Year 4 Blog Friday 31st March 2023

Date: 31st Mar 2023 @ 1:03pm

Year 4 Blog

Friday 31^st March 2023

Welcome to your Friday blog. 

Everyone looked fabulous on Thursday when they dressed up for World Book Day! You can see some pictures of us in our costumes here.

It’s been another very busy week in Year 4 – here’s what we have been learning:

In English, we started our new novel, The Firework Maker’s Daughter by Philip Pullman.  We looked carefully at the front cover and made predictions about the plot and themes of the novel.  In addition, we were introduced to some key characters, Lila, Chulak, Hamlet and Lalchand.  We used evidence from the text to describe the main character, Lila.  We also read the stories we had published to both Year 5 and Year 6. You can see some pictures of our story telling here.

In Maths, we practised division using partitioning (mental division) and using the formal written method of chunking, both without and with a remainder.  Many of us found this tricky, again because we are not yet confident with our tables.  

In French this week, we looked at some paintings by Matisse and expressed our opinions of them. We then read some French sentences and decided which sentences applied to which work of art. After Easter, we will make our own collage in the style of Matisse and describe it in French.

In RE, we started our new topic - Self-discipline. We discussed what this means and how we need to be especially self-disciplined throughout Lent.

In Geography, we looked carefully at a map of our local coastline (Lancashire and Merseyside).  We then used ‘Digimaps’ to find features found on our local coastline and labelled these on our maps. In addition, we provided a key to the symbols.

In PSHE, we matched feelings to a scale of intensity and identified strong feelings.  We also described different feelings and how they may be experienced in the body.

In DT, we practised 3 different stitches (running stitch, back stitch and over stitch). We then planned and designed the product we wanted to make (a purse, pencil case or phone holder). This included drawing, labelling and annotating our design on a planning sheet.  Next, we collected the resources needed and made our product.  You can see pictures of us in action here.  Next week, we will be evaluating our creations to consider what we felt went well, what didn’t go so well, and whether our product is fit for purpose.

It was our last swimming lesson this week. We have thoroughly enjoyed our lessons and have all made lots of progress with our swimming. Well done to all of Year 4!

Home Practice

Reading

Please read out loud to somebody for 20 minutes each evening. Try retelling what you have read to someone else.  Remember to focus on fluency, understanding, and adding expression to your reading.

Counting

This week, please practise counting in hundredths

For example, start at 0.01 to 0.17 and back again

0.01    0.02   0.03  etc           0.17   0.16   0.15     etc

Then start at 2.56 and count to 2.75 and back again

2.56   2.57   2.58   etc             2.75   2.74   2.73   etc

Times tables

You should know your individual tables target.  These will be tested next Wednesday (5^th April 2023). 

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

Please practise your tables each night as this will help you in lots of different aspects of maths and many of you are finding them tricky to apply in different contexts.

Spellings

As we had a big spelling test this week, we will spend next week revising spellings we have previously learnt. We will be practising these each day in class.  There will be no spelling test next week!

Sumdog challenges

You have been set 2 challenges on Sumdog:

• A tables challenge - using place value and known facts to multiply and divide mentally
• A division challenge - dividing by 2, 4, 5 and 6

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

As there are only 2 Sumdog challenges this week, please take a little time to practise doubling and halving numbers again.  You can practise this on Hit the Button. Click on ‘play game’ then select either halves or doubles – choose any of the games, they are all good practise! Good luck!

Another app for practising tables and number facts is One Minute Maths from White Rose.  It is free to download from the AppStore and PlayStore. There are lots of excellent games you can play which will help you brush up your mental maths skills.  Please do your best to access this fabulous free resource!  Knowing your tables and number facts off by heart is crucial and will help you in many different areas of maths.

Have a relaxing weekend

The Year 4 Team

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