Friday 13th September

The children have had an excellent first full week back. They have experienced every lesson and begun work on numerous topics that they will be studying throughout the term and the year. 

In maths this week, we began our place value unit. The children looked at number lines up to 1,000 and worked together to understand how to estimate numbers on a number line. They then began to investigate numbers up to 10,000, learning about place value columns, Gattegno charts, and part whole models to understand the value of each digit in a four digit number. 

In English, we started work on our new book - Flotsam. The whole school is studying this book at the same time so the school has been decorated with artwork from all the pupils last week to represent the sea and the beach. The children worked on their prediction skills and adapted these predictions when they received more information. They wrote about whether they liked the book or not before writing their own versions of Flotsam based on the predictions they made before reading the book. 

This was a week of beginnings as we also started our science topic of the half-term - the digestive system. Excitedly, the children ate a biscuit before discussing what happened to the biscuit after it entered their mouths. They learnt about the liver, intestines and stomach and the role that they play in digesting our food. 

On Tuesday next week, the walls will be adorned with pictures of the children that they themselves drew in their art lesson this week. Each child was provided with half of their face and asked to draw the other half. They all worked incredibly hard and really showcased their artistic skills. 

The class really enjoyed this week’s history lesson during which they created videos about different Tudor figures. Each person researched a different person, using information from books and online sources, and recorded their own video poster about the person. These will be up on the blog next week for you to see.

The children have received their first pieces of homework this week - one English homework and one maths homework. Please ensure they complete this homework to the best of their abilities and return it to school by the due date. English is due for Monday and maths for Tuesday. Should there be any problems with the homework, do not hesitate to contact me on the Year 4 email address. 

Reminders:

• Next Tuesday (17th) we are hosting a meet the teacher event. Parents are invited to attend from 18:45. 

• Interventions will be starting on Monday 16th September at 08:15. If your child has been invited to attend an intervention, please ensure they arrive promptly to ensure learning can start immediately. 

Shabbat shalom,

Miss Simon and Mr MacKinnon

Friday 6th September

It has been an amazing first few days back after the long summer holidays. The children have settled in well to Year 4 and we are all excited for what the next year will bring. 

We have managed to fit a lot into the last few days. The children produced some excellent artwork, using paper to create jellyfish with tentacles. They learnt a new way of folding paper to ensure that the tentacles were colourful and effective and we look forward to seeing tehm on display around the school.

Excellent poems were produced by the children, detailing the wonderful things they got up to in the holidays. They used the medium of acrostic poems to share their holiday news and used their poetry skills to express their ideas. 

As they are now in the upper school, a number of things have changed for the children. This includes their break time being later and their inclusion in upper school Kabbalat Shabbat on a Friday. 
 

We started our history topic of the Tudors today. The children reenacted the Battle of Bosworth with each child being part of either the House of Lancaster or the House of York.  Some of the children even played the King or Queen. A lot of information was learnt and the children enjoyed the exciting lesson.  

Reminders:

• Please ensure all of your children’s belongings are clearly labelled. As well as uniform, this should include waterbottles and snack pots. This will help us return belongings that are misplaced.

• Please ensure your children are wearing appropriate footwear to school each day. On school uniform days (Monday, Tuesday and Friday) this should be plain black shoes. On PE days (Wednesday and Thursday) this should be sensible trainers/sports shoes.

• Please encourage your child to wear their house badge to school each day. 

Have a lovely weekend. We look forward to another educational and fun week.

Shabbat shalom,

Miss Simon, Mr MacKinnon, and the Year 4 team.