Year 4 Blog Friday 16th September 2022

Date: 16th Sep 2022 @ 3:53pm

Year 4 Blog

Friday 16^th September 2022

Another fabulous week in Year 4. Here’s what we have been learning this week:

In English, we wrote a character description of Michael, the main character in Kensuke’s Kingdom.  In addition, we wrote a ship’s log – we tried to use words we had learnt from the novel and write in the style of Michael Morpurgo.

In Maths, we compared whole and decimal numbers using the greater than and less than symbols ( < means less than and > means greater than).  We also practised rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100. Later on in the week, we investigated adding and subtracting 1, 10, 100 and 1000 from different numbers. This was especially tricky when we needed to bridge the tens and hundreds. In addition, we have being playing ‘Exchange up’ and ‘Exchange down’ which has helped with our understanding of number. Have a look at our learning in the gallery.

In RE, we learnt about Jesus’ human family and discussed the names we recognised from the Bible. We also retold the story of Abraham and tried to include reasons for the choices he made.

In History, we started our Romans topic.  We looked at different books about the Romans and shared what we already knew.  Then, we wrote down some of the things we would like to learn throughout this topic.

In PE, we continued practising our throwing and catching skills.  We then used these skills in small games of netball. Have a look at the pictures in our gallery here.

In PSHE, we agreed ‘ground rules’ which we must all abide by when taking part in discussions. We also started our first topic, self-esteem, and considered what makes a person happy and what helps to build self-esteem.

In Science, we went outside and looked at different types of leaves. We then brought some leaves back into the classroom and classified them in different ways.

In French, we recapped numbers and did our best to recall the numbers without having to count up.  Then used bilingual dictionaries to do our first piece of writing this year about ourselves.  These are already on display and look great!

Home Practice

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Make sure you discuss the story and the characters and try to find out the meaning of any new words too.  Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding. 

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 10’s – draw a line and some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers down as you count up.  When you count down, cover the numbers up, say the number, then reveal what you have got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 10’s

For example, start at 0 and count up to 120 and back again 

0   10  20   etc                      120   110   100   etc

For example, start at 157 and down up to 207 and back again

157   167   177        etc              207   197   187   etc

Times tables

You should have been given your times table target this week. Please therefore practise this times table in preparation for your test next week, on Friday (23^rd September 2022).  Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?

Remember you can also practise your tables playing Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk

It is crucial that you learn all of your table facts as this will help you with many aspects of maths.

Spellings

Next week we will be learning how to use an apostrophe correctly when it shows possession therefore there are no words to learn.  We will be learning the rules for using an apostrophe when the noun is singular.

For example: Tom’s coat was in the classroom. (The coat belongs to Tom)   

Jane’s hat was blue. (The hat belongs to Jane)

James’ (or James’s) dog was called Bingo. (The dog belongs to James)

We will be practising this each day in class and you will be tested on this rule next Friday (23^rd September 2022).

Sumdog challenges

You have been set 2 challenges on Sumdog:

• A maths challenge ordering and comparing number beyond 1000
• A times tables challenge based on the 2 and 10 times tables

Please make sure you log on and have a go!  Little and often is the key to success!

Thank you for attending our Meet the Teacher meeting on Tuesday evening.  We have attached the PowerPoint below.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Year 4 Team

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