Maths: calculating with 1,000
In Year 4, we’ve been looking at the structure of 1,000 in maths.
There are 10 hundreds in 1 thousand.
There are 100 tens in 1 thousand.
There are 1,000 ones in 1 thousand.
Understanding the structure of 1,000 then helps us with our calculations.
When subtracting ones from 1,000, we can partition into 990 and 10 to help us.
Once we were confident, we had a go at writing some of our own worded problems for subtracting from 1,000.
Help at home: have a go at these questions (remember to partition if you need some help):
1,000 – 5 =
1,000 – 8 =
1,000 – 3 =
1,000 – 6 =
Geography: Moortown local walk
Today, Year 4 completed some fieldwork in our local area as part of our Geography topic: Where in the World am I?
fieldwork: observing and collecting data in a locality
We were investigating the different types of land-use that we can see in our local area. Your children used the iPads to take photos of all the different types of land-use that they could spot. We were able to find four different types on our walk…
- transport – allows us to travel to other areas of land
- recreational – used for the purpose of activities and fun e.g Moortown Park
- residential – used to provide housing for people
- commercial – used for businesses e.g shops, cafes and restaurants
Your children were safe, responsible walkers and fantastic geographers!
Help at home: go on a walk (local or somewhere new) and ask your children to point out all the different types of land-use that they can see.
Living & Learning: protected characteristics
Our L&L statement for the week: I understand some characteristics are protected by law.
In our L&L lesson this week, we learnt about the protected characteristics. We discussed what they are and how they’re protected.
Discrimination is defined as ‘the unfair treatment of people because of who they are or because they have a certain characteristic(s)’. We discussed examples and the impact of discrimination.
We discussed how the protected characteristics are protected by law – The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination based on protected characteristics.
A helpful way to remember the protected characteristics is by using the mnemonic:
DR GRAMPSS
Disability
Race
Gender reassignment
Religion or beliefs
Age
Marriage or civil partnership
Pregnancy and/or maternity leave
Sex
Sexual orientation
Help at home: Can you remember the 9 protected characteristics using DR GRAMPSS? Why do we have protected characteristics?
National Poetry Day!
Yesterday, we celebrated National Poetry Day by exploring lots of poetry in class and having a special poetry assembly. Year 4 have been practising our poem by Paul Cookson all week and the children delivered it in front of the school beautifully.
They projected their voices fantastically and recited the poem with great prosody. They even learnt it off by heart – well done Year 4!
Help at home: visit the children’s poetry archive and explore their brilliant website. Which is your favourite poem?
Writing: character descriptions
This week, Year 4 are writing their character descriptions of Podkin One-Ear. This is the main character from our class novel by Kieran Larwood.
Purpose: to give the reader information about a character.
Audience: children and adults
We’ve spent the last few weeks exploring Podkin One-Ear. We’ve discussed how we could describe both his appearance and his personality to somebody who hasn’t read the book. Our aim has been for the reader to get a detailed and clear picture of Podkin in their heads, without needing to see a picture.
As a class, your children came up with some fantastic adjectives to describe Podkin which they are using in their writing.
Stay tuned to find out how they go…
Help at home: close your eyes and ask your children to describe Podkin for you in as much detail as possible. Can you picture him?
Maths: column subtraction
This week, we’ve moved onto column subtraction in maths.
We used Base 10 in a fun maths game yesterday to represent our subtractions.
The children represented 49 on on their whiteboards with Base 10 (4 tens and 9 ones). They then had to roll a dice and subtract that number from their Base 10 with the aim of getting down to zero. However, this became a problem when they ran out of ones and only had tens left!
They had to exchange 1 ten for 10 ones.
This game allowed the children to really visualise and understand the process of exchanging in column subtraction.
Help at home: use this website (https://www.coolmath4kids.com/manipulatives/base-ten-blocks) to play the game with your children at home.
Leeds Rhinos play offs
PLAY OFF ACTION RETURNS TO AMT HEADINGLEY
Following the conclusion of the regular season Leeds Rhinos will take on St Helens in a mouth-watering elimination play off at AMT Headingley Stadium on Saturday 27 September 2025, kicking off at 8pm.
Tickets are on sale now at Leeds Rhinos – Online ticket sales
We hope that you will join us for what promises to be a fantastic occasion as we aim to get within 80 minutes of the Grand Final at Old Trafford.
Further info can be found here Play Off Eliminator tickets on sale now
Living and Learning: rights and responsibilities
This week, our L&L statement was: I know that rights come with responsibilities.
We had a brilliant discussion about how we all have rights, however these come with certain responsibilities. As a class we came up with some rights we have within school and the responsibilities that come with these:
- We have a right to playtime but a responsibility to play safely and respectfully.
- We have a right to learn but a responsibility to be great learners.
- We have a right to eat lunch but a responsibility to be respectful and polite to the lunchtime staff.
- We have a right to use the classroom equipment but a responsibility to look after it.
- We have a right to share our opinions in circle time but a responsibility to do so respectfully.
After, we looked into some children’s rights in the UK:
Help at home: Watch this video: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zqgm7yc#zmghp4j and ask your child what rights and responsibilities they have at home (eg. they have the right to play with their toys but a responsibility to do this safely).
Science: We are biologists!
This half-term in Science, Year 4 are biologists and will be learning all about living things and their habitats.
Biology is the study of living things.
We’ve been grouping and classifying animals and have used classification keys to help us do so.
All animals can be classified as either vertebrates (animals with a spine) or invertebrates (animals without a spine).
There are five types of vertebrates that we’ve explored:
- mammals
- birds
- fish
- reptiles
- amphibians
A classification key helps scientists identify things using closed questions (‘yes’ or ‘no’). We’ve been using classification keys to classify a variety of vertebrates and invertebrates.
We’ve discussed what makes a good classification key question. For example, ‘Is it scary?’ isn’t useful because people find different things scary which could lead to misclassified animals. Instead, our questions should be simple, observable and objective. Your children had a chance to write their own…
Help at home: complete this classification key with your children:
Autumn term after-school clubs – places available
As we start week two of our new after-school club schedule, there are some clubs with spaces available and it is not too late for your child to join a club.
Monday
- Y3/4 Table tennis 1 space
- Y3-6 Chess spaces
- Y4-6 Dodgeball 1 space
Tuesday
- Y1-3 Foot-tech football 1 space
- Y1-3 City of Leeds Basketball spaces
- Y5-6 now open to Year 4 Table tennis spaces
Wednesday
- Y1-3 Fun and games spaces
- Y4-6 City of Leeds Basketball spaces
Thursday
- Y5/6 Coding 2 spaces
- Y5-6 now open to Year 4 Netball spaces