“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” — Victor Hugo

Another exciting week in Year 4! On Thursday, lots of books arrived that the children had requested that they would love to read. As one child commented, “It’s book heaven!” Their excitement was so beautiful that I had to film it!

Another great success at the moment is our recorder lessons. Here is a little sample of our progress so far - very good I’m sure you would agree!

This week we had our Online Safety day where we discussed our digital footprint - the traces of ourselves that we leave online. We did lots of work around making sure we are safe online and only post or share photos, videos and/or comments which will not hurt or embarrass yourself or others. As usual, children produced some excellent work.

We have loved learning further about Anglo-Saxons this week and on Thursday, we had a mystery to solve - the mysery of the empty grave - an Anglo-Saxon burial site filled with all sorts of treasures found at Sutton Hoo- East Anglia. But who did the grave belong to? Children looked at the evidence and interpreted it to figure out the possible owner of such a grave - A Superior King - King Raedwald!

We have also begun our novel ‘Charlotte’s Web’ this week which children are already very in love with! They are such book lovers - I feel privileged to take them on their journey of books this year!

RHE focus

This week, we have thought about our gifts from God and how we can make the most of them. We have also reflected on God’s greatest gift - love and how we can show this to Him and others around us. In our class council we have been discussing how to raise money for our class charity, Streetlife. Children have come up with brilliant fundraising ideas and have decided what our Autumn fundraiser will be - see notices below.

Let’s celebrate!

This week we have a Bobby Bee certificate for Jayden who is growing so much in self-belief and enthusiasm. We are so proud of you!

We also have a Sadie Spider for Asher, who never ever gives up. In all he does he makes sure it is his very best and often adds that extra bit of detail.

Our recorder stars this week were Kai and Julia for super focus and effort.

Our PE stars were Jayden for excellent focus and Abi for really using her intelligence to strategise in the game.

Notices/Dates

Given the current situation that we are all in, the school have decided that this year fundraising will take place solely for different charities as they need our help now more than ever. Each class has been given a charity to raise money for in their own way. Year 4’s charity is ‘Streetlife,’ in Blackpool.

Christmas Arts and Crafts Day - Friday 4th December - Our first fundraiser in Year 4 will be a Christmas Arts and Crafts Day. On this day, children will be making Christmas decorations for our classroom and for home - all things Christmassy. They can wear a Christmas jumper on this day too if they want - with their own trousers, jeans or skirt - obviously weather appropriate! A donation of £1 (or any donation) would be kindly received, but this must be in the form of a £1 coin as we also want to limit the handling and counting out of money.

Christmas Danceathon Day - Tuesday 15th December - This much anticipated annual event will return with a slight twist this year. The children can come to school wearing their PE kits and we will dance the day away to Christmas music when Miss Hornby sounds those school bells. Unfortunately there will be no gathering on the school playground to dance as a school community but we will dance our socks off in class! Again, donations of £1 for this event in the single coin.

Christmas Party Day - Thursday 17th December - This year we will be enjoying those Christmas party games in our classrooms. On this day, children can come to school in their best party clothes. A small snack of a chocolate bar or a packet of crisps with a drink (no fizzy please) can also be brought into school to be enjoyed after the party. We will also be enjoying a Christmas dinner for lunch.

We all hope you have a lovely weekend with your family. God bless,

Mrs Lyons, Miss Forster and Mrs Mather

Year 4 blog -Two important notices!

Home/School Agreement

Please could you share and complete online the home school agreement form with your child this weekend. It is very short and will be good to remind children of their responsibilities in school. Part of it is a parent agreement too.

Illness.

Another thing that has changed in school is the way in which you report a child’s illness or absence from school. There is an online form to complete and submit in the ‘discover’ section of our website under attendance. The form is called ‘Reporting an Illness.’ This is a more simple and effective way of letting us know if your child is poorly.

Year 4 Important update about Holy Communion

Dear Parents,

As you all know we will once again be entering National Lockdown from Thursday. For churches this means that they will only be open for private prayer sessions. Sadly, for us, this means that the planned masses to celebrate children making their first Holy Communion will have to be postponed. We are all so upset for the children and yourselves but at this time there is no other alternative.

We will hope to rearrange masses in January or February and will keep you informed as soon as we have firm dates. This is such an important sacrament for the children and we look forward to when we can eventually share this with them.

In the meantime, Mrs Lyons will continue to teach the children about the beauty of receiving the Eucharist in preparation for spring.

We will keep the children and yourselves in our prayers.

Miss Hornby

Attention Artists.

art shirt.jpg

Attention Y2, 4 & 5 Artists

Attention Year 2, 4 & 5

You will need an old, named t-shirt to go over your school uniform, to keep you clean during our ART lessons this half term. These will be kept in your tray’s in class and brought with you to each ART lesson.

Remember the Create room is a little chilly with the doors open so an extra layer on Art days is advisable. Thank you for your co-operation.

Mrs Curtis

Year 4 Blog: "Forget yesterday - it has already forgotten you. Instead open your eyes and heart to a truly precious gift - today."

Well our second week in year four has been jam packed with exciting learning! This week we have become scientists and we have carried out experiments to find out exactly what a plant needs to grow well. We also looked closely at seeds and discovered what happens when a seed germinates. We looked at seedlings too and even dug them out of their pots to see what they looked like!

in other exciting news: After thinking about why we need to be able to read and write we identified lots of different text types - like persuasive letters, non-fiction, instructions and fairy tales. We have now begun studying and reading explanation texts and next week we will be learning one off by heart!

We have also been working SO hard in maths to master a new skill - rounding numbers. Children have really tried hard with this with lots of success.

RHE

This week we have read a story, “Be Grateful Gabriella Goat,’ where we learned what it truly means to be grateful. Children have made gratitude necklaces and brought them home - each part of it is something they are grateful for. They said some lovely things about being thankful for all you do for them! We now take part in the Examen at the end of each day- which allows children to look back and reflect on what they are thanful for that day and also what they may be sorry for. They talk to God and look forward to the next new day.

This week, we have also reflected on how to Recognise our feelings. We made up our own dance to reflect this in PE. Children learned that we can have different strengths of feelings and when we can identify them, they are easier to manage.

Another very powerful part of our week was making our ‘Becoming Me,’ books. These books were about aspiration - to be the person you want to be in Year 4. Children thought carefully about who they are and also what qualities they would like to have. They then found a powerful quote which would help them. One of our mottos is ‘I CAN DO HARD THINGS!’

Finally, today we thought about the amazing growing and developing power of our brain - and learned what Growth Mindset thinking is.

Let’s Celebrate!

Today the class voted on our class councillors who will lead our class council sessions. They are Jayden and India! What role models you will be.

Our PE champions were Jayden and Stephanie.

Again - I had to give out 4 certificates this week (I must rein myself in next week!)

Abi received a LIzzie Ladybird certificate for always listening to feedback and striving to improve.

Jess received a Bobby Bee certificate for brimming with enthusiasm

Asher received a Cooper Crab certificate for excellent focus and…

Isabella received a Sadie Spider certificate for always trying so hard and giving everything her best effort - she has met her reading target too!!

Year 4 received Star table at lunchtime too. I am very proud of you.

Notices

Please could children bring their own packet of tissues into school if they have a cold. They can keep them in their pencil case - they could also have a pack in their pocket for when outside.

I have sent an email out to fill in your child’s medical form online this year. Please do this at the earliest opportunity so I am aware of any issues.

Children are not allowed to bring in anything from home other than water bottles, lunch boxes and school reading books. Some children have been bringing in Plasticine to squeeze - this is against the rules for safety reasons.

I trust you have all received your children’s letters about Reconciliation and Holy Communion. I look forward to carrrying out the sessions in class with them this half term.

Have a lovely weekend - the weather forecast says SUN!

God bless, Mrs Lyons, Mrs Mather, Miss Edmondson and Miss Forster.

'Feel the Fear and do it anyway!' (Elizabeth Gilbert)

I am so proud of every child in the class this week. They have had a great start to year 4 and although there have been worries, we have all practised ‘feeling the fear and doing it anyway.’ The children have all demonstrated such mature behaviour and have settled in so well. They have been so sensible following all health guidelines and are getting used to the new normal! They have also been brilliant at looking after their own belongings this week!

The beginning of the week saw us thinking carefully about how we feel about coming back to school and acknowledging that we are experiencing a historical event. We reflected on our lock down experiences and made a jigsaw piece to record this which will go with everyone else’s jigsaw pieces in the whole school - to bring us back together!

We have spent lots of time this week talking about how to treat each other and reflecting on our school mission statement ‘You are Precious in my Eyes.’ Children have learned all about rights, responsibilities and consequences and we identified 3 key rights which we all deserve in our class.

We then have collectively formed our class ‘responsibilities’ to reflect these rights. We also outlined how to work well with a partner and be co-operative. We had a lesson all about courage and strength. We looked at examples of strength shown by others in lockdown and we discussed not being afraid of ‘having a go’ with your work in class.

Later in the week, we had a beautiful lesson all about hope - it was empowering and children were excellent at explaining what they thought hope is. We listened to hopeful music and made hopeful images to remind us that we will never give up hope - each day is a new beginning. Year 4 is a new beginning.

Amongst all this, we had a little maths quiz and completed our Star reader test. We also started our new topic in Science- plants. Children asked so many interesting questions! In RE, children showed awe and wonder in God’s creation and wrote lovely prayers. We have also kick started our maths with Roman numerals!

Let’s Celebrate!

This week I had to give out 4 certificates!

A Roger Robin certificate has gone to Kai for being so kind, gentle and mature this week.

James received a Sadie Spider certificate for being so hardworking and pushing himself.

Evie received a Tommy Turtle certificate for having a good go at things and showing courage

Stephanie received a Cooper Crab certificate for showing excellent focus in all she did.

I honestly could have continued writing certificates because everyone has achieved in different ways this week. A massive well done to all of you for your first week back in school. I know I am going to LOVE teaching you!

Also this week, just over half the class have been presented with their pen licences! They have ‘solemnly sworn’ to always write in joined up handwriting in Year 4. We will be practising handwriting every day so it should not be long before more children receive theirs.

Notices

The link below shows you which day your child’s outside PE day is. It will be Wednesday or Thursday. All other days are school uniform please. Children do look very smart!

Homework

Homework is up for this week under ‘Learn from Home'.’ Please could you help your child take responsibility for this and bring in each Thursday. I will only send their actual homework book home every fortnight. On alternate weeks it will just be online learning.

Reading

Every child should come home with their reading books and a little reading log. This shows you what their ZPD reading level is and their points target for the half term. Please encourage them to read each night and try and hear them read often. I have given them a target reading time each day. They read for 30 minutes each day at school - so this is included - unless they do Nessy learning - in which case they read for 15 mins in the school day and so need to read more at home. THey also must continue with their Nessy learning at home.

Children now have Blue interest level reading books which have more grown up themes. They will be able to quiz at school as normal.

Books brought back from home will be quarantined for 72 hours before being given to others.

Birthday sweets

Unfortunately, children will not be able to give these out at school for the foreseeable future due to Covid circumstances. Sad I know, but we will definitely make their birthday jolly at school in other ways!!

Finally, here are some photos of our first week in Year 4.

Have a lovely, restful weekend and please feel very proud of those precious children of yours! They have worked their socks off!

Mrs Lyons, Mrs Mather, Miss Forster and Miss Edmondson