Years 3 and 4 are almost there with the preparations for the production next week. The children have impressed us all with, learning lines, acting skills and superb singing. You are in for a treat! 
There are 2 performances next week.
Tuesday 2pm and Wednesday 6pm (please can children arrive back at school for 5.30pm.)
Be ready for a little audience participation! 
After listening to the story, Jack and the Beanstalk, some of the children headed straight for the technology table and started to create a model relating to the story. The group worked together to share ideas and select the appropriate resources needed for the task.
We need to make the beanstalk tall.
I think this card can be the castle door.
I will help you to cut that out.
The beanstalk needs to be tall and strong.
What can we use for the clouds in the sky?
When the model was complete, we put it on display for everyone to see.
Using two volunteers, we began our lesson with a question:
Who looks the best?
This question initiated a class debate.
Since body image can be linked to a person’s self-esteem, teaching children to love their body is crucial to promoting a happy and positive attitude towards life. Body image describes our idea of how our body looks and how we think it is perceived by others. This can include our thoughts and feelings about our height, weight, shape, skin, colour, and our appearance and attractiveness.
The class discussed that body image often focuses on the external aspect, specifically the way we look.
Following this, the children were asked to focus on their own talents. Every one of us has a gift or passion for something. Recognising and enhancing that passion or talent is important.
This led us to thinking about how it feels to receive a compliment. The children offered positive remarks to each other. We then discussed how it felt to hear these.
In our classroom, we have some compliment slips and it’s great to see the children using them.
Healthy, energetic, fun, challenging, active, entertaining and satisfying are just a few of the words Year 4 used to describe their orienteering experie
nce this week.
It was great to work in the new park which is right next to our school. The children were given several different maps and had to use these to navigate around the site.
When we got back to school, the class nominated members of their teams for golden tickets.
‘I’d like to nominate…
Today, we were very lucky to have a student from Leeds University come into school to teach us all about the brain.
The brain is where we do our thinking. All our senses are tied into our brain allowing us to experience the outside world. We remember, have emotions, solve problems, worry about things, dream about the future, and control our bodies in our brain. Using a model, the children studied the different sections of this awesome organ.
How does the brain communicate?
The brain is part of the nervous system. Together with the spinal cord, it makes up the central nervous system. The brain connects to nerves that travel throughout the body. Nerves from our senses (hearing, seeing, touch, etc) send signals to the brain to let the brain know what is going on in the outside world. The brain also sends signals using nerves to muscles in order to make our body move.
Year 4 made their own models of a neuron using pipe cleaners. The human body is made up of trillions of cells. Cells of the nervous system, called nerve cells or neurons, are specialized to carry messages around the body. The human brain has approximately 86 billion neurons!
Test your brains.
What does the brain do?
Which of the following is NOT a function that is controlled by the brain stem?
Which of the following should you do to keep your brain healthy?
How did you do?
Rehearsals for our upcoming production, are now in full swing! This week, we’ll send home costume suggestions for some of the characters. We’d be very grateful for any help in getting these together. Please let us know if you are unable to provide items and we will try to sort this.
Many thanks in advance.
Last week, for their homework, the children were asked to present a summary of our class novel so far. Today, we celebrated each other’s work and made comments in their books. Below are just a few examples of some of the fantastic creations.
As some of you are already aware, we have been without a member of our class for most of this school year. This has been due to illness that has required lengthy hospital stays, treatments and many different medications. Despite all of this, our much missed friend has remained positive and determined to overcome her illness. We are pleased to report that progress is great and we are looking forward to welcoming our classmate back soon.
Today a small group of children walked down to pay a visit and showcase their World Book Day costumes. Due to the risk of infection, the children just had a quick wave through the window.
This week, we have been focusing on the correct use of apostrophes.
The children need to be able to use this punctuation mark within their writing accurately. In English, we use apostrophes in two ways, to show possession and to show contraction (or omission).
Apostrophes are used to tell us that something belongs to someone.
For example, if you were talking about a football belonging to Ben, you would say ‘Ben’s football’.
There is only one of Ben, so this is called singular possession.
In Year 4, children move onto using apostrophes to show plural possession.
If there are two or more people owning something, an apostrophe is needed to show plural possession. In this case the apostrophe goes after the plural owners, so if a group of girls each own a hat and you want to talk about all these hats, you would say ‘the girls’ hats’.
Apostrophes to show contraction or omission
If we put two words together and miss out some letters, we need to add an apostrophe where the missing letters are. For example: ‘do not’ would change to ‘don’t’, the contracted form.
During our lesson, the children attempted an apostrophe puzzle. Communication was a necessary skill required to master this tricky, hexagonal jigsaw. Well done everyone!
Quiz your child on the sentences below. Where does the apostrophe need to go? Can they explain why?
Group or singular possession?
This is Janes cat.
The man stole the ladies handbags.
The womens meeting began at eight.
The little ducks feathers were very soft.
The cars wheels had fallen off.
Marks hair was wet.
Class Fours classroom was very tidy.
Every Tuesday afternoon, the Year 4 classroom is filled with sharp, bright, crisp and lively sounds that resonate all around school. As part of our music lessons, the children have been learning to play the ukulele.
The ukulele is a four-stringed musical instrument made from wood that resembles a small classical guitar. It produces a characteristic sound that immediately takes us to tropical environments. The class have been working with determination to master the various techniques needed in order to confidently play a tune – or two!
The tutor has taught the children all about the seven basic major and minor ukulele chords – A(m), B(m), C(m), D(m), E(m), F(m), G(m) – and how they can be played using between one and four fingers.
