Author: Miss Newman

History: Athens vs Sparta!

Today, Year 4 held a debate over which Ancient Greek city state was better – Athens or Sparta.

The children used the city state fact files they’d made in the previous lesson to debate over topics including the economy, education, women’s rights and the government.

We learnt some top tips for debating:

  • Have confident body language.
  • Prepare arguments to counter your side’s weaknesses.
  • Use key debating vocabulary (e.g. “You make a good point. However…”).
  • Listen carefully to the other side so you can respond appropriately.
  • Project your voice.

Although Athens won the debate, all children demonstrated brilliant debating and oracy (speaking and listening) skills. It was fantastic!

Help at home: Practise the top tips for debating at home. Should children have to go to school on weekends? Should video games be allowed in school?

Living and Learning: Rules

This week, in Living and Learning, we’ve been focussing on rules. We’ve looked closely at our three school rules and discussed why they’re important and how we can demonstrate them around school.

We should look at the speaker to show we’re ready and respectful.

We should always use our manners and say please and thank you.

We need to walk slowly and sensibly around corners so we don’t hurt ourselves or other people.

We’ve had some really interesting discussions this week about why we have rules and what would happen if there were no rules. It’s been great to hear your children’s ideas.

Following our school rules will make our school a happy, healthy and safe place to learn.

Help at home – think about our three school rules and talk with your child about what they might look like or sound like. Compare them with your rules at home. Are they similar? Are they different?

 

Welcome to Year 4!

The children have had a fantastic start to Year 4 and settled in brilliantly. It has been great to see how well they’ve adapted to the new routines and new teachers. We’re really looking forward to an exciting and successful year!

This week, your child will come home with a reading book and new Reading Record. They’ll need to bring in their Reading Records every Friday for Book Club sessions, where they’ll be set an activity to complete at home (more information on the activities are inside the Reading Record). It’s really important that your child reads daily. This not only develops their fluency but also their love of reading.

Important dates:

  • PE – Wednesday and Friday
  • Library – Monday
  • Spelling test – Friday
  • Times tables test – Friday

Any questions, please ask!