Maths: adding and subtracting fractions
We are coming to the end of our fractions topic in Year 4. I’ve been so impressed with your children’s maths this unit – they’ve wowed me!
This week, we’ve been looking at adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator.
When the denominators are the same, to add the fractions we must add the numerator.
When the denominators are the same, to subtract the fractions we must subtract the numerator.
We’d previously learnt about converting between improper fractions (fractions where the numerator is greater than the denominator) and mixed numbers (a whole number with a proper fraction). Your children deepened this knowledge by applying it into their addition and subtractions.
Help at home: ask your children to complete these addition and subtractions:
Living and learning: the importance of sleep
Our recent Living and Learning lesson was all about the importance of sleep.
Our learning explored why sleep is so important in our lives, how it can sometimes be difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep, and how to manage this. We also considered what the children can do to help themselves have good habits that can help them to fall asleep.
Firstly, we heard a story about a girl called Mia. We had to identify the things that were STOPPING her from getting to sleep.
As a class, we had a great discussion about what can HELP Mia (and us) to get to sleep and what might STOP us from getting to sleep.
The children has some great ideas.
I cuddle on to my teddy to help me go to sleep.
I have a special light that helps me.
I like to read a bedtime story. It makes me sleepy.
I don’t watch anything on a screen before bedtime.
Help at home by talking to your child about how to get a good night’s sleep and some of the things that can be part of a bedtime routine.
We are historians!
This half-term, we are historians. We will be learning about WWII.
This week we have looked into the ‘Blitz’ – from the German term Blitzkrieg (‘lightning war’) . It was the sustained campaign of aerial bombing attacks on British towns and cities carried out by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) from September 1940 until May 1941.
We have been exploring how Leeds was impacted by The Blitz on the 14th-15th March 1941. We used secondary research from Leeds Becket University.
We found out that most of the bombs landed in the city centre and the closest event occurring nearest to Moortown was a fire in Meanwood.
Here are some of the events, the children found interesting:
Help at home: Explore the interactive map and find out more information about how Leeds was impacted by The Blitz.
Year 5/6 netball event
As part of our involvement with the Leeds Well Schools Partnership, we took a team of 8 Year 5/6 children to a Bee Netball Development Event at Allerton High.
The event was aimed at developing netball skills and the children put them into practise in some games at the end. Well done to all the children for representing our school so well.
To take part in netball outside of school, here are details of a local club.
Living and Learning: allergies
Last week, Year 3 learnt all about allergies.
What is an allergy? An allergic reaction happens when a person comes in contact with something that their body thinks will be harmful to them (called an allergen).
We discussed how all our bodies are different and something that may not harm us could make somebody else very poorly.
There are 14 main food allergens:
Even though we might not see an allergen in our food, doesn’t mean it isn’t in there. To make sure we’re being careful and only eating foods which are safe for us, we must always look at the packaging. The main allergens are always in bold!
We discussed some signs of an allergic reaction and what we could do if we or someone else was experiencing these…
Mild/moderate signs:
- itchy skin rash
- tummy ache or being sick
- puffy eyes or lips
- itchy/tingling mouth
Serious signs:
- difficulty breathing or noisy breathing
- difficulty swallowing
- feeling dizzy, floppy or sleepy
Help at home: From the fridge or food cupboards at home, choose an item and see what allergens you can find on the back of a pack.
Maths: perimeter
The perimeter is the distance around the outside of a 2D shape.
We’ve spent the last week calculating the perimeter of 2D shapes.
There are a few different ways to do this…
- If we know the shape has equal length sides, we can multiply one length by how many sides the shape has.
- If the shapes are drawn on grids, we can use the squares to count the perimeter. Be careful not to include the corner squares!
- If asked to, we can use our rulers to measure the length of each side and add them together.
We tried to choose the most efficient methods to find the perimeter. For example, when each side is equal length, using multiplication to help us!
Help at home by answering this question:
A reply from Miss Needham!
Miss Needham LOVED hearing all about what Year 5 had been getting up to recently and was very emotional about it. (We made her cry – in a good way!)
Take a look at her response to our postcards:
We are chemists!
This week, we have started our next unit in science: reversible and irreversible changes. For this topic we are going to be chemists. Chemistry is the study of the properties of substances and the changes they go through.
In today’s lesson, we tested which substances could be dissolved in water. If our substance did dissolve this meant that it was soluble and created a solution. If it did not dissolve, then the substance was insoluble.
Our scientific enquiry type was ‘comparative and fair testing’.
Help at home: Discuss our new science vocabulary.
PE – ball skills
This week in PE we have started to work on our ball skills. We will be using our hand eye coordination to throw, catch and aim our balls. We started with a challenge to ourselves – could we catch the ball and clap our hands? If they finished that level then they had to catch the ball after touching their head and shoulders! The children were really determined and did a brilliant job.
We finished the lesson by playing ‘clash ball’. The children had to sit opposite each other and roll their balls so they clashed in the middle. It was lots of fun!
We will continue to practise our ball skills for the rest of the half term.
Help at home by practising throwing and catching different sized balls.
Writing: Chocolate Cake by Michael Rosen
Year 3 are going to write a narrative based on Chocolate Cake by Michael Rosen.
A narrative is a story and its purpose is interest and entertain.
We’ve watched Michael Rosen perform this poem and it really makes us laugh! Give it a watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWrOeNKvtHI&t=46s
Our narrative will be inspired by this but we’re going to tweak it so that we are sneaking up to the teachers’ staffroom to steal their food.
In our narrative we’re going to include; description, action and dialogue (direct speech).
We’ve began practising our use of inverted commas for direct speech…
Help at home by practising writing direct speech. Have a conversation with someone at home and write it down using inverted commas. Use the list of R2s above to help you!