Reading for pleasure
In Year 4 we are promoting reading for pleasure. The children are given the opportunity to bring in books from home for themselves and others to enjoy.
In the classroom we have a wide variety of reading materials for the children to enjoy, such as newspapers, comics, atlases, dictionaries, thesauruses, historical, geographical, scientific, religious and many more.
The calm, relaxing atmosphere during these sessions shows that the children are engaging in reading and enjoying the variety of texts.
Group reading with an adult also happens during this time. Each group read and are questioned by the adult. Target pages are set weekly.
Here are a few snapshots of one of our sessions.
Even reading in a Tardis!
Spring/Summer term menu
The new school dinner menu, from our school meals provider, Catering Leeds, will be introduced after half term and this will continue for the rest of the school year.
As well as on our website, the three week cyclical menu is also displayed on our dining room window for you to discuss with your child/children. Have a look for the weeks ahead to make your child aware of what the daily meals are. If you would like a printed copy, please ask at the office.
School meals continue to be free for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. If your child is in Key Stage 2, please check for eligibility for free school meals. (It’s important to check for eligibility for younger children, too, because school receives additional funding for each child who is eligible for a free meal, even when they’re free in Reception and Year 1 and Year 2!)
If your child would like to start having school dinners, please inform the office. A combination of packed lunches and school dinners is also available.
Children are consulted on school meals through our regular School Council meetings. Feedback may also be given by speaking to an adult in school or completing a suggestions/comments slip and posting it in their class SEAL box.
Thank you to parents who also raise questions and give feedback. We can then ensure this is passed on to the kitchen staff.
Champion chariots
As we move through the different periods of time in our topic work, this week has seen us pay a visit to the Romans. Roman transport was our focus, especially chariots.
After designing, planning and resourcing, work began on making our very own chariots. Skills included measuring and sawing an axel to the correct size, adding wheels, shaping the front of the chariot and finally attaching it all.
Take a look at us in action.
The finished chariots look great!
Be Food Smart
Be Food Smart is the latest health campaign from Change4life. Our everyday food and drink can contain surprisingly high amounts of sugar, saturated fat and salt, meaning most of us are eating more than we realise. National Child Measurement Programme data shows that one fifth of Reception and one third of Year 6 children are overweight or obese.
Public Health England has launched a free app, which families can use together to uncover how healthy their food choices are. The Be Food Smart app allows you to easily scan the bar codes of branded products, as well as supermarket favourites, to see how much sugar, saturated fat and salt is lurking inside.
This week, on a Good to be me theme, one of our parents spoke at a whole school assembly. She talked about changes she made to her diet and physical activity levels to become healthier.
One change she made was to have a healthy breakfast. We need this to give us a good start to the day.
Breakfast can have surprising amounts of sugar, saturated fat and salt. In fact, research has shown that children are eating nearly half their maximum daily amount of sugar before they get to school. See how sugar stacks up at breakfast time.
Having read this research, one family in school have recently made a change from sugary cereals to low sugar alternatives such as porridge and shredded wheat. Interestingly, at this same time, I commented to the parent that the particular child had become more focused in lessons.
Change4life provides lots of ideas for eating well and getting active, including ideas for packed lunches. The new lunchbox section has lots of simple, tasty and healthy tips for hassle-free lunches.
School Saving Club
The next School Saving Club paying in date is 02 February 2017 at 3.15-3.45pm.
If you are unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be paid in, to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Miss Hale.
For your information the paying in dates for the rest of the year are:
- 23 March 2017 3.15-3.45pm
- 18 May 2017 3.15-3.45pm
- 13 July 2017 3.15-3.45pm
If your child would like to open account, please ask at the office.
Highlights of the week
Well, it’s been a very busy week for Year 4!
Many thanks to all who turned up for our class assembly. The children worked very hard to put this performance together. They were incredibly proud of themselves and each other. We hope the water cycle song hasn’t driven you round the bend too much!
Yet again, Year 4 produced some superb homework showing what they know about solids, liquids and gases. We are constantly amazed by the creative ideas the children come up with. These are on display in the classroom and you are very welcome to pop in and take a look.
Our adventure through time has begun with the arrival of a life size Tardis in the classroom! We’re using this as a reading area and it’s proving very popular with adults and children alike!
During this topic, we will focus on transport through the ages. Working along a timeline, we’ll explore transport inventions, how different people travelled, why people travelled and many other aspects of transportation.
The Stone Age is where we have begun. This week we have studied this period of time and also created our own cave paintings – photos to follow…
For our maths lessons we’re exploring fractions. On Thursday, I gave the children a task to complete that involved some reasoning. The children had to explain and prove their thoughts and ideas. Here are some children at work. Their task was:
- TRUE OR FALSE?
- ONE THIRD IS LARGER THAN TWO FIFTHS
This is how they evidenced their ideas.
Mr Owen and I are looking forward to seeing you all again at forthcoming parents’ evenings. Please return your slips and we can allocate you a preferred time slot promptly.
As always, we encourage you to pop in with any concerns or questions you may have.
Half term pop-up sports
Assembly
Our class assembly is on Wednesday 18th January at 2.40pm. Please join us if you can.
New themed menus
Catering Leeds, our school meal provider, will be running a special Australia Day themed menu on Tuesday 24 January. This themed menu has recently been selected by our school councillors.
Please contact the office, by 12 January, if your child would like a school dinner on this day.
Another themed menu selected by our school councillors is for Shrove Tuesday, 28 February.
Please contact the office, by 09 February, if your child would like a school dinner on this day.
What’s the matter?
We started our mini science based topic. The children were all very keen to learn about solids, liquids and gases.
The children enjoyed a carousel of activities including investigating solids and some scientific reading!
