Welcome to the Year 4 Blog!
Each week you will find out what we have been doing in class, weekly spellings / times tables and lots more.
Every Friday, the blog will be shared with the class to recap our learning and make them aware of their homework. Moving to online homework has allowed us to become a more eco friendly school. Throughout the week we will be learning about the spelling rule in preparation for the quiz on Thursday. EdShed can be used for practise along with the spelling strategies shared on the blog below. Log in details for EdShed or TT Rock Stars can be found on the inside cover of your child's Reading Record book.
Rainbow Raffle
We’re excited to announce our Rainbow Raffle! Each class will create a beautiful hamper based around a specific colour, making a stunning rainbow of prizes for you to win.
Every class has been assigned a colour and families are invited to donate items in that colour to help fill their class hamper. Our Year 4 colour is BLUE. Please bring donations into school by Monday 15th December.
Hampers will be raffled off at our carols in the hall on the afternoon of Thursday 18th December.
Tickets will be coming home in bags on Monday. Please return any money and ticket stubs in an envelope to the school office. Any unsold tickets can be sent back to the office also. Thank you for your support in making this a fun and colourful event for our school community.
Homework
Reading - Reading is one of the most important skills for children to master as it unlocks their imagination and allows them to access the rest of the curriculum. Please read with your child every night. Asking questions improves key reading skills, such as retrieval and inference. E.g. "Why do you think the character is unhappy?"
Please note that reading books will be changed when completed. Please write a note in your child's reading record book when a book has been completed and sign the relevant parent signature box. Thank you in advance.
Spellings - Please find this weeks spellings below and a link to Spelling Shed.
Please note that our spelling quiz will be on Thursday 4th December
Spellings
Lesson 11: Words where ‘ch’ makes a /sh/ sound
chef
chalet
machine
brochure
parachute
chute
chaperone
chandelier
crochet
quiche
Geography Fact of the Week!
Mrs. Macdonald (our Geography boffin) has had a great idea! To make sure our knowledge of the world is solid, each class will be spotlighting a different country in Europe.
For this term, we have the country Switzerland
Each week, we will find and share a new fact on the blog...
What is the geography of Switzerland like?
Over 50% of Switzerland is covered by mountains. The Swiss Alps are located in the south and central regions of the country while the Jura Mountains are in the west. Dufourspitze is the tallest mountain in Switzerland and it is 4,634 metres above sea level.
The area between the Swiss Alps and Jura Mountains is a hilly plateau called the Mittelland. A number of rivers cross this plateau including the River Rhine. It’s the most fertile area in the country. Most of the population of Switzerland live in this region. There are also a number of lakes in Switzerland including Lake Constance and Lake Geneva.
Maths Problem of the Week
Each week, a new maths problem will appear on the blog... Can you solve it?
The answers will be posted in next week's blog!
Previous week's answers...
If the area is 75cm2, then the area of each square must be 25cm2 - therefore, each side must be 5cm.
There are 8 sides on show, meaning the perimeter is 40cm
Our learning this week in Year 4
English
Our second English book of the year is The Firework-Maker's Daughter, a story about a wildchild, who wants to be better than her father!
Our modelled write is finished, and the quality of the writing has been incredible! The next step is the hardest though... Can the class choose which bits of the modelled write can still be used? Can they remember the skills of fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases? Can they write an independent piece, based on 'The Painter's Daughter'?
Next week, we will see!
Maths - Time
Time is always a tricky one!
As a society, we are being moved further and further away from the standard analogue clock. Reading digital time is simple, and you see it on your phone, tablet, laptop, car etc etc. But an analogue clock is different - how often do we actually see one?
This week, we have been looking at telling the time, converting between digital and analogue, and problem solving time questions.
Last week, we said it was much easier than it sounds... This week, it is harder!
Weekly Awards
Safeguarding - morning routine
If you are dropping off your child at the classroom door / KS2 entrance door and need to pass a message on to a member of staff please do so by speaking to the staff member who monitors the door in the morning. If you need to enter school for any other reason, adults can only enter the school building via the main school entrance and seek assistance from the school office team. If you are attending a meeting with a member of staff, you must sign in at the front desk as a visitor and have an ID lanyard.
Safeguarding - home time routine
At the end of each day, Y4 will line up on the playground football pitch. Each child will be dismissed individually, only when a member of staff has seen the adult who is collecting. If they are signed up for OSC, the children will need to be collected from the front office, so OSC can sign in, and sign out, the children they are expecting.
If you need to speak with the class teacher at the end of the day, please allow them to dismiss the class first.
Thank you for your continued support in keeping our school and children safe.
Safety in PE
We would like to remind all parents that for the safety of all children and following guidance from Chorley SSP, jewellery is not to be worn during PE. This includes earrings, bracelets and watches. All children will be asked to remove their jewellery at the start of every PE lesson. This will ensure their own safety during the lesson and the safety of others. If a child is unable to take out their own earrings, adults in school will not be able to do it for them. This will mean they will have to take another role in the lesson such as observing, coaching or officiating.
For this reason, if your child is not confident taking out earrings, please do not put them in on our PE days. This year, our PE lessons are on Wednesday and Thursday, however we may also have extra lessons on other days throughout the year.
Thank you for your support in keeping our children safe.
Have a fantastic weekend!
The Year 4 team