We are chemists!
This half term, Year 4 have been learning about chemistry in science.
We have been learning as chemists.
Year 4 conducted an experiment investigating the different states of matter, in this case, ice and water and their melting and freezing points. Ask your child what ice’s melting point is!
The melting point is the temperature at which a solid turns to a liquid. The melting point at which ice — a solid — turns to water — a liquid — is 0°C.
We began with some ice hands and made observations using scientific language such as transparent, translucent, smooth and slippery.
We then worked in teams to explore and accurately measure the temperatures of the ice hands and the ice that had melted with thermometers!
Does your child remember what temperature their water was?
Reading Records
Hi everyone,
w/c 27th – reading records!
During our Book Club lesson on Friday, we had a look at everyone’s reading record. It was lovely to see that all of the children had spent time reading at home and engaging with the ‘draw it’ activity! Everyone’s outcomes sparked lots of different conversations and have persuaded some of the children to check out someone else’s book next time.
Just a reminder that:
- The children need to bring in these reading records every Friday for our Book Club lesson where we’ll discuss their books and develop their love of reading.
- The children’s grown-ups can help at home by writing a short comment sharing with us the reading their child has been doing at home.
I’m looking forward to seeing the children’s reading progress and responses for ‘Question Master’ this Friday!
Times Tables Rock Stars!
Hello to all of you times tables rock stars out there!
Starting soon, we will be hosting our weekly TTRS competitions across all four classes in KS2.
The winning class each week will receive the coveted guitar and the three players with the top average score in each competition will get a certificate in assembly to celebrate their achievements and effort!
What you need to do:
Make sure your child has plenty of opportunities to practise their times tables at home. A rapid recall of times tables supports children understanding other mathematical concepts and can also help their understanding of new learning, too!
Practising regularly in short, sharp bursts is most effective!
Good luck!
Bike to School week and Let’s ride
Biking and scooting are one of the ways we encourage children to actively travel to and from school and next week we’ll be taking part in Bike to School Week (with Sustrans and the Bikeability Trust). We are pleased to be part of this UK-wide event, encouraging families to cycle, or scoot, to school. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate active school journeys and the positive impact it has on children’s health and wellbeing – as well as the environment.
Bike and scooter storage facilities are available by the side of the Year 4 classroom.
Also, taking place this weekend is the free Let’s Ride session held locally at the Brownlee Centre.
This free family community event is ideal for the whole family to enjoy cycling in a safe and friendly space. At the Leeds Brownlee Centre, Bodington Playing Fields, you can ride at your own pace as many times as you like with volunteers on hand to chat all things cycling.
Sign up for the event here.
Living and Learning
Hi everyone,
This week in Living and Learning, Year 4 began learning about the 8Rs. The children were introduced to eight different attributes that will help them to be strong and successful learners.
As a class, we discussed how we all use the 8R’s in our everyday life and especially at school:
- They are all very responsive by listening to instructions. This in turn, makes them ready to learn.
- The children are being resilient in maths lessons when learning column addition. They aren’t giving up when it gets tricky!
- They are being resourceful by using atlases to label the counties on their maps.
- They reflect on their work at the end of each lesson by saying what they have learnt and something that they have found difficult or not.
- They have been taking risks when contributing their own ideas to the lesson.
- The class is being responsible and remembering what is expected of them when in school.
Help at home by talking about these 8Rs and linking it to the children’s actions and activities outside of school!
Reading records!
Hi everyone,
Reading records!
Last week, Year 4 were sent home with their new and exciting reading records! These records are to help Mrs Maqbool and I (Miss Birch) keep track of the children’s reading progress.
The new reading records key info:
- Each time one of the children signs out a new book to read from the library, they can make note of these in the book and rate them out of 5 stars.
- I’ll choose an activity for the whole class to complete on their chosen book each Friday. More information on these activities are inside the record. I’ll post this on class news as well!
- The children will need to bring in these reading records every Friday for our Book Club lesson where we’ll discuss their books and develop their love of reading.
- The children’s grown-ups will also need to write a short comment sharing with us the lovely reading their child has been doing at home.
- It’s also fab as it will give the children ownership and responsibility of their reading!
I hope this is all clear and I’m really looking forward to seeing their progress.
Any questions, please ask!
Netball coaching and half term camps
We are looking forward to having some coaching in school from Elite Netball Academy in the next few weeks.
Elite Netball Academy run weekly netball classes on a Saturday morning at Gateways school and they have an early bird offer for their October half term camps held locally at The Grammar School at Leeds- £25 per day if booked by 17th September.
First week back!
Hello everyone,
After our first week back at school, I just wanted to thank everyone (children and parents!) for being so great and making everything go so smoothly. We’ve had a lovely week getting to know each other and getting stuck into our new topics!
We’ve begun our Geography topic unit called ‘Where in the world am I?’. The children have been fascinated by exploring Google Earth and finding out exactly where we are in comparison to other cities and counties.
We have also begun our class novel for this first half term – The Legend of Podkin One-Ear! The class were making some fabulous predictions based on the name and front cover which we are now finding out to be true…
Y3/4 Swimming & P.E.
Hi everybody!
Hope you’ve all had a great first day back.
Swimming this year will be every Wednesday other than the first and last Wednesday of each term.
So, this term…
The first swimming session this term will take place on Wednesday 15th September and will run to the final session which is on Wednesday 8th December. Your child should come to school in their P.E. kit on this day with their swimming kit in their bag.
Your child should also come to school wearing their P.E. kit every Thursday, too. This is our P.E. day.
On Wednesday 8th September, your child should come to school in their school uniform.
If you’ve any questions, please ask your class teacher.
Thanks!
Looking forward to Monday!
Hello Year 4!
As you know, I’m Miss Birch and I’m going to be your teacher for the next year! I’m really looking forward to finally meeting you all in person and putting some faces to those names. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful summer holiday and are raring to come back. I just know that we’re going to be a fabulous team – bring it on!