Hello,

We hope that you have all been enjoying the week so far.

In English, Year Four have started their new unit of learning on diary entries, within the context of Stitch Head by Guy Bass. At the start of the week, the children explored a mystery ‘bag of words’ and then made their own predictions about the genre and style of the text they had come from. Well done to all the children for applying their contextual knowledge from our vocabulary homework! As the week progressed, we then began to study the novel in closer detail, looking at the sequence of events for The Siege and plotting them on an emotion graph to compare the build up of tension and suspense between characters throughout a scene. Both classes then enjoyed a creative lesson whereby they designed their own magic potion as part of the resolution to the plot within their diaries – the children demonstrated resilience when they used subordinating and relative clauses to describe and explain how their potions worked. At the end of the week, the children then took part in role play as they began to develop their own dialogue between the two main characters, amidst the action, in the story. Year Four made an excellent effort when using coloured speech bubbles to sequence their ideas.

In Maths, we have continued to learn about addition and subtraction. In particular, we have been exploring a range of strategies that have enabled us to become more efficient when solving number sentences. For example, we have been learning how to use ‘smart jumps’ on a number line (e.g. I know 50 + 38 is the same as 50 + 40 – 2) to support our mental calculations. By the end of the week, the children were able to use bar models, smart jumps as well as the expanded column method (through diennes representation) in order to solve a range of complex multi-step problems. We were impressed by the children’s use of reasoning, bar models and place value vocabulary when discussing problems and comparing strategies amongst their peers. Well done, Year Four! Next week, we look forward to using statistics, and deriving information from bar graphs to compare groups sizes and practise addition and subtraction problems in the context of measure (distance, capacity and weight). Please make sure to  log on to Sumdog this weekend, for Times Table and Measures practise in preparation for next week.

On Friday 18th October 2019, we were lucky enough to take part in Missio’s ‘One Million Children praying’ challenge. As part of our celebrations during the Month of Mary, Year Four gathered in the school hall and joined the Oaklands Chaplain, to pray a decade of the rosary together. Both classes were reflective and respectful during this session. Please see the photos below…

We hope that you all have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you all next week with more examples of your Anglo Saxon creative projects!

Kind regards,

Miss Honeywell, Miss Jackson-Nash and Mrs Cairns