Even though this week has only been four days, we have managed to cram in so much great learning. 

This week, we have been learning all about things we can do to support our own mental health. On Wednesday, we took part in the Big Sing – which involved us singing as part of a school wide choir on the playground. We then came to school dressed in green to show our support for mental health week. We undertook a trail which led us to us watching the amazing ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse’ by Charlie Macksey. The film, which is adapted from an amazing book, provides the reader/watcher with many important pieces of advice. 

On Thursday, we did lots of collaborative learning. Firstly, we undertook a retrieval relay (a class favourite) in Reading. Then we recapped some of our decimal work around part whole models using big sheets to support us. The children worked really well and have really improved their collaboration skills. 

On Friday afternoon, we looked at creating pointillism drawings using our creature designs from last week. We looked at simplifying our initial designs and adding spots in the style of the pointillist movement. 

I want to spend this week’s blog post focusing on the children’s writing. Each and everyone of them have worked so hard on their recent hot writing about an underwater creature that I want to share some of their work. 

Annie’s Introduction:

After years of searching, scientists finally caught sight of the transparent creature called the Rainbow Fish. The Rainbow Fish is on the verge of being extinct because of the plastic all over the ocean.

Zara’s Appearance Paragraph:

With its distinctive body, the Sealeacta is instantly recognisable. This animal is classified as a fish because it is cold-blooded and it has gills to breathe. Using its bioluminescent light, this elusive predator navigates in the murky, gloomy waters of the Midnight Zone. When it opens its mouth, this strange creature consumes anything in its path. The Sealeacta is the only animal that has blue skin so it can camouflage in the water to hide from predators.

Amelia’s Nutrition Paragraph:

The Long-nosed Devil Fish is an omnivore which means it ingest plants and meats such as seaweed, kelp and octopus. Unlike other predators, this creature turns its bioluminescent light red before it devours its prey. During Winter, it attacks young Bernafish known as Bernies to survive.

Max’s Habitat Paragraph:

For the majority of its life, the Moon Knight Fish dwells in the murky depths of the Twilight Zone. Unlike other predators, this scaly beast finds a safe cave to lay its eggs away from prying eyes. In Winter months, the Moon Knight Fish migrates to the Indian Ocean because of the warmer climate.

Our TTrockstar of the week is Keilan and our Lexia legend is also Tahha. Book club this week was hosted by Myra and Max. They chose ‘Starring Tracey Beaker’ by Jaqueline Wilson and ‘How High the Moon’ by Karyn Parsons.

Its been another excellent week in 4A!

We completed our shared write all about an underwater creature. On Friday, we created our own elusive species which is in preparation for our hot writing planning next week. The children loved the opportunity to sketch and label their very own monster of the deep. 

During our Geography session, we looked at four figure grid references. We learnt a phrase to help us avoid making mistakes ‘along the corridor and then up the stairs.’ This means that you have to look on the bottom axis first to get the first two figures and then on the side axis for the second two figures.  

On Thursday afternoon, we continued to explore Garagaband. We created drum patterns using the beat sequencer and then started to create a simple four note pattern. We learnt about the different notes on a piano and realised that they repeat themselves started at A and going to G but not to H! Here are a few snippets of the tracks we have started to create.

We located our new country of the month which was Spain and in Spanish we have been looking at ordering different ice cream flavours. We learnt that Quisiera means I would like. We added to this different flavours (un helado de limon, chocolate, cafe, mora and carmelo.) We then roleplayed ordering ice cream with one person acting out being the ice cream vendor and the other a customer. We all really enjoyed this and it really helped us practise our language skills in conversation. 

On Friday afternoon, we undertook a challenge to test our communication skills. We paired up and had to instruct our partner – who was blind folded – through an obstacle course. We discussed how clear and short instructions were the most effective.

Our TTrockstar of the week is Phoebe and our Lexia legend is also Phoebe. Book club this week was hosted by Maidah and Maryam. They chose Climate Action by Katie Rewse (which she won as part of a competition at Moor Allerton Library) and The Night Bus Hero by Onjali Rauf.

What a great week back in 4A!

During our writing sessions, we have started to plan an information text all about an underwater creature. The children have really impressed me with their creativity and their extended sentence structure. 

In Maths, we started our new topic all about decimals. We explored the connection between our previous fractions learning and decimals. We used counters as well as number lines in order to represent different decimals. 

We began a new computing topic which is heavily linked to music. We used an app called Garageband to create our own pieces of electronic music. We began by creating a strong drum pattern and then added arpeggiated synth sounds over the top.   

Our TTrockstar of the week is Lukas and our Lexia legend is Emilia. Book club this week was hosted by Enes and Laith. They chose Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo and Dogman by Dev Pilkey.

Firstly, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who attended our parent consultation. It was great to celebrate all the children’s successes.

This week, we have had a very creative couple of days. On Monday, we designed night lights. We discussed who they might be aimed at and why. We then used this to produce a series of different designs and ended the session by picking our favourite. On Thursday, using our recycled glass jars we brought our designs to life using a variety of materials. We really enjoyed creating our night lights as they pushed us creatively.

This week has been filled with lots of great learning.

We began our shared portal story writing. I have been really impressed with just how far the children have come on in their writing. We are now able to use different sentence structures as well as using an array of fronted adverbials. 

In Maths, we continued our fractions topic. The children have shown excellent resilience in the topic. Initially, we found it quite difficult but we are now much more confident in finding mixed numbers, improper fractions as well as equivalent fractions.  

During Science, we have been working on classifying living organisms using dichotomous keys. We started by classifying liquorice all sorts using yes and no questions. We then used this knowledge to create dichotomous keys about animals that we might see in our local environment. 

Our TTrockstar of the week is Amelia and our Lexia legend is Phoebe. Book club this week was hosted by Aydin. He chose a football annual and spoke about all the interesting facts he had learnt while reading it.

On Thursday, we took part in our Year 4 art celebration. It was a culmination of all our artistic endeavours this academic year. We had a wide variety of performances from some excellent singing by 4C and 4H as well as some loud samba from 4A. We also showcased our amazing dances that we worked on with Miss Patchett. The second half saw us take in some spectacular dances from a professional troupe who performed pieces inspired by Southern India. We then took centre stage performing our brilliant pieces we have worked on as part of our Beat, Bones and Bodies sessions. The night ended with a mass dance with all the children performing a final piece that closed the curtain on a fabulous night. The children were so impressive and performed with such confidence showcasing their individual talents. 

Mrs Stott summed it up, “A truly exceptional evening of excellence, confidence, pride, utter joy and definite flourishing.’

Our Year 4 Arts show is on Thursday 7th March from 5-7pm and will include our Beats, Bones and Bodies performances, professional dancers performing and our Arts fortnight dances. Thank you to those of you who have signed up so far! Children can wear anything that makes them feel most like them (although they need to be able to dance in it.) Arrival is at 5pm with the performance starting at 5:30pm. Please make sure you have signed up on Parentpay. There are 2 spaces per child.  

On Friday, we were incredibly lucky to take part in a virtual reality experience all about the different animals and plants that live under the water. We learnt about lots of things from Green Sea Turtles to coral. We all really enjoyed the experience as it allowed us to become fully immersed in our new topic ‘Blue Planet.’ The experience will help support lots of different areas of our curriculum from Geography to Writing. 

Our TTrockstar of the week is Lukas and our Lexia legend is Tahha. Book club this week was hosted by Mya. She chose Funny Kids: Prank Wars by Matt Stainton. 

What a great first week back!

We continued to work really hard during our Beats, Bones and Bodies time. The children have grown in confidence and it is fantastic seeing how the dance is now coming together. As myself and Mrs Housam mentioned on our arts fortnight, we will be hosting a showcase for all the children’s amazing dance, drama and art. The event will take place in school on Thursday 7th March from 5:00 pm till 7:00pm. Each child in Year 4 can bring 2 adults and there will be performances from the children and some special guests. 

On Friday, we were invited to watch 5S’s Macbeth dress rehearsal. We all really enjoyed it and we know that they will smash their performance next week. It also got us all excited for the chance next year to perform the play on a theatre stage. In the afternoon, we also visited Moor Allerton Library. We were met by Maddie who showed us around the library and talked about how we sign up to borrow books. The children really enjoyed the visit and lots really wanted to sign up.

Our TTrockstar of the week is Phoebe and our Lexia legend is Tahha. Book club this week was hosted by Grayson and Maryam. They chose Fing by David Walliams as well as a science experiment book about water.

A special mention goes to Maidah – who produced a fantastic piece of art work for Lunar New Year and won the school wide competition.

We began the week in our classroom and looked at the poem ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou. We discussed its meaning as well as its rhyme patterns and used this as a jumping off point to write our own version. In the afternoon, we continued to practice our samba piece in preparation for the celebration.

On Tuesday, we started the day by working on our dance with Miss Pratchett. It was amazing to see how much of the dance the children remembered from the previous week. We started to incorporate our performance poetry into the dance – which took a lot of focus.

We then started to work back in the art studio. We were split into two groups – one group painted their cardboard birds while the other group worked on designing their t-shirt. Both activities required us to really concentrate as we needed to be extremely careful when applying our paint.

On Friday, we took part in our celebration. It was so great to see so many interested adults come to our celebration – which I know really pleased the children. They all really impressed combining all the different elements we have been working on.