Hello again from 4DA – it’s been another successful and hard-working week!

Maths has seen us continue to look at our times-table facts, focussing on the 3, 6, 9 and 7 times-tables. We have been taking a closer look at multiplication and division facts and how they intertwine. In writing, we have started work on our spooky story openings. We have picked apart our model text and discussed what makes a strong story opening, which included fronted adverbials of time, place and manner, interesting setting description and vocab, and even small doses of speech to move the story along.

We had our introduction to our science topic this week, looking at how sound works. We discussed how everything that makes noise will vibrate. These vibrations then travel through the air to the ear as sound waves. Talking about sound, there was a lot of noise coming from the 4DA classroom as we competed in our rap-off! Every KS2 class in the school has competed in an anti-bullying rap-off as part of anti-bullying week, bringing their own flare and spin to proceedings. 4DA have once again taken the crown for lower KS2 and will face the winner from upper KS2 next week!

That is it for this week and I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

It’s been great to have everyone back in the classroom for the start of Autumn 2 this week! 

The English topic has propelled us towards story openings as we began to look at what’s makes a story gripping from the very start. We have focused on our model text, Alma, which sees a young girl find something very peculiar in an abandoned shop window..! Our maths topic has switched to a times-table focus (something that 4DA are very good at after our successful half-term TT Rockstars campaign). We’ve focused on the 6s and 9s this week, looking at fact families and division facts that link to those times-tables. 

An introduction to the Celts has also been made, ready to explore what Roman Britannia looked like 2000 years ago. This starts our build up to our Roman v Celtic battle, along with learning how the Romans have shaped the world that we live in today. Thursday also saw another tremendous PE team game, called Aliens. I was once again incredibly impressed with the teamwork and strategies on show from the class – it was truly 4DA teamwork at its best! 

Enjoy the class photo celebrating the victorious class TT Rockstars campaign.. and a sneak peek into our anti-bullying rap for week!

And just like that, the first half-term of year 4 has come and gone! We’ve had a fun filled week in 4DA this week, from writing letters, to Roman workshops and even turning into digestive systems… let me tell you all about it!

It has been hot write in writing this week where the children have been writing letters home after spending a day in the Roman army – battles were fought, 30km marches were trudged and towns were conquered. We have continued to focus on column subtraction in maths, with a specific focus on word problems and working out what information is important in a word problem.

We had a very interesting visitor on Tuesday morning in 4DA! A Roman general came to share some tails about life as a Roman. The children dressed up in their tunics for the morning and discussed any different parts of Roman life, including: the daily life for patricians, plebeians and slaves; the history of the roman gods; and what it was like to fight in the colosseum! It wasn’t the only time the children took a different shape this week – in science they explored the digestive system further by recreating their own in the classroom. The children mushed up bread and banana with their teeth and saliva (fork and water) and passed it down to the stomach, where it met the stomach muscles and acid to break it down further (bag and vinegar).

Overall, it has been a superb start to life in year 4 and I hope everyone has a tremendous half-term!

P.S. Lets get on TTRockstars to win the class championship!

It has been a very arty week in year 4 this week, starting with a visit from from a published illustrator and ending with shield decoration!

In maths, the children started to look at subtracting 4 digit numbers using column addition. The children did brilliantly tackling exchanges during some tough questions! Our writing lessons have taken us back up a volcano, writing letters to our friends after a stressful day searching for ingredients to become and firework-maker.

Chris Mould, a published illustrator, came into to talk to all of year 4 and 5 about his life as a artist and talked the children through the steps to drawing ” The Iron Man”. The children (and teachers) learnt lots of interesting techniques for making tough drawings seam easy. The art continued when the children painted their roman shields, ready for their battle with the celts after half-term!

Overall, the teamwork in 4DA this week has been fantastic and I’m so pleased to see everyone working extremely collaboratively together!

What a week we have had in 4DA! From parents evening to roman shield creating, it really has been an action packed week.

We have moved onto our addition and subtraction lock of work in Maths with the primary focus this week being column addition. The children have done very well in the lessons and have worked nailed the exchanges when using column addition. In English, we have a new focus of letter writing and what a recount consists of. We have started to look in closer detail at fronted adverbials and emotive words to up-level our work.

We had a very special guest visit us this week in the shape of Reverend Dave. The reverend came in to talk to the children about different parts of the church and his job. The class also prepared lots of very interesting questions for the reverend which gave them a greater understanding of a day in the life of a reverend. Away from the church, production of the roman shields got under way, ready for our battle with the celts after half term..

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Another superb week comes to a close in 4DA, with the children producing some more outstanding work!

Everyone has continued to work hard on their story making and have finalised their very own warning tales.. there has been some very spooky tension being built in many explosive stories! The children have finished their place value section in maths this week by looking at rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. In the afternoons, we have continued to dive into Roman society, specifically looking at what life was like in the Roman Army.. I’m not sure too many found the idea of being a Roman soldier too appealing (especially with the 25 year service of walking 30km daily!). This has also linked to our first art project of the year.. more of that to come in the following weeks.

Have a great weekend everyone!

This week in 4DA has once again been full of enthusiasm and hard-work! 

We have continued to work on our story writing this week, revving up to create our own tension-filled warning tales! We have also had an ancient link to our maths this week, looking at how Roman Numerals work and how to use them. On the topic of the Romans, we have explored what it was like to live as a roman 2,000 years ago. We have been looking at the levels of roman society, discussed how everyone would look in a toga and silently debated what artefacts can tell us about how the romans used to live. Finally, we ended our eggy experiment, which set out to decipher which liquids would be bad for our enamel and our teeth.. We found that it was probably wise to stay away from the fizzy drinks! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I’m looking forward to doing it all again next week.

What a week we have had in 4DA! The children have been working incredibly hard in all areas and have produced some outstanding work. 

4DA have become authors for the first time this year, as they have started crafting their own spooky warning tail. The ideas and writing skill has been very impressive to observe so far! In Maths we have had a focus on numbers up 10,000 and flexibly partitioning them in different ways. The children have also learnt what not to drink if they want their enamel to stay intact. Our ongoing eggcelent science experiment will give the children a greater idea of what will happen to their teeth if not looked after properly. Finally, the children ended the week with a historical focus. In particular, they now have a greater understanding of the unfair nature of empires (especially the Roman one). 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

It has been another tremendous week in 4DA! Everyone has settled back into the school routine brilliantly which has led to a collaborative and enthusiastic learning environment. 

The children have been working hard in many different subject areas this week. In our Maths lessons, they have been focussing on making thousands up to 10,000. We have also moved our focus onto story writing in our English sessions with a focus on a tense warning tail. The children also had a toothy introduction to the digestive system in science, which is our topic for this half term. But I have to say the most pleasing hour of the week has to be our PE lesson. The children showed outstanding collaboration skills during big class games of Capture the Flag – along with being heavily self-organised in their teams, they also showcased great togetherness through brilliant communication and encouragement – it was a joy to be a part of! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

We have had a fantastic first week in 4DA! I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone and getting ourselves back into our daily routines. 

The children have been working incredibly hard in many different subject areas. In our English sessions, we have been learning ‘The Book’ by Michael Rosen. I have been blow away by the children’s enthusiasm and ability to learn the poem so quickly. Within our Maths learning we have been looking at place value by using base ten to create 3-digit numbers.  

A couple of key things for next week: P.E. will take place on Thursdays so the children will be able to come into school wearing their P.E. kits. Reading scheme books were given out this week and we will be expecting the children to read at least three times every week.