Friday 8 December 2017

The end of term is fast approaching and I am sure all the children are looking forward to a relaxing break from school.

We have now finished our 'Take one Book' unit based on our text 'Stone Girl, Bone Girl'. We hope the children have enjoyed the unit. As teachers, it has given us a chance to see some of imaginative independent writing the children can produce. Also as part of the unit we have had a go at making our own fossilised objects. These are some pictures from Ash class. Birch classes' are still 'work in progress'!




 In maths, we have continued our work on fractions with the addition and subtraction of fractions with same denominator. This included a rather tricky pyramid puzzle to solve.

In science the children have been investigating evaporation and condensation. Ask your child if they can explain this scientific vocabulary.

Next week, as our penultimate week before the Christmas break, we have planned to do some Christmas crafts with the children and in our PSHE lessons we will be exploring 'being different but being the same.' If your child could bring in any small craft bits to help them decorate an individual fish shape, it would be appreciated.

Also a note from Mrs Tizard:
We are outside once a week and the weather has definitely changed and become cold. Please can you ensure your child has suitably warm clothes for P.E including socks! (Quite a few girls wear trainers and no socks) Joggers, sweatshirt, gloves and a beany hat are advisable. Thank you it makes lessons so much easier if the children are warm to start with.
Amanda Tizard

Please continue to support your child with homework (separate email sent).

Have a lovely weekend

The Year 4 team.





Wednesday 29 November 2017



Year 4 are currently enjoying our Take one Book unit focussing on the story by Laurence Anholt   "Stone Girl, Bone Girl". This book tells the story of the life of Mary Anning who famously found some of the first prehistoric fossils. We hope to enjoy producing some varied writing as a result of reading this text. This will include play scripts, diary entries, explanation and persuasive writing.


In Math,s the children have just begun a unit on fractions. We have been exploring counting hundredths, mixed and improper fractions and will move on to calculating fractions of amounts. Some children will also be given opportunity to extend their reasoning skills with problems solving challenges. Please continue your regular practise of Times table Rock Stars. It is making a real difference to the children's ability to recall their multiplication facts.


In Science, the children have exploring the properties of solids, liquids and gases. Here are Birch class trying to see if air has weight.


 Birch class behaving like the molecules of solids, liquids and gases.
 
 



 
A separate email has been sent home with information about this week's homework.


Just a reminder that all children should have a warm coat in school as the weather has really turned very cold and the children are outside for long periods.


We hope that many of the children will be able to make the Christmas Fair this weekend. It sounds as though it will be an exciting event.


The Year 4 team













Friday 10 November 2017

It has been a great couple of weeks back after the half term break. Year Four have been working hard and very enthusiastic towards their learning.
In English we have started a unit on persuasive writing. The children have just completed some excellent letters persuading a team of exterminators to rid the local community of a terrible troll that is causing great distress to Billy Goats Gruff and his family. They produced some incredibly creative and persuasive letters, they should be very proud of their work. Next week, the children will be writing a persuasive letter based on our Creative curriculum topic on coastal defences.


In maths this week, the children have been practising their skills with multiplication and division, exploring different methods for solving calculations efficiently. We have been focusing on multiplying or dividing a 2 digit number by a 1 digit number or possibly a 3 digit number. The method we have been using this week is partitioning which will lead into more formal written methods later on. 

It has been a very exciting start to our new science unit: states of matter. The children have been investigating different materials and deciding if they are solids or liquids, whilst coming up with some very interesting questions of their own!

Year 4 assembly rehearsals are well under way and it is great to see so many children keen to learn their lines already. For homework this week it would be very helpful to keep practising their lines and the song lyrics (see below) in preparation for the assembly  on Friday the 17th of November.






Just a reminder that Times table Rockstars needs to be regularly used at home. The children are set 4 garage sessions for the week and should be encouraged to complete them. If you have any issues with accessing the site please do let us know.

We will be starting an Art project based on the book Stickman by Julia Donaldson in the coming weeks and all children will need one toilet roll and one kitchen roll. We would be very grateful if you could send your child in with these ready to be used on the 20th of November.

Thank you for taking the time to read the blog.
Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you for the class assembly on the 17th.  

The year 4 Team.



Friday 13 October 2017

Life's a beach!


In our Creative Curriculum lessons associated with our topic on 'Changing Coasts', the children have been enjoying learning all about some quite difficult concepts associated with the geographical features of the coastline and we have been impressed by the children's ability to get to grips with some of the higher level vocabulary; depositional landform, erosion landform, stacks, arches, stumps, groynes and gabions to name but a few.
This week we have been looking at human geography and our relationship with a sandy and a shingle beach and how these have developed as a result of human intervention. For homework the children have been asked to write a postcard highlighting the differences between what can take place on sandy beaches verses human activities on pebble or shingle beaches. We look forward to reading their responses. 
Next week on Tuesday, we will be creating some collage paintings based on this design. 

If you have any wallpapers or fabric that could be used to add bunting, we would be very grateful if you could send that in with your child. 

In maths this week, the children have been practising their skills with addition and subtraction and testing out efficient methods for solving subtractions with multiple zeros. Can your child explain to you a more efficient method to solve this calculation; 7000 -3456 = or even 700 -345 =?

In English, we have completed our unit on explanation texts. The children have now edited and uplevelled their final draft. The children have become very knowledgeable in their understanding of the coastal erosion process of how caves, arches and stacks are created and this certainly shows in their writing. 

In science, the children have been investiagting which material is most effective at muffling sound. Next week they will be thinking about how to change the pitch of a sound. We have linked this to work in our music lessons where we have been exploring different instruments and how sound is produced. We have even had chance to have a go at some beat boxing!


We hope the children are now feeling fully settled into life in Year 4 and we look forward to seeing many of you on Tuesday 17th for our initial feedback at parent consultations. 

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Meredith & Miss Coyne





Friday 29 September 2017

It has been another busy two weeks in Year 4 and the children have been working very hard! It was fantastic to celebrate International day of Languages and listen to the very talented children share their knowledge from countries across the world. In Birch we travelled to Italy and Holland in Ash. The children fully immersed themselves in the activities and even learnt some key phrases.





This week we had our Big Bang for our topic on Coasts, the children produced some beautiful beach huts. Cutting, painting, sticking and designing their creations themselves which took lots of concentration and persevering!




In English,  the children finished their unit on  'The Jolly Witch' and even wrote their own twist to the story writing about a 'Jolly teacher' with a magic pen. It was so enjoyable to read the children's stories and a great indication of the work that is to come in English from Year 4. We have now moved onto a new unit based on explanation texts, we have been identifying the key features that need to be included in our 'Coastal formation' example. This links nicely with our creative curriculum topic Coasts and gives the children the chance to apply all their knowledge on depositional and erosion land form.

In Maths, we have moved onto addition and subtraction. We will be focusing on strategies to improve addition and subtraction of 4 digit numbers and incorporate some problem solving too.

In Science, the children have been using excellent investigative skills to explore pitch and volume in our 'sound' unit. Last lesson we used data loggers to measure the sound produced by dropping marbles into different sized containers to investigate if it had an impact on volume. The children made very interesting predictions and interpreted their results well.

If you would like to support your child at home, it would be really helpful to continue with Times table rock stars and practise addition and subtraction of 4 digit numbers.
I am sure they could also tell you all about coastal formation including stacks, arches and caves!
Thank you for your cooperation with the reading records, it is lovely to see so many of the children reading on a daily basis.

Enjoy the weekend

Miss Coyne and Mrs Meredith

Friday 21 July 2017

Happy Holidays!


It’s the end of yet another fantastic year at Crabtree!

We hope that you will all agree that we have had a wonderful time developing all the skills necessary to meet the challenges that year 5 will throw at us.

Yesterday, we had our last trip of the year, to Cuffley camp. We enjoying trying several different activities; fire building, a habitat walk and the teachers’ favourite, shelter building. This was our ‘favourite’ because testing the water-proofing of each shelter meant that most of the children got a little damp!!!

We have included a selection of photographs below.







We would also like to say a big THANK YOU to all the children in year 4 for all their hard work this year. Then an equally big THANK YOU to all the parents for their support throughout the year too.

Finally, the whole year 4 team has been completely overwhelmed by the generosity of the classes year, every single card, gift (homemade or not) and token have been really appreciated.

Have a great summer and enjoy researching and creating your Mayan homework for September.

The Year 4 team