue with their reading over the break and if they get a chance to play on TT Rockstars that will be fab. Next half-term we will be having weekly written times table tests.
I hope you all have a restful, fun break. I look forward to seeing all the lovely children at the end of the month.
Warm regards,
Mrs. Garland
Friday 13th October
The penultimate week of this half term has been full and busy, with lots of learning in year 4. We have enjoyed reading, analysing and writing poetry about nature. The children are extremely creative with their ideas for similes; thunder, does indeed, sound like a herd of elephants! The class have been busily solving addition problems using the column method and they were challenged today to find the missing numbers. In Geography the children did an amazing job of researching a past volcanic eruption or earthquake and produced some great information leaflets about what they had learned. On Wednesday afternoon Watford Schools Trust came in to introduce us to what ExploRE will look like next week. We will be exploring the space they create next week. You are welcome to come and explore for yourself on Wednesday after school. Finally, today we said goodbye for now, and all the best to Mrs. Bennett as she begins her maternity leave.
Next week we will be completing our Science unit by looking at the Water Cycle and writing a story as if we are a droplet of water. We will be looking at what we can do when we feel under pressure by others in PSHE. In maths we will move onto subtraction and in English we will be researching an animal and writing our own poems about them. We will also be thinking about Black History month and learning about Josephine Baker.
There will be no swimming next week as Merchant Taylors will be on their half term. We will continue to go next half term. Children are to come in their P.E kit on Thursday and I will take them for a P.E session.
Home Learning
Continue to read 5 x a week and sign it in the reading record.
SPAG- p. 36-37 Capital letters and full stops.
Maths- p. 22-23
Spellings- (suffixes ful/less/ness) beautiful, wishful, peaceful, respectful, hopeful, tasteless, blameless, homeless, kindness, thickness
Please encourage your children to practice their times tables using TTRockstars. 5-10 minutes everyday can make a lot of difference. We have been monitoring the children's use in and out of school and have noticed that for many of them they are not focussing and taking a long time over answering questions we know they know the answer to. This means that the game is not generating harder questions and they're are not progressing the way we'd hoped they would.
Many thanks for all your support.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs. Garland
Friday 6th October
Another busy week has been had in year 4. We have written and edited our adventure stories based on the book, 'Arthur and the Golden Rope'. The children have impressed me so much with their amazing choices of adjectives and verbs creating vivid images in their reader's minds. In maths, we have continued with our mental addition and subtraction strategies. We did an experiment in Science investigating the effect of salt on melting ice. We learned about earthquakes in Geography.
Next week, we will begin a unit on poetry in English. We will be using formal written methods for addition and subtraction. We will be researching a volcanic eruption or an earthquake and in Science we will be learning about the Water Cycle.
Home Learning
Continue to read and sign 5 x a week (Please bring them in on Thursday to be stamped)
English Comprehension- p. 4-5 Aesop's Fables
Maths- p. 6 and p. 9
Spellings- (adding suffixes er and est)
grander, grandest, spicy, spicier, spiciest, wet, wetter, wettest, smelly, smellier, smelliest, thin, thinner, thinnest
Next Week
Next Friday (13th October) will be a non-uniform day to raise money for our exciting ExploRE week in the last week of the half term. (See the newsletter for details)
Have a lovely, restful weekend.
Mrs. Garland
Friday 29th September
It's been another fabulous week in year 4. The children are coming in focused and ready to learn.
This week we have begun looking at our new text ‘Arthur and the Golden Rope.’ We have used the book to inspire the drawing of own imaginative maps and the creation of some of the creatures that may live there. Our writing focus has been on using coordinating conjunctions and making careful verb choices when describing how our characters might move through our imaginary worlds.
In maths we have been using different mental strategies to solve addition questions. We have learned about the benefits of making an estimate to get an idea of what the answer may be, used the think 10, think 100 method which requires partitioning and finally how to use the equal sum where we can use a sum we know, e.g 38+ 16 and use the answer to solve similar questions such as 58+16 or 138 +16. We will be continuing to work on mental strategies next week. In Geography we continued to find out about volcanoes and where they are in the world, what the difference is between an active, dormant and extinct volcano and the reasons why people choose and benefit from living near volcanoes. In Science we have investigated how solids change from a solid into a liquid.
We also had a visit from Simon (from St Peters) on Tuesday and interviewed him about being a vicar.
Next Week we will be planning and writing our own stories in English, continuing mental strategies in Maths, finding out about earthquakes in Geography and investigating water in its three different states in Science.
Home Learning
Continue to read 5 x and sign it
Spelling- (adding ing and ed) melt, melted, melting, copy, copied, copying, answer, answered, answering, cry, cried, crying
Maths P2-5 Year 3 Objectives Test
SPAG-p. 22-23
Have a lovely weekend.
See you next week,
Mrs. Garland
Friday 22nd September
Thank you to all those who came to the 'Meet the Teacher' session this morning. It was lovely to see you all and have the opportunity to talk to some of you whom I hadn't met before. The slides from this morning will be uploaded below shortly.
It has been another great and busy week in year 4. We had our first swimming session. It was a big success; the children did great in the pool and all were in agreement that lunch was delicious. In English we planned, wrote, edited and finally published our newspaper recounts about the destruction of Pompeii in 79AD. In maths we have been estimating where numbers are on a number line and rounded numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. In Geography we learned about how volcanoes have formed, about tectonic plates and how they move and we had lots of fun modelling how a volcano erupts. In Science we conducted a fair test to try and find out which is the fizziest drink after learning that it is the carbon dioxide in the drink that gives it the fizziness.
Next week we will begin to explore our new book, ' Arthur and the Golden Rope.' We will be designing our own imaginary worlds and developing our descriptive language in order to make our writing more vivid. In maths we will be using our knowledge of place value to help us with addition and subtraction. On Tuesday we will be interviewing Simon to find out what it is like to be a vicar as part of our R.E topic.
Home Learning
Continue to read at least 5 times
Maths - p. 12-13 Rounding
English Comprehension- p.2-3 The Invention of the Camera
Spellings: Words with the phoneme 'air': therefore, February, library, ordinary, various, there, their, where, beware, repair
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs. Garland
Friday 15th September
Year 4 have been fabulous completing their first full week back. We have welcomed two new students and they have become a wonderful addition to our class. Today in Collective Worship we had the potential head boy and head girls make their speeches. The children were so respectful listening intently and supporting those who had put themselves forward.
We have a made a start on our new topics this week. We learnt about the three states of matter, the different layers of the earth and in R.E we looked at how Jesus called his disciples. In English we have enjoyed reading the book 'Escape from Pompeii' and next week we will be using the facts we have found out to write a newspaper recount. We completed looking at place value and next week our focus will be on rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000.
Homework
Please continue to read 5 times and sign the reading record please. (Bring Reading Records on Thursdays to get a stamp!)
Spellings: purpose, certain, perhaps, learn, early, earth, first, third, work, Thursday
(The spelling test will take place on Thursday)
Please excuse me for not handing out the CGP books. I will hand them out on Monday. Usually I would like them in on Wednesday but as I made this mistake the children have until Friday to complete the work.
For your reference the pages I would like them to do are:-
SPAG pg. 20-21
Maths pg. 10-11
Swimming
Swimming begins on Thursday. Please remember swimming kits are to be worn under P.E kit for the start of the day. And remember to bring a towel, swimming cap, and googles.
The Meet the Teacher meeting will be held on Friday at 9am in the school hall. All information shared will be made available on this page after the meeting.
Welcome back to school
We have had a fabulous start to the new school year. Each and every one of the children has come in ready to learn and have been so welcoming to me, to the other staff in our classroom- Miss Morris and Mrs Thomas, as well as our new student.
During this shorter week we have focused on settling into our new classroom and learning a few of our new routines. We have begun to look at our new school rules, 'Respectful', 'Ready' and 'Reflective.' and have created our class prayer.
We have also participated in an art activity showing how we are all wonderful, unique individuals and how we all have things in common and we all belong. This will be displayed in our classroom. This afternoon we have also been working in our family groups thinking about 'Shining a light'.
Over the past couple of days I have listened to each of your children read and have sent their first book home with them. We also went to the library and had a lovely relaxed time reading the books we have chosen.
Next week we will begin our curriculum; looking at place value in maths, the earth's layers in geography, states of matter in science and exploring our new text in English, 'Escape from Pompeii'.
Home Learning
Please read with your child 5 times and sign their Reading Record.
Next week I will be sending out spellings and pages from the CGP books.
Our P.E days are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Next week I will be taking the P.E lesson on Thursday but as the e-mail from the other day stated, from the 21st September the children will be going swimming.
Thank you. I wish you all a lovely weekend.
Mrs Garland