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.
Drop-down Morning: geography, history & D&T
Today we had drop-down morning! We use this as an opportunity to recap and strengthen our topic knowledge from previous years.
Today we revisited:
- Geography – Where in the world am I?
- History – Romans and Anglo-Saxons
- D&T – Product design
We started with geography. We were focusing on maps and grid references. Your children had a go at reading maps, identifying and writing their own grid references.
Next, we moved onto history where we played a game of ‘hunt’. The children had a question sheet all about the Romans and Anglo-Saxons and had to hunt around the classroom, gathering the answers from their classmates. They then completed a crossword using all their historical knowledge!
Finally, in D&T we recapped all things product design! We discussed the design process that all products must go through and even had a go at ordering the design process of a new car!
Help at home: choose a product in your house and ask your child to identify some of the design criteria it might have had.
Science: Water Cycle
Year 4 are chemists!
As part of our chemistry unit, we’ve been learning about the water cycle.
- Evaporation is when water turns into water vapour from the heat of the sun.
- Condensation is when water vapour changes back into water and forms a cloud.
- Precipitation is when solid or liquid water falls from the Earth’s atmosphere.
- Collection is when water from precipitation is gather back into lakes, rivers and seas.
We also learnt about the 4 different types of precipitation – rain, snow, sleet and hail.
Your children found it fascinating how all the water on Earth is continually recycled through the water cycle. We even had some interesting discussions about whether we drink the same water that dinosaurs drank!
Help at home: ask your children to talk you through each stage of the water cycle. Make sure they use our key vocabulary:
Food Technology: Egg Pot
Today, Year 4 made egg pots in food technology! They prepared, cooked and ate their delicious snacks.
To begin, we used the bridge cutting technique when cutting our tomatoes. This was a safe method to use to stop the tomatoes slipping while we cut them.
Then, we used the microwave to heat the tomatoes and beans. We used small bursts, checking each time, to ensure we didn’t overcook them. Once they were hot, we cracked in our egg and continued cooking until the egg was opaque (not see through).
Finally, it was the best part – eating it! Most of your children loved it and were keen to make it again at home.
Your children stayed safe throughout by taking their time, concentrating, using the bridge technique when cutting and being careful handling the hot food.
Help at home: make the recipe again! Can you add something new? Maybe spinach, ham, mushrooms etc.
Writing: instructions
This week, Year 4 have been writing instructions!
Purpose: to tell the reader how to do something.
We’ve looked at the features of instructions (our R2s):
- imperative (bossy) verbs
- time connectives
- adverbs
- adjectives
- present tense
- chronological order
Your children chose what they wrote their instructions for.
How to survive a day without technology.
How to make a tuna and cucumber sandwich.
How to escape King Minos’ castle.
How to control a robot.
We planned, wrote and then edited our writing to ensure it was as fantastic as possible.
I’ve loved reading all of your children’s brilliant instructions! Later in the week, we’re going to share them with Year 3 and see if they can follow them correctly.
Help at home: ask your children to write you a simple set of instructions.
- How to get dressed for school.
- How to make their favourite meal.
- How to build a bridge in Minecraft.
- How to get ready for bed.
North East Leeds cross country
** UPDATE ** Eight of our runners have qualified for the Leeds cross country final – congratulations!
Today, thirty of our Key Stage 2 children took part in the Leeds North East School Games Cross Country festival at Roundhay High School attended by twenty nine schools.
We had a great start from our Year 3 runners with three children coming in the top 15 including an amazing third and fifth place! Then, an effortless first place by one of our Year 4 runners was a great achievement. After that, we saw some excellent efforts and determination from the rest of the children throughout the afternoon with great support and encouragement from the other pupils.
Well done to all the children who took part and represented the school. We are sure there will be some qualifiers for the next race, the Leeds final. Watch this space!
Thank you to the parents who came along to help and support at this event.
If you’re child would like to take part in cross country, have a look at our physical activity guide for details of local running clubs and junior Park Runs.
Some of the children who took part, are regular runners at the Leeds Schools Sports Association Saturday morning cross country races. Details will shortly be sent out for the next race on Saturday 14th December.
Science: conducting a fair experiment
We’re chemists!
In science, we’re learning all about the states of matter – solid, liquid and gas. We’ve also been exploring how temperature can change a material’s state. Today, we conducted a fair experiment to answer our enquiry:
Does the temperature of water affect the time it takes for ice to melt in it?
In order for this to be a fair experiment, we had to consider the variables in the experiment.
- independent variable (what we’re changing): the temperature of the water
- dependent variable (what we’re measuring): the time it takes for the ice to melt
- controlled variables (what we’re keeping the same): the volume of water and the size of the ice cube
Your children demonstrated some great scientific skills such as reading thermometers, using a stopwatch, measuring accurately and recording results.
Our conclusion: the hotter the water, the less time it takes for ice to melt in it.
Help at home: try this experiment again at home. Get your child to talk you through the independent, dependent and controlled variables.