Class 4
Week ending 20th October
admin on: Class 4
Good afternoon everyone!
We've had another wonderful week here in class 4. Before all the dreadful weather began, we headed outdoors earlier this week for some very relaxing art work! Having examined some of the landscape scenes created by the wonderful David Hockney, I asked the children to initially create some pencil sketched landscape scenes of their own! The children loved every minute; some sat on the running track, others on the benches and one or two of the children focused on the cherry trees besides our netball court. With three of us available to supervise the children, we were able to allow them a wider area to select from. I can't wait to see the finished paintings.
We had a change to our literacy plans this week as we challenged the children to first plan and then begin writing their own story for the BBC 500 Words Competition. We spent quite a while exploring different ideas for characters, settings and plots and really enjoyed reading other story examples. The children were really inspired and loved having a go themselves. I can't wait to read their final versions. Well done everyone and good luck with the competition if you do decide to enter.
Friday morning was very exciting as we were thrilled to join Matt Lucas and the staff from 'Read' in a live event as Matt introduced his brand new book to us all. He was so entertaining and wonderful with the children. Many of the other schools in our local area joined us at the event. It was so perfectly timed too as Matt gave the children lots of advice on how to write a captivating story. Just by chance, our lesson to follow his discussion was our final literacy lesson on writing our short stories. What better inspiration than a famous author telling you what makes a good story!!
The children thoroughly enjoyed their gymnastics lesson again this week. Each week, they have developed more and more skills and continue to impress me. This week the children performed some wonderful paired routines incorporating all the skills they have been learning across the half term. Next week, we will be progressing from the benches to the floor beams and introducing the springboard to our vaults too; very exciting!
Netball skills are developing all the time too! The children are having great fun playing a wide range of games with a range of different balls and other equipment aimed at helping them develop each of the skills required in attacking and defending in netball games.
Please enjoy the photos below; there are just a few examples of some of the sketches the children have begun, as well as photos of some of the brave children that have been reciting their poems to the whole class. The children have loved this challenge; next week I am really looking forwards to hearing more of the children reciting their selected poems too. I have also added a photo of the Matt Lucas 'Read' event, along with a very excited class 4 at the end of the event. They were waving goodbye to Matt!!
Have a wonderful weekend!
See you Monday,
Mrs Matthews and the class 4 team x
Week ending 13th October
admin on: Class 4
Good afternoon everyone!
Hope you are all thoroughly enjoying the gorgeous Autumn sunshine today; cold, but bright blue skies!!
As you'll be aware, Tuesday was Mental Wellbeing Awareness Day. As a class, not only did we share some super discussions surrounding the importance of talking to others and voicing any worries or concerns, but we very much focused on different ways we could help ourselves relax. The children thoroughly enjoyed a very relaxing yoga session and nearly fell asleep during the very soothing mindfulness activity. They were all absolutely amazing and loved taking part. Hopefully they all came home on Tuesday totally free from stress and very quiet too!!
The children have loved our literacy activities surrounding 'The Lorax' this week. They particularly enjoyed the role play earlier this week! The children worked in small groups together and interviewed the Once-ler, telling him how badly he was affecting the environment around him whilst persistently chopping down those Truffula trees and working in the factory. He has since had 32 letters of complaint from class 4, all trying desperately to persuade him to change his ways!! I have been so impressed by the children's persuasive letters; well done everyone! Next week, we will be working on the BBC 500 words story competition; we can't wait!!
We have enjoyed getting more familiar with atlases in geography this week. The children have been working on route finding between settlements; they found this a little tricky at first, but very soon became experts in map reading!! So, if your satnav fails, please do pass a map to your child and you will still 'arrive at your destination'!!
Having worked hard last week on classifying animals in science, the children have now swiftly moved onto identifying many different plants, flowers and trees and sorting them carefully into groups according to different criteria. The children worked so well with partners and whilst supporting each other, were able to successfully sort them all.
Yesterday, the children took part in a democratic vote; they watched video clips of a number of year 6 canditates and voted democratically to select their preferred captains to lead our house teams. The votes were counted, verified and then finally announced in assembly yesterday; we now have 4 very proud captains and vice captains for our house teams! Well done to everyone who put themselves forward and created fabulous speeches; you are an inspiration to others in school!
The children have worked extremely hard in maths this week; we have primarily focused on written addition and subtraction as we have also tackled lots of related problem solving. This is always a tricky one, but I do think we have made some superb progress this week! Well done everyone; keep up the super hard work!
We ended our week singing beautifully on Friday; what a perfect end to the week. We have a number of songs we are beginning to practice as we are considering performing a selection of special songs for the residents of a local nursing home in December. We will keep practising and let you know when plans have been made. For now, let the practising continue! The two songs we have focused on first are 'This Little Light of Mine' and 'Little Donkey'. The next one will be 'Silent Night'! Please do enjoy singing these together at home as this will be super practice!
Have a fabulous weekend everyone!
See you Monday!
Mrs Matthews and the class 4 team! xx
Friday 6th October
admin on: Class 4
Good afternoon everyone!
We've had another great week here in class 4.
The children have loved our new text, 'The Lorax'! We began the week by watching a short animation of the book and discussing the main characters. The children have drawn the most wonderful images of the Lorax and the Once-ler. They really are amazing artists! They have then worked together to create endless lists of fabulous adjectives to describe the two characters, before then writing wonderful descriptive extended sentences about them.
Maths has been as busy as ever! The children continue to keep practising everything we are learning through their daily 8 question starter! Active times tables keeps them all fit as they learn too! We have focused on calculations this week (addition, subtraction and multiplication) and today have concentrated on solving missing number sentences; a little trickier!!
Geography has involved the children using the atlases to find different locations in Britain. The children were amazed to find that for many places you could discover it's origins by looking at the name endings. They enjoyed listing those places that originated in Viking, Roman and Anglo-Saxon times and creating their own tables.
The children are continuing to thoroughly enjoy developing their skills in both netball and gymnastics and are having great fun using the running track every day. We've incorporated different ways of moving along the track this week too; exhausting but fun!!
This afternoon, we decided we were going to battle with the elements and venture outdoors for our art. The children thoroughly enjoyed working together to create fabulous Andy Goldsworthy inspired sculptures with leaves and other natural resources. Do enjoy the photos below!
Have a wonderful weekend; let's hope the sun shines as much as we have been promised!!
See you Monday!
Mrs Matthews x
Friday 29th September
admin on: Class 4
Good afternoon everyone!
We've all had a great week here in class 4; busy as always, but full of fun and learning!
The children have amazed me with their acting skills again this week! We used role play to enhance our literacy earlier in the week. We have been focusing on the book 'Window' in order to inspire exciting descriptive writing. We then decided to write an informal letter of complaint to the council regarding the changes to the environment seen in the book! Obviously, we had to role play a meeting with the councillors first; the role play was superb and certainly inspired the children's writing. It was lovely to see!
In geography, we have been looking at arial views and OS maps to spot different land uses. It has been interesting to compare different areas. The children are becoming quite skilled at spotting the differences whilst developing their map skills.
In art, the children have continued to focus on natural resources and have created some lovely patterns using charcoals and chalks. Next week, we are looking forwards to going outdoors and creating some Andy Goldsworthy sculptures using a variety of resources in the woodland area. If the winds begin again I am sure we won't be short of plenty of leaves to help with those sculptures!!
The children are broadening their knowledge of animals and the different characteristics. Today, we have been focusing on using classification keys to allow us to accurately group animals using more scientific terminology.
Gymnastics and netball skills are developing week by week and the children are thoroughly enjoying using the running track every day.
We hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
See you on Monday morning!
Mrs Matthews and Mrs Scott x
Blog update; Friday 22.9.23
admin on: Class 4
Good afternoon everyone!
I just thought I'd give you a little update on life in fabulous class 4! The children have settled in beautifully and continue to be an absolute pleasure to teach. They are thoroughly enjoying all aspects of each day and come into class with lovely beaming smiles, full of enthusiasm and keen to learn more!
Art has been great fun as we have searched for natural resources outdoors, even in the rain! The children have then created the most wonderful patterns with chalks and charcoals; a very artist class I think!
Our literacy has involved the outdoors too. Would you believe it was raining again when we ventured outside for inspiration for our descriptive writing? It's amazing how inspirational our outdoor area is for developing a bank of exciting adjectives and noun phrases!!
The children have all enjoyed reading everyday; in guided reading groups and independently too. It's so lovely to see how much progress the children are already making. We're all enjoying sharing our class novel too; 'Lucky Button', by Michael Morpurgo.
Science has been busy too! We're learning lots about animals and their habitats, particularly ways in which we classify them at the moment.
We've all been really enjoying our music; it's amazing how many versions of the song 'This Little Light of Mine' there are. So far, it seems the gospel version is most of the children's favourite; I think the fact that we are adding movement to the song is adding to the fun of learning!
Our running track has been a hit with both children and staff! Our extra daily exercise session on the track is getting us all fitter and fitter every day!!
P.E. has been great, as always! The children are focusing on netball skills with Mrs Kendall and gymnastics with me. We have been concentrating on developing routines involving symmetrical balances with partners. We have also introduced hoops, bands and balls; I have been amazed how creative the children have been. I don't think I'll be short of gymnasts when selecting for our gymnastics display this year!!
Enjoy the gymnastics photos!
Have a lovely weekend everyone,
Mrs Matthews x
