Year 4

Welcome to Badgers Class!

Here you will find all our weekly updates about life in the Badgers class, useful documents and links.

We are looking forward to meeting you all. Our September newsletter can be found under the heading to the right. For your information, PE days will be Mondays (indoors) and Thursdays (outdoors) starting week beginning 8th September. You will be able to see our topic web for this term here too.

During our first day, we have been working in teams to build free standing structures. We considered how we work as a team and how we communicate effectively. Afterwards, we developed our own class discussion guidelines. Great collaboration Badgers-see the gallery for some of our work.

Term 2

Week 1

A great week back to school!

English-Badgers are starting to study newspaper reports this term-please bring in any good examples of news articles that the children might like to share in class. We are learning a model text all about the Roman invasion of Britain and focussing on the features of newspaper reports.

Maths- Over the next couple of weeks we are working on multiplication facts and how to apply these to problem solving. Keep practising the quick recall of these facts...we have a challenge coming this term to help the children learn them!

Remembrance-Well done Badgers on being part of the School Remembrance assembly and sharing a poignant poem written by a teenager for the Festival of Remembrance. Thank you Hector, Issy, Amelia and Anna for reading it so beautifully.

Term 1

Week 2

Coding session

We had a great session today, using 'MakeCode Arcade'. Firstly, we learnt how to create our own sprite and set a background for a game. We then learnt how to make the code to control our sprite and we experimented with some of the variables. See our gallery for some photos.

Science

We started exploring 'States of Matter' this week. Badgers enjoyed exploring solids, liquids and gases to classify them accurately. There were lots of good questions and observations: "What state are bubbles?" (Rufus), "is corn flour and water a solid or liquid?" (Maria). We will have to do some investigating further next week...

Music

Badgers had their first lesson with Mrs Andrews-they loved playing Beat Master, trying to work out who had started the beat in different ways-some Badgers had eagle eyes and were very speedy!

PE-Rugby

We FINALLY managed to fit our rugby lesson in between the showers! Excellent running, passing and team work-it was great to see lots of skill progression in just one lesson!

Nest

We enjoyed making (and tasting!) apple crumble this week in the Nest, being careful with using the knife to cut apples up, and mixing oats and flour to make a crunchy topping. See the class gallery for some photos!

Week 3

Another great week Badgers!

English-Badgers have practised using fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and sentences of three to create vivid descriptions for a reader-watch this space next week for some examples!
Science-WOW! We learned all about Ooblek this week and how it behaves like both a liquid and a solid- ask the children all about it!

K-Nex

Badgers have started to experiment with how K-Nex can be a brilliant learning tool. Check out our initial trials in the gallery...

Week 4

A very busy week in Badgers!

Day of languages

Some wonderful engaging learning across the different languages studied. We were really impressed with the pronunciation in Spanish and enthusiasm to have a go! Enjoy the greetings fortune tellers they bring home.

Maths

Badgers developed discussion skills in maths this week, explaining to each other the errors they can see in ordering 4 digit numbers...ask your badger to explain the mistake in this ascending order:

2352 3215 452 5216 6127

English

Some powerful descriptive language used in our setting writing in a metropolis... see some examples in our gallery.

Art

In art we have been learning about the architect and designer from Spain, Antoni Gaudi. His designs were inspired by the beauty of nature and he pioneered a special mosaic technique called Trencar, which is still used today.

Week 5

Maths

This week we have been learning to round to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000, using a helium balloon! Ask your child if they can explain how using a helium balloon can help with rounding numbers.

English

We have been writing our own opening to a warning/journey story. It has three parts: opening, character and build-up. Can your child tell you their story?

Topic

This week, we have learnt about what daily life in ancient Rome was like. We looked at their technology, hygiene, life as a child, houses and food. Did you know they used urine to wash their clothes!?

Science

Great exploration of changes of state this week! We examined and explored the terms MELTING, FREEZING, EVAPORATING and CONDENSING. Can the children explain to you about these processes and the temperatures that water freezes and boils? Could they try freezing some different liquids-what happens?

Week 6

Maths

This week, we have recapped the compact written method for addition, including exchanges. We've discussed different strategies to mentally add single digits together, such as applying our number bonds to 10 and using our double/near double number facts. Can your child explain the written method to you using the question below:

4568 + 3266

English

We are really enjoying our new unit on Limericks! After reading lots of different examples, we identified the features. We looked at how many syllables each line contained and the rhyming pattern. Can your child explain the features to you?

We also learnt and performed a limerick to the class. Can your child still remember it?

Topic

This week, we learnt about the rise of the Roman Empire and the geographical spread of the Roman influence. We discussed why the Romans wanted more land and why they were successful at achieving this.

Week 7

English

We've been examining the features and themes of Limerick poems this week. We really enjoyed exploring rhymes and finding our own rhyming words. We are now planning and writing our own Limericks - we can't wait to share them with you!

Maths

This week we have been learning the compact written method for subtraction with exchanging. Can your child explain the method to you using these questions:

7629 - 3472 8427 - 5236

Topic

Last week we learnt about the geographical spread of the Roman Empire. This week, we focused on how the Romans invaded Britain. Did you know it took three attempts for them to succussfully invade Britain?

Computing

We have been exploring if we can trust everything we read online. How do we now if a story is true? These are some of the questions we considered to help us:

•Does the story sound believable?

•Are there any exaggerated facts and figures?

•Is the date/author name clearly visible?

•Where did the story come from? Is it a reputable source?

•Are there any grammar errors or spelling mistakes?

•Does the image match the story?

•Has the image been altered or modified?

•Is the story supported by another source?

Week 8

English

This week we have written our own limerick poem! We worked really hard to try and keep to the rhyming and syllable pattern that we had learnt. We are going to put them altogether to make a limerick book! Can your child remember their limerick?

Maths

Now we've learnt the written method for addition and subtraction, we looked at how to use the inverse operation to check our answers. We also looked at how rounding can help us estimate our answer, so we can decide if our final answer is sensible.

Topic

This week we learnt how and why the Romans built so many roads in Britain. They are notable for their straightness, solid foundations and drainage system. Did you know 10,000 miles of roads were built between 43CE and 150CE?

Rugby

A great end to ta term of Rugby! The Badgers have learned a range of skills and this week they had a chance to apply these to game situations-both Tag Rugby and their own games. Great dodging, passing and tagging-well done Badgers!

Poetry Recital

The Badgers took part in a poetry recital this week. They all performed their limericks in front of the an audience-great use of voice, rhythm and humour! Enjoy some of them in our gallery!