Spring term after-school clubs
We’ve had a great first week to our after-school clubs. There are some places available on the following clubs if your child would like to join. Please refer to the letter below to show the relevant year groups.
Maths: column multiplication
This week, Year 4 have started column multiplication! I’ve been so impressed with how quickly your children have grasped it.
We broke the process into three key steps:
1. Multiply the ones.
2. Multiply the tens and add any exchanges.
3. Multiply the hundreds and add any exchanges.
We’ve had a fantastic week in maths and look forward to seeing the children apply their column multiplication skills in worded problems next week!
Help at home: watch this video (column multiplication) of me showing you the column multiplication process and ask your children to complete these calculations:
- 532 x 7 =
- 283 x 9 =
- 538 x 3 =
- 379 x 4 =
- 247 x 9 =
L&L: I know what a drug is.
In Living and Learning this term, we are looking at drugs, alcohol and tobacco. In Year 4, we discussed what a drug is:
A substance that changes the way the body or mind works.
To begin this topic, we looked at a range of medicines and household products and spoke about their benefits.
Medicines can make us better when we’re ill.
Bleach is good for cleaning the toilet so we can be more hygienic.
Soap is really important so we can wash our hands and body properly.
Calpol can help if you’re in pain for something.
We then discussed the importance of staying safe when using these products. We identified the risks of these items and how we can reduce these. I was really impressed to hear so many brilliant suggestions for how we can always stay safe when using these products.
Always put medicines and cleaning products up high or locked up so children can’t touch them.
Never take medicine that isn’t given to you by a doctor or a trusted adult.
Wear gloves when using bleach.
Always read the label on medicine to make sure you’re using it safely.
Help at home: talk about some household products or medicines you have at home and how you make sure you’re always using these safely.
Writing: volcanic eruption
Welcome back and happy new year!
In writing this half-term, we’ll be starting with a recount.
The purpose of a recount is to re-tell events and describe what has happened.
Our recounts will be about escaping a volcanic eruption! We’ve been exploring some recounts this week to identify what makes a good one and your children have come up with some success criteria:
- impressive vocabulary
- thoughts and feelings
- description
- past tense
- adverbs
- adjectives
- different sentence starters
Help at home: watch this interactive video and ask your children to describe what they can see and what the person might be thinking and feeling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G7LUQS3X6E
We are artists!
We’ve come to the end of art topic and the children have created some fantastic collages based on Sir Christopher Wren’s or Dame Zaha Hadid’s architecture.
Throughout this half term, the children have been exploring a variety of media in our art lessons, such as using carbon paper, tracing and freehand drawing. They then used these different media in their final collages of a piece of architecture designed by either Sir Christopher Wren or Dame Zaha Hadid.
We made sure to think about the composition of our collages before beginning to stick the pieces together. They came out brilliantly!
Have a happy and healthy Christmas break!
Saturday morning cross country runners
Well done to all our KS2 pupils who took part in the third Leeds Schools Sports Association cross country race at Prince Henry’s Grammar School in Otley on Saturday morning.
It was great to have some first time runners this time and many improved their race positions from last time.
Thank you to parents who supported at the event.
There is one more race this season and information will be sent about these nearer the time. Please note there is a new registration system this year with all children being registered prior to their first race to take part.
Reading: Hot Seat
For the final week of term, we’ve been reading The Santa Trap, written by Jonathan Emmett and illustrated by Poly Bernatene.
This story’s all about a very naughty boy called Bradley. Each year, Bradley only gets socks from Santa which he’s not happy about. So one year, he decides to set up an enormous santa trap!
Year 4 took on the role of Bradley in our hot seat lesson. Using information and hints from the book, the children had to answer questions from the class from Bradley’s perspective. There were some very convincing Bradleys!
How does it make you feel when you only get socks at Christmas?
Why do you think Santa only brings you socks every Christmas?
Your parents do so much for you, why are you so ungrateful?
Do you think trapping Santa was the best way to get more presents?
How does it make you feel that your plan to trap Santa didn’t work?
Will you behave differently next Christmas?
What were you feeling when you saw that you had more than a pair of socks in your stocking?
Help at home: recreate the hot seat at home and ask your children some of the questions above.
Philosophy Friday: What is so great about the world?
Every Friday, we do Philosophy Friday.
Philosophy is thinking deeply about the world around us.
Each week, we have a philosophical question that we discuss and share our answers to. This week it was…
‘What is so great about the world?’
It was fantastic to hear some really brilliant and mature ideas from your children. I loved seeing how they respectfully listened to each other and built on others’ opinions and ideas.
Here are some of your children’s responses:
I think what is great about the world is that we’re all unique and different with different opinions.
I think a great thing about the world is that we can play football and do hobbies we like.
I think the world is great because we can just have fun and learn stuff.
I think what is great about the world is that we have family and friends.
I think the best thing about the world is that we can travel to different places because the world is so big and we can meet new people.
My favourite thing about the world is when people listen to others and then great things happen.
Help at home: ask your children some philosophical questions from this article. https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/feb/14/philosophical-questions-children-should-ask-bernadette-russell
Maths: x10, x100
This week in maths, the children have been multiplying by 10 and 100.
We’ve discussed how when we multiply a number by 10, all the digits move one place to the left and we put a zero in our ones column.
When we multiply a number by 100, all the digits move two places to the left and we put zeros in our tens and ones columns.
When writing our multiplication expressions, we must remember they are commutative (you can swap the factors around and get the same product).
- 3 x 100 = 300
- 100 x 3 = 300
Help at home: ask your children to complete these multiplications and explain their processes.
- 30 x 100 =
- 6 x 10 =
- 904 x 10 =
- 55 x 100 =
- 42 x 10 =
- 13 x 100 =
Living and Learning: Mental Wellbeing
This week was one of our mental wellbeing weeks in school. We’ve been focusing on how we can look after our own mental wellbeing, as well as supporting others.
During our L&L lesson this week, we spoke about change, grief, and loss and how these can cause a wide-range of feelings and behaviours. It’s important to understand that people can respond differently to these feelings and we must always respect that. We discussed lots of self-care techniques we can use when we’re finding something difficult or upsetting.
I can speak to a trusted adult like my mum or teachers at school.
I can write a note to put in the worry box.
I can play with my friends until I feel better.
I can watch my favourite TV show or play my favourite game.
It was great to hear all of your children’s brilliant and mature ideas about how we can promote our own mental wellbeing and support others’.
Help at home: encourage your children to talk openly about their emotions and feelings and discuss which techniques they find useful when they’re feeling down.
