This week, we have focused a lot of our time and energy into making Celtic shields. We learnt that the Celts were a group of tribes that lived across northern Europe and Britain. We started the week by looking at different Celt shields and talked about the difference between them and Roman shields. We then created three designs drawing from our inspiration. We noticed that some of our designs were a little too intricate so we had a go at redesigning our shields in preparation for building them. 

The building stage saw us draw out the outline of our shields and cut them out using scissors. We then created shield bosses (the middle part of a shield) by stacking cardboard and glueing it on – which made a relief. 

Our Design and Technology sessions ended with us all painting our shields with a base colour and then adding our patterns using chalk pens. I was really impressed with the skill each child showed and the overall finished products. Thank you to everyone who brought in cardboard over the last couple of weeks.  

On Thursday, we celebrated National Poetry Day by learning On the Move Again by Michael Rosen. The poem focuses on the migration of people from one place to another. We incorporated lots of actions to help us remember the poem – which we all really enjoyed.

Our TTrockstar of the week is Olivia and our Lexia legend is Sienna. It is really important that we continue to keep up our Lexia usage as well as completing our TTrockstar sessions. I was also so proud of the class for once again leading the way in LKS2 attendance with a fantastic 98.6%.

In English, we started to write our own warning story. The children have really impressed me with their immense creativity and the interesting choices in language. A special shout out goes to Max and JJ for producing some excellent writing this week. 

‘Around them, fog closed in as they entered the murky woods.They trudged further into the dark shadows and twigs shattered beneath their feet.’ Max

‘As the clouds fractured into darkness, they jumped over the fence gate. The forest was empty and looked endless.’ JJ

Within our Maths learning, we have been looking at both place value and area. In place value, we were labelling and estimating using a number line and in area we were understanding ways in which to work out the space inside a 2-D shape. A special mention goes to both Tiah and Olivia – who have both grown in confidence in Maths and are now answering lots of questions in class. Keep it up! 

In History, we looked at Roman Soldiers and the different tribes that inhabited Britain during the time of the Roman Invasion. We learnt about the Celts and their way of life. Next week, we are going to be designing, creating and painting our own version of a Roman soldier’s shield. If you have any cardboard boxes at home we would really appreciate the children bringing them in. 

Our TTrockstar of the week is Laith and our Lexia legend is Sienna. Also, it made me immensely proud that 4A had the best attendance in all of LKS2 with a magnificent 98.3%. Keep it up everyone!

Another great week was had by all in 4A! We have started to plan our own warning stories having learnt the model text. The children have come up with some amazing ideas and their stories already sound incredibly gripping. I am really looking forward to next week’s writing sessions and sharing some of the children’s writing.  Every Friday, we have our library spot which allows us to enjoy our school’s fantastic library. We have also started a weekly book club in that time – which lets us talk about a book we enjoy and recommend it to our friends. Thank you to Grayson and Karyn who both recommended a David Walliams book (Gangsta Granny and Billionaire Boy.)

Our history topic is really coming to life. This week, we learnt about the class system in Ancient Rome and the way different jobs fell into three main categories: patricians, plebeians and slaves. We also did some excellent research to learn about different aspects of their daily life. 

On Tuesday, all of KS2 were incredibly lucky to have a visit from up and coming musician Nath Brooks. He played a couple of tracks which really showcased his amazing singing. I have shared his latest single called ‘School Gates’ which was written about his own experience at school. 

Special shootouts go to Phoebe, Olivia, Laith, Robin, Emilia, Matas, JJ and Elsie who have completed all their sessions on TTrockstars with many more not far behind.

As part of our Science topic we have been learning all about the human body. We are incredibly lucky to be taking part in beats, bones and bodies which allowed us to look at the digestive system through movement and dance. This week, the project saw us imagine ourselves as different parts of the digestive system. 

In our science learning in class we began an experiment looking at the effect different drinks have on our teeth. We put a boiled egg in a glass of milk, water, Diet Coke and coke to mimic the effect they have on our teeth. We made some observations about their colour on Thursday and Friday. The plan is to observe them after the weekend, hopefully my classroom doesn’t smell too bad!

In Writing, we are in the imitation stage so we have been learning our model text called ‘Keep Off the Tracks.’ We all really enjoyed acting out the story – which helped us understand some of the more tricky vocabulary. The children drew out their story maps and it would be great if they could practice the story at home.  

During our computing sessions, we looked at being good digital citizens and how to stay safe online. As part of our learning, we played on interland – which is a game designed by Google that teaches the children about ways to make good choices online.

We have had a fantastic first week in 4A! I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone and getting ourselves back into our daily routines. 

The children have been working incredibly hard in many different subject areas. Within our Maths learning we have been looking at place value by using base ten to create 3-digit numbers. We also took part in our first session of Maths karate which allowed us to practice the four different operations. Our first Year 4 wide TTrockstars competition has begun and at the time of writing 4A are in the lead. Keep it up! 

In History, we started our new topic ‘The Roman Empire,’ which will take us all the way through till Christmas. We began the topic by splitting ourselves into different countries that were each given a selection of resources. We then set up a trading forum where we were able to barter in order to get different resources for our country. Once trading finished Mr Ash took on the role of the Roman Empire and told countries that they needed to give away resources to different countries and then to him. Although we all thought this was really unfair, it did demonstrate the power that big empires had over other countries. 

A couple of key things for next week: P.E. will take place on Wednesdays so the children will be able to come into school wearing their P.E. kits. Reading scheme books were given out this week and we will be expecting the children to read at least three times every week.