Author: Miss Newman

In D&T this half-term, Year 4 are making a prototype of a go-kart.

A prototype is an early sample or model of a product used to evaluate a design.

The design criteria (what makes a product successful) for their go-kart prototypes are:

• It has to move freely.
• It has to be able to hold a person (eg a model figure).
• It has to have an electrical circuit in order to move.

We’ve discussed that before a product can be made, it must be carefully designed. Today, Year 4 drew annotated sketches of their go-kart designs and had to label all the components that they’re going to use. They completed both a birds eye view and a side view sketch.

I can’t wait to see their designs come to life!

Help at home: What would wellington boots need to be successful?

Can you come up with 3 design criteria?

1.

2.

3.

Over the last few weeks in Year 4, we’ve been exploring relationships and change.

We’ve discussed that our relationships should always be happy and healthy. We gave ideas for how we can make sure this is the case:

• We always respect each other.
• We are kind to each other.
• We try to help each other.
• We listen to each other.

If we don’t feel like our relationships are happy and healthy we should always speak to a trusted adult.

We then looked at the human life cycle and spoke about some of the changes that happen as we get older. For example, when we are born, we have no responsibilities and our grown ups look after us constantly. As we grow older, we have more responsibilities like cooking for yourself, having a job and learning to drive.

Help at home: by discussing a change that is coming up soon. How do you feeling about moving up to Year 5?

Hello!

This week, we’ve begun our final group reading of the year!

The class have been divided into groups and each group has been given a book to read at home. This will last for this final half term.

During our Book Club sessions each Friday, each group will discuss what they’ve read so far and share their reading record activities related to their book. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the children to explore characters and storylines more than they might do normally!

Every Friday during Book Club, each group will be given a new page to read to for the following Friday.

This week’s pages:

• The Adventure Club: The Orphan Orangutan – page 22
• The 13-Storey Treehouse – page 32
• The Accidental Rock Star – page 20
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time – page 20
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – page 30
• Adventures of the Wishing-Chair – page 15

What to remember:

• Your child has a book that they need to read every week (up to a chosen point marked with a post-it note).
• Their reading record activity needs to be completed using their new book.
• A comment and signature from a grown up needs to be written in their reading record.
• Group reading books and reading records need to be brought in every Friday.

Help at home: listen to your child read their new book and ask them questions about the book to help prepare them for Book Club discussions.

Yesterday, Year 4 went to Morley to participate in the Leeds Skipping Festival Final and they did an absolutely incredible job!  The teamwork and support they showed between one another was outstanding and they cheered each other on when some were feeling a bit nervous.

We won some medals on the individual skips and won gold for our whole class skip dance! Everybody did a fantastic job and it was a really fun day out.

I am super proud of all of Year 4 for trying their best and representing Moortown so brilliantly.

 

 

 

Coming up next week, Year 4 will be completing their Multiplication Tables Check (MTC).

They will have to answer 25 times table facts and will have 6 seconds for each question. It will be completed on the iPads.

I am so proud of all the progress Year 4 have made with their times tables this year. They have put in so much time and effort and this is reflected in their fluency.

In preparation for the MTC next week, ensure your children are practising their times tables up to 12s at home. Here are some ideas:

• Visit https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check to complete a practice MTC.
• Go on TTRS and do Garage and Soundcheck.
• Ask your child a different times table fact at each meal time.
• Play a game to see who can answer 10 times table facts the quickest.
• Stick some post-it notes around the house with different multiplication facts on.

Over the next few weeks, Year 4 will be writing setting descriptions based on a creepy, abandoned house. Our audience will be an illustrator so we’ll be so descriptive that an illustrator could use our writing to draw the setting for their book.

Today, we read a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like) and pulled out all the description that allowed us to picture the setting in our heads.

Deep in the middle of nowhere stood the Murkmire Forest — a dark, tangled, and silent place. The trees loomed like tall, twisted statues, their branches reaching out like bony fingers. Even during the day, a mist lay low to the ground, curling around roots and rocks like it didn’t want to let go.

The air inside the forest was heavy and still, as if it had been holding its breath for years. Leaves crunched softly underfoot, though no animals ever seemed to stir. Every now and then, the wind would blow suddenly, whispering through the trees like it had something to say — like a ghost trying to reach out.

Even the sunlight seemed afraid to enter, slipping weakly through the thick canopy above. Shadows moved where nothing else did, and the deeper you walked, the more the path behind you seemed to fade. Some say if you stay too long, the forest remembers your footsteps… and follows them.

Using this description, your children then drew what they imagined the forest to look like. This was a great way for them to see how important rich description is for the reader.

Help at home: when your children are out and about, ask them to use their 5 senses to describe what they’re experiencing.

• What can you smell?
• What can you see?
• What can you hear?
• What can you feel?
• What can you taste?

Yesterday, 9 children from Year 3 and 4 went on a trip into Leeds city centre to visit Waterstones!

The children had a look around and all chose a book to take home. We had great fun looking at all the different choices that were available. It was hard to choose just one!

Your children chose a mixture of books – graphic novels, narratives and non-fiction books.

It was a lovely afternoon out!

In writing, we’re currently working on a piece of journalistic writing all about Leeds West Indian Carnival.

The purpose is to tell the news.

We’re learning about the carnival in our History topic at the moment so we know loads about it! A carnival is a festival that is made up of processions, dancing, music and costumes.

The R2s (remember tos) for our online news article are going to be:

• a headline
• subheadings
• main facts
• history of the carnival
• quotes

Today, we looked more closely at quotes. Your children did a hot-seat where they got to interview some people about the carnival. We then used the quotes gathered from these interviews to turn into direct speech.

Help at home: ask your child who founded the Leeds West Indian Carnival? Why did they start Leeds West Indian Carnival? What does Leeds West Indian Carnival involve?

As part of our L&L focus on healthy eating, Year 4 have been learning about hydration and why its so important.

Our body is nearly two-thirds water, so we must make sure we keep it full of fluids and stay hydrated. Water is essential for life, and it is important to get the right amount of fluid to be healthy.

Hydration can be defined as replacing the lost fluid, particularly water, in something. Therefore, when we do exercise or enjoy the warm weather we must be extra careful to stay hydrated as we lose more water in sweat.

Remember to always bring a water bottle to school – especially now the suns out!

We can get fluids from many different liquids:

• Water is the best choice because it hydrates us without adding sugar or damaging teeth.
• Milk is a useful source of nutrients like calcium, vitamins and proteins.
• Fruit/vegetable juices and smoothies provide water plus some vitamins, minerals and fibre. However, they are also high in natural sugars!

Help at home: test your child’s hydration knowledge using these questions…

1. Roughly, what percentage of water comes from foods?

• 0%
• 10%
• 15%
• 20%

 

2. Which of the following is the drink recommended to be consumed the most frequently?

• Water
• Milk
• Sugary drinks
• Sports and energy drinks

 

3. Why is it recommended that children should avoid sugary drinks?

• They contain less fluid
• The sugar can potentially damage teeth
• They do not contain caffeine
• They contain more vitamins

 

4. Which of the following are likely to increase your fluid requirements?

• A cold day
• Partaking in vigorous exercise
• Watching TV
• All of the above

We are biologists!

This half-term Year 4 are learning about our second unit of biology:

Living things and their habitats!

As part of this topic, your children have been revisiting classification keys. Classification keys are used to sort living things according to their characteristics.

We discussed what makes a good classification key question…

It must be a closed (yes or no) question.

It must be about an observable characteristic.

It must not be based on opinion.

Year 4 have been using and creating classification keys to help them identify a variety of unknown animals and plants.

Help at home: go outside (in your garden or local park) and pick 4 different plants. Can your child create a classification key to sort these plants?