I have had the pleasure of teaching Year 4 while Miss Whitehead has been away with the Year 6’s on their residential. I must begin by saying how impressed I have been with the behaviour of the class and the work they have produced. We have had a busy week too….times table checks, science investigations, open air masses and more!! They have certainly done Miss Whitehead proud in her absence and I have no doubt you parents would be so proud of them too. Here’s some more detail of our week…

In Maths we started the week focusing heavily on our times tables, in preparation for the times table check. Naturally, a few of the class were nervous about these tests but they all managed to hold their heads high before and after the test, knowing they tried their very hardest….what more can we ask for?! The second part of the week we focused on finding fractions of amounts and adding fractions with the same denominator, including calculations that were great than 1. The class did really well with this, some using visual aids to help them to understand.

In English we’ve been getting descriptive and using our imaginations to create a wonderful narrative. We used a video called ‘Bubbles’ to inspire us to plan and write our own fantasy story, which all started with a stroll along the beach and a bottle of bubbles…. I was really impressed with some of the vocabulary the class were using to really paint images in their readers mind. We had a big focus on expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials too. On Monday they will get a chance to read over their draft and edit.

In RE we have been looking at the life and work of St. Paul. We were shocked to learn that St. Paul (formerly named Saul) was actually a Jewish Pharisee, who after Jesus’ death, was on a mission to eradicate Christianity and imprison and Christians! So how did he go on to become a Saint??? Well something very special happened to Paul on the road to Damascus which would change his life forever…Jesus spoke to him and chose him to help His mission to spread the Good News! This then made us think about how powerful God’s mercy is. The class did a wonderful job of describing Paul’s life and work in their own words!

In Science we recapped the three states of matters (solid, liquid & gas) and talk about their characteristics. We then planned an investigation to see whether our chosen solids would change state when heat was applied and if so, at what rate did this change happen. We chose to use chocolate, rubber, wax, butter, ice and blue tack and placed them in some hot water. We then started a timer to see how long if took them to change states, if this did happen at all. We recorded all of our results and observations and had some interesting things to discuss by the end. Here are some pictures…..

This week we also attended the open-air mass at St. Mary’s Catholic College. This was such a lovely celebration and a chance for other Blackpool Catholic schools to come together in shared worship. I was so proud of how the class conducted themselves…they did Our Lady’s proud!

This week’s Golden Award went to Lilly T for the kindness she has shown others this week. She has definitely demonstrated how much she **cares** about others.
The Writing Award was given to James for his wonderful use of descriptive language.
The Maths Award was given to Emilia for her great work adding fractions.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend and manage to make the most of this amazing weather we have been having. Thank you again to Year 4 for making my first full week of teaching, since returning from maternity, such a pleasurable one!
Mrs Murphy

PostedJune 16, 2023

AuthorCatherine Slater

Year 4’s learning this week:

In our RE and Liturgy learning this week, Year 4 have been revising the events of Pentecost; when the disciples were all together in a room and were startled by wind and flame suddenly appearing to them. The Holy Spirit came upon them as tongues of flame, landing on their heads and blessing them with the ability to speak all languages so that they could go on and spread The Good News of Jesus Christ.

Year 4 then thought in depth about what this Good News was. The news that Jesus was the Son of God, sent to show us the way, the truth and the life so that we could be granted eternal life in heaven with God. We thought about how the Bible shared The Good News with us in passages, telling us to “love one another” as Jesus loved us and to “go and make disciples of all of the nations”. We then thought about the different ways in which we could spread The Good News of Christ by; being a good example to others, showing our school values of Care, Learn and Respect and helping those less fortunate than us through acts of charity. Another way in which we thought we could live out and spread The Good News of Christ was through attending Mass regularly, as Jesus told us to receive the Eucharist “in memory of me”.

Year 4 then linked their RE learning into their PSHE, thinking about how the disciples spread The Good News to the world and how they can follow this principle in our community, going out and helping others around them.

English: Year 4 have finalised their Creation stories, working hard to demonstrate their Year three and four Writing skills.

Maths: Year 4 have been working hard to practise simplifying fractions, using their times tables knowledge to help find the largest common factors for the numerators and denominators.

Year 4 have also started to explore fractions bigger than one, recognising when a fraction becomes bigger than a whole and turns into a mixed number.

Geography: Year 4 have been exploring the services in their local area that are needed to survive such as our supermarkets, police and fire services, medical services and even recreational services (as we know from COVID 19, entertainment is just as vital for our mental wellbeing!)

Spanish: Year 4 have been continuing checking their written emails this week, presenting themselves including their name, age and how they are feeling.

Art: Year 4 have been retelling the Creation stories they wrote in English through Aboriginal style painting, capturing moments of their story with appropriate colours and shapes.

PE and PSHE: Year 4 have continued working hard this week on being a team, particularly taking part in activities that requires every individual to do their bit and work together in order for a task to be completed successfully.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Another good resource for times tables is the Pinpoint Mathematics times tables check: https://www.themathsfactor.com/times-tables-check/pinpoint/#/ a simulation for the Year 4 check in June.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Emilia

Maths Award - Tommy

Writing Award - Peter

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead, Mrs Dunford and Mrs Connolly!

PostedMay 26, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Year 4’s learning this week:

In Year 4’s RE and Liturgy time this week, we have been thinking in depth about Jesus’ ascension into heaven forty days after his resurrection. We explored the disciples feelings around Jesus’ ascension and how they might have felt that they were saying goodbye to Jesus for a second time.

We then started to explore Jesus’ previous words that we thought were important for this moment, when he spoke about going to “prepare a place” for them in God’s house in which there are “many rooms”. Year 4 considered this in more detail, evidence that in God’s house everyone is welcome and there is always enough room for anyone who seeks God’s help.

Finally, we then moved on to thinking about how Jesus’ ascension moves onto the feast of Pentecost and how even after Jesus’ return to heaven, the Disciples were still blessed with his presence through the form of the Holy Spirit.

English: Year 4 have continued to write their own Creation Stories this week, inspired by the Aboriginal dreamtime stories. The class have been using a variety of rich vocabulary to convey emotions and to paint a picture of their version of the creation of earth.

Maths: Year 4 have continued exploring equivalent fractions this week, using their multiplication and division knowledge to understand the links between different fractions that have different numerators and denominators but are equal to one another.

Science: Year 4 spent their Science time revising their previous learning in their Science, applying all of their knowledge so far to reason and problem solve.

Geography: Year 4 have continued to investigate their local environment, discussing the different types of Geography in Blackpool and locating these on an interactive map. Year 4 then thought about grouping the examples of human geography into commercial, residential, industrial and recreational.

Spanish: Year 4 have been writing emails this week, presenting themselves including their name, age and how they are feeling.

Art: Year 4 have been exploring Aboriginal art this week including analysing the colours and shapes used, the imagery that is shown in their artwork and interpreting the stories in which the indigenous art tells us.

PE and PSHE: Year 4 have continued working hard this week on being a team, particularly taking part in activities that requires every individual to do their bit and work together in order for a task to be completed successfully.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Another good resource for times tables is the Pinpoint Mathematics times tables check: https://www.themathsfactor.com/times-tables-check/pinpoint/#/ a simulation for the Year 4 check in June.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Hallie

Maths Award - Connie

Writing Award - Lola Mae

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedMay 20, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Year 4 have been working very hard in their DT and Science work today, building their very own torches. Year 4 have been evaluating different torches recently, investigating the features that make a torch a useful piece of equipment such as being lightweight, brightly coloured and a small size.

Year 4 exceeded all expectations in creating their own, unique torches, independently creating fantastic pieces of equipment that could be used to produce and reflect a source of light.

Year 4’s Learning This Week:

English: Year 4 spent this week gathering powerful verbs and nouns as well as a broad range of adjectives and adverbs to aid in writing an independent, powerful creation story.

Year 4 then started to write their introductions to their creation stories, including introducing their creator character and their first setting.

Maths: Year 4 have started to explore tenths and hundredths this week, demonstrating how to represent tenths and hundredths pictorially as well as comparing the two concepts.

Year 4 then went on to explore equivalent fractions towards the end of the week, using fraction walls to prove that some fractions have different numerators and denominators however they have the same value as one another.

RE: Year 4 have been revising the different pieces of scripture that show us Peter’s denial of Jesus three times. The class then compared it to other stories in the Bible that show us Peter’s love for Jesus to truly understand how truly sad Peter’s denial was after loving Jesus so deeply for so long.

Science: This week, Year 4 started thinking about their new Science topic; States of Matter.

Year 4 have been exploring and grouping different examples of solids, liquids and gases. The class then learnt all about the different ways in which particles move and behave.

Spanish: Year 4 have been practising how they can ask someone how old they are and give a response according to their age.

PE: Year 4 have continued playing games that develop their trust in one another, their team work and their communication skills.

PSHE: Year 4 have been working hard on exploring their emotions in a safe and healthy way this week, recognising that it is ok to share their thoughts and opinions in a positive way.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Another good resource for times tables is the Pinpoint Mathematics times tables check: https://www.themathsfactor.com/times-tables-check/pinpoint/#/ a simulation for the Year 4 check in June.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Mia and Alexander

Maths Award - Corben

Writing Award - Hallie

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead, Mrs Dunford and Mrs Connolly!

PostedMay 12, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Everyone in Year 4 wishes you a very happy and restful bank holiday weekend as we celebrate the coronation of King Charles III !

Year 4’s Learning This Week:

English: Year 4 have continued exploring Aboriginal culture, including what the people look like, the different languages they speak, the art they create and the stories they tell.

Inspired by the Aboriginal Creation Story, Year 4 have started to invent their own creator character figure to start planning their own creation story.

Maths: Year 4 have continued exploring area this week, consolidating their knowledge of how to find a shape’s area by counting equal squares inside of a shape and comparing the different areas of different rectilinear shapes.

RE: Year 4 have been exploring pieces of scripture that refer to Peter’s three denials of Jesus on the night of his arrest this week. Year 4 compared Peter’s three denials of knowing Jesus to when he was reinstated by Jesus before his death and claims to love and support Jesus three times and we thought about the contrast of these two stories.

Year 4 then thought about how Jesus forgave Peter for his denials before they even happened, showing how powerful God’s love, forgiveness and tolerance has always been.

Science: This week, we have been discussing the importance of being safe around electricity. Year 4 thought about all the different electrical hazards that they could come across in their everyday lives and thought of safety instructions to protect themselves and others.

Year 4 then thought about all of our school’s electrical circuits equipment and the features they have that make them safe pieces of apparatus, as well as the processes we go through to experiment with such equipment safely.

PE: Year 4 have continued playing games that develop their trust in one another, their team work and their communication skills.

PSHE: Year 4 have been working hard on exploring their emotions in a safe and healthy way this week, recognising that it is ok to share their thoughts and opinions in a positive way.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Another good resource for times tables is the Pinpoint Mathematics times tables check: https://www.themathsfactor.com/times-tables-check/pinpoint/#/ a simulation for the Year 4 check in June.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Please could Year 4 pupils bring in a single use plastic water bottle for our DT lesson next week if not done so already.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Zahra

Maths Award - Olivia S

Writing Award - Mia

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead, Mrs Dunford and Mrs Connolly!

PostedMay 5, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

This week’s Gospel teaches us that the only way in which to reach God is through Jesus and accepting his way of love, forgiveness and tolerance. Just as the only way sheep can be called and guided is through their shepherd who enters through their gate, the best way to salvation is through our gate which is Jesus.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English and RE: As part of a special project with Mrs Ormerod, year 4 have started exploring The Taming of the Shrew. Year 4 started to think about the plot of the play as well as the important characters and enjoyed getting a grasp of the story through Shakespeare’s Animated Tales.

In the classroom, Year 4 have begun to investigate their new Writing unit which involves stories from another culture. The class have started to immerse themselves in the Aboriginal Creation Story, learning about the Father of all Spirits and the Sun Mother who awoke the earth with her light.

Year 4 then thought about comparing this to our Christian Creation Story and thought about the ways in which they are similar and different.

Maths: Year 4 have been exploring area this week and learning about how to calculate the area of a rectilinear shape by counting the squares and using their knowledge of arrays to aid them in multiplying the length and width.

Geography: Year 4 have been comparing the different types of human and physical geography in their locality of Blackpool this week. We thought about whether our area was predominantly rural or urban before using examples of different geographical features in Blackpool and deciding whether they are an example of human or physical geography.

To really extend our learning, we also thought about whether human types of geography were residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural or recreational.

Spanish: Year 4 have been practising recognising reading and writing their Spanish numbers up to twenty as part of presenting themselves in a Spanish translation.

PE: Year 4 have started exploring their orienteering topic this week, concentrating this week on the importance of building trust and active listening between themselves and their classmates.

Year 4 also really impressed at St. Mary’s Mini Olympics on Wednesday taking part in athletics, dance and handball with three different primary schools from Blackpool. Our Lady’s pupils really made themselves and their school proud, displaying fantastic manners towards others, resilience towards completing the activities and wonderful teamwork to complete the tasks and earn lots of stickers for their school!

PSHE: Year 4 have been working hard on exploring their emotions in a safe and healthy way this week, recognising that it is ok to share their thoughts and opinions in a positive way.

Year 4 have also been exploring their growth mindset and exploring the reasons why it is good to make mistakes and use them as ways to develop their learning.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Another good resource for times tables is the Pinpoint Mathematics times tables check: https://www.themathsfactor.com/times-tables-check/pinpoint/#/ a simulation for the Year 4 check in June.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised regularly at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays, fifteen minutes a day makes all the difference!

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Teddy

Maths Award - Grace

Writing Award - Hallie and Lily T

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedApril 28, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Everyone in Year 4 hopes that you all had a very happy and restful Easter. Let’s crack on with the summer term!

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 wrote their own, independent biographies this week with a particular focus on using fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases to make their pieces more sophisticated. Myself and Mrs Dunford have enjoyed learning facts all about some famous figures from Paul O’Grady to Marie Curie to Elizabeth I.

Year 4 have been working really hard on increasing their concentration during their writing, to maintain their focus and stamina for their independent work.

Maths: Year 4 have been working hard on dividing two and three digit numbers by a one digit number, using part whole models to partition numbers effectively.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have been formulating questions on how the disciples would have felt before and after Easter Sunday.

We discussed how Jesus’ followers would have felt mixed emotions of anger, fear, sadness, disbelief and joy over the course over Jesus’ arrest, death and resurrection. Year 4 then used their Bible skills to find, use and reference quotes that backed up their opinions on how the disciples would have been feeling at different times.

Science: Year 4 have been exploring how a switch opens and closes a circuit therefore determining whether an electrical current can flow from its source of power to light up a bulb.

Year 4 explored a circuit they were familiar with before working out how to insert a switch into their circuit and seeing if they could prove a switch’s role to turn a bulb on and off.

Year 4 have been using their knowledge of electrical circuits and useful materials to design their own torches in DT. Year 4 thought about who the target audience for their torch was, what it would look like and the features that would make it useful depending on their audience such as being brightly coloured, glow in the dark and lightweight.

Geography: Year 4 have begun to explore and evaluate their local area this half term. This week, we explored our locality of Blackpool. We thought about the region of the country we occupy and the county we live in before working out how we could move around our locality using points of a compass; north, south, east and west.

Computing: Year 4 have been researching the coming forecast in our locality of Blackpool so that they can prepare a weather broadcasting script to create their own virtual weather forecast using a map background and present this to be filmed.

Spanish: Year 4 have been practising recognising reading and writing their Spanish numbers up to twenty as part of presenting themselves in a Spanish translation.

PE: Year 4 have started exploring their orienteering topic this week, concentrating this week on the importance of building trust and active listening between themselves and their classmates.

PSHE: Year 4 have been working hard on exploring their emotions in a safe and healthy way this week, recognising that it is ok to share their thoughts and opinions in a positive way.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Another good resource for times tables is the Pinpoint Mathematics times tables check: https://www.themathsfactor.com/times-tables-check/pinpoint/#/ a simulation for the Year 4 check in June.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised regularly at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays, fifteen minutes a day makes all the difference!

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

A message from the school SENCO:

Please find attached details of the Being a Parent groups running next term. There will be two 9 week groups starting on Tuesday 25th April

10.00am-12.00pm The HealthWorks, 1 Clifton Street, FY1 1JD

6.00pm-8.00pm Online using Google Meet.

The group is suitable for parents of children aged 18 months – 11 years (priority is given to parents with children under 4 years) and is led by parents. It looks at communication, behaviour management and listening techniques. The group is free and childcare can be paid for to attend the group.

Parents can book their place by contacting Blackpool Learning Rooms on 01253 478131 or learning.rooms@blackpool.gov.uk .

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Peter

Maths Award - Olivia W

Writing Award - Zahra

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedApril 22, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

As Holy Week draws on and we approach Easter Sunday, let us remember that this is a time to celebrate the prospect of new life. Despite the sadness of Maundy Thursday, Easter is a time for believing in hope in even the darkest of times.

Everyone in Year 4 wishes you a very happy and holy Easter and wishes you all the best over this holiday period.

Notices:

A big congratulations to all of the children involved in our CAFOD shop on the 5th and 6th April this week. The fantastic pupils involved raised over £130 for CAFOD, a fantastic way to close off Holy Week within school. Well done!

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practice.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised regularly at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays, fifteen minutes a day makes all the difference!

Times tables booster club will continue after the Easter holidays weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

A message from the school SENCO:

Please find attached details of the Being a Parent groups running next term. There will be two 9 week groups starting on Tuesday 25th April

10.00am-12.00pm The HealthWorks, 1 Clifton Street, FY1 1JD

6.00pm-8.00pm Online using Google Meet.

The group is suitable for parents of children aged 18 months – 11 years (priority is given to parents with children under 4 years) and is led by parents. It looks at communication, behaviour management and listening techniques. The group is free and childcare can be paid for to attend the group.

Parents can book their place by contacting Blackpool Learning Rooms on 01253 478131 or learning.rooms@blackpool.gov.uk .

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Kurt

Maths Award - Harriet

Writing Award - Jana

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedApril 7, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Year 4 have been thinking this week about the coming of Palm Sunday. As we transition into Holy Week, it is important to reflect on the time to come and what it represents.

As the build up to Easter and the time in which mankind were so changeable in their perception of Jesus, there are many characteristics that come through this week. Year 4 have been thinking about:

Strength: Jesus’ strength as he faced what he knew was going to come with acceptance and grace.

Pain: Jesus’ pain as he died on the cross.

Sacrifice: The sacrifice of God giving up his only son to save us.

Forgiveness: A reminder that whatever mistakes we make, Easter marks how we will always be forgiven and welcome with God.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have spent this week using their team work and communication skills to share ideas and practise writing biographies all about Jacques Cousteau. The class gathered a wide range of vocabulary and factual information before organising it into chronological sections so that their biography would be well structured and make sense.

Maths: Year 4 have been looking at division this week, more specifically using part part whole models to partition two digit numbers and therefore aid their sharing and grouping.

The class then went on to exploring what happens when an amount cannot be shared out equally between a certain amount of groups and we are left with remainders.

Science: Year 4 have been investigating whether different materials act as conductors or insulators in an electrical circuit. We reminded ourselves on the components and structure a circuit needs to be complete and allow an electrical current to flow, before exploring whether we thought the materials of metal, wood and plastic would allow this electrical current to pass through them successfully.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have continued preparing for their Holy Week liturgy on the theme of the ‘Garden of Gethsemane’. On Tuesday, we will share with the other year groups our interpretation of the sombre and pivotal moment of Jesus’ arrest before he gave himself to save us.

History: Year 4 have been discussing whether they believe it is fair to name the Anglo-Saxon period; the “Dark Ages”. Year 4 examined some evidence from secondary sources that both supported and disagreed with what we were thinking about.

The class then had to deduce their own opinion using such evidence and argue whether or not they believed the “Dark Ages” were truly dark.

Computing: Year 4 have been reflecting on their learning all about extreme weather and have been learning about the importance of astronauts and satellites in weather forecasting.

Spanish: Year 4 have continued learning how to present themselves including; greetings, asking “How are you?”, introducing themselves and asking others their names.

PE and PSHE: Year 4 have continued working hard this week on being a team, particularly taking part in activities that requires every individual to do their bit and work together in order for a task to be completed successfully.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised regularly at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays, fifteen minutes a day makes all the difference!

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

A message from the school SENCO:

Please find attached details of the Being a Parent groups running next term. There will be two 9 week groups starting on Tuesday 25th April

10.00am-12.00pm The HealthWorks, 1 Clifton Street, FY1 1JD

6.00pm-8.00pm Online using Google Meet.

The group is suitable for parents of children aged 18 months – 11 years (priority is given to parents with children under 4 years) and is led by parents. It looks at communication, behaviour management and listening techniques. The group is free and childcare can be paid for to attend the group.

Parents can book their place by contacting Blackpool Learning Rooms on 01253 478131 or learning.rooms@blackpool.gov.uk .

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Harriet

Maths Award - Hallie

Writing Award - Isaac

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedApril 1, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Year 4 had a fantastic time on their Fairhaven Lake Trip!

In the morning, we spent time on a trail around the lake, studying in depth different species and how they survive and thrive in their habitat by the lake.

In the afternoon, we went out on to the mud flats to dig and filter out different invertebrates that live underneath the sand.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 spent time revising their recent work on writing newspaper reports and third person recounts of significant events to retell their experience of their Fairhaven Lake trip!

Maths: Year 4 have continued to work hard on a written method of multiplication using their well practised partitioning and times tables fluency.

Science: Year 4 have been examining different types of electrical circuits this week, using their understanding of how electricity needs to be able to flow and conducted throughout a whole circuit to be able to light a bulb. The class then spent time identifying complete and incomplete circuits, explaining how they knew which one was which.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have been preparing for their Holy Week liturgy on the theme of the ‘Garden of Gethsemane’. We have spent this time reflecting on how evident Jesus’ bravery and sacrifice was here, that even though he was frightened for what was to come, he prepared himself willingly to give up his life for us.

History: Year 4 have investigated Anglo-Saxon law and order this week. The class learnt all about how when a criminal was seen, the whole village would, “Raise a Hue and Cry!”. We then explored what a trial by ordeal was, when an alleged criminal would be put through an extreme trial so that God could determine their innocence.

Finally, we investigated the system of Wergild, a system of compensation paid depending on the crime committed.

PE and PSHE: Year 4 have continued working hard this week on being a team, particularly taking part in activities that requires every individual to do their bit and work together in order for a task to be completed successfully.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

A message from the school SENCO:

Please find attached details of the Being a Parent groups running next term. There will be two 9 week groups starting on Tuesday 25th April

10.00am-12.00pm The HealthWorks, 1 Clifton Street, FY1 1JD

6.00pm-8.00pm Online using Google Meet.

The group is suitable for parents of children aged 18 months – 11 years (priority is given to parents with children under 4 years) and is led by parents. It looks at communication, behaviour management and listening techniques. The group is free and childcare can be paid for to attend the group.

Parents can book their place by contacting Blackpool Learning Rooms on 01253 478131 or learning.rooms@blackpool.gov.uk .

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Olivia W

Maths Award - Zahra

Writing Award - Tommy

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedMarch 25, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have been immersing themselves in the life and genius of Sir David Attenborough this week. As part of Year 4’s new Writing topic all about biographies, the class have been learning all about one of England’s most loved national treasures and familiarising themselves with examples of biographies written about Attenborough.

Year 4 will eventually go on to write their own biography about Jacques Cousteau, another incredible famous figure in recent world history.

Maths: Year 4 have continued to work hard on their multiplicative skills and are now moving on to work on a more formal, written method of multiplication using their well practised partitioning and times tables fluency.

History: Year 4 have continued learning about Alfred the Great as well as his victory at the Battle of Edington against the Viking, King Guthrum. We examined the sequence of events that led up to the battle, including a story of King Alfred burning a peasant woman’s cakes! (Year 4 found this story very amusing but questioned how true the legend really was). Year 4 then examined the different reasons which granted Alfred’s success in battle and used their reasoning skills to deduce whether or not the reasons were important or not.

PE and PSHE: Year 4 have continued working hard this week on being a team, particularly taking part in activities that requires every individual to do their bit and work together in order for a task to be completed successfully.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Our Fairhaven Lake trip will be on Tuesday 21st March for a full day. Please remember to send your child in their PE hoodie, comfy/waterproof trousers and their wellies/waterproof shoes. Please also bring a spare change of clothing and a carrier bag. Packed lunches will also be required for this day.

Year 4 will be completing their walk for CAFOD while on our Fairhaven Lake trip on the 21st March.

A message from the school SENCO:

Please find attached details of the Being a Parent groups running next term. There will be two 9 week groups starting on Tuesday 25th April

10.00am-12.00pm The HealthWorks, 1 Clifton Street, FY1 1JD

6.00pm-8.00pm Online using Google Meet.

The group is suitable for parents of children aged 18 months – 11 years (priority is given to parents with children under 4 years) and is led by parents. It looks at communication, behaviour management and listening techniques. The group is free and childcare can be paid for to attend the group.

Parents can book their place by contacting Blackpool Learning Rooms on 01253 478131 or learning.rooms@blackpool.gov.uk .

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Jana

Maths Award - Connie

Writing Award - Kurt

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedMarch 18, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Despite not having a white Christmas this school year, Year 4 have managed to enjoy a school snow day (even if it is in March)!

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have written their own newspaper reports all about a deep sea creature! The class made sure they were inserting speech correctly into their writing as well as changing the voice of the text from third person to first person and back again, a challenging skill to master!

Maths: Year 4 have continued working hard on their multiplication and division skills, this week focusing on multiples of 7, 11 and 12.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have continued to explore the example Jesus gives us during our Lenten period.

Science: Year 4 have been investigating circuits and the different components that work together to make a complete circuit. The class then worked very hard to build their own circuits using a bulb, wires and a battery as a source of electrical power.

Year 4 then tested out the scientific question; what would happen if two batteries were inserted into a circuit with one bulb?

We also considered how the plastic coating around the wires meant that we were able to safely build our circuits that produced an electrical current.

Our Science learning has also come in handy for our new DT topic in which we will design and build our own torches through creating a successful, complete circuit to power a light source.

History: Year 4 have continued learning about Alfred the Great and have gathered all of the evidence they could that supported the narrative that Alfred truly was great.

Spanish: Year 4 have started learning about how to present themselves in a conversation. This week, we concentrated on being able to greet others formally and informally, ask people how they are as well as how to respond based on how we are feeling.

PE and PSHE: Year 4 have been working hard this week on working harmoniously as a team, being resilient and honest team players as well as showing our care and compassion for others during ball games.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly. Hit the Button on Topmarks is also a fantastic resource for times tables practise.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Our Fairhaven Lake trip will be on Tuesday 21st March for a full day. Please remember to send your child in their PE hoodie, comfy/waterproof trousers and their wellies/waterproof shoes. Please also bring a spare change of clothing and a carrier bag. Packed lunches will also be required for this day.

Year 4 will be completing their walk for CAFOD while on our Fairhaven Lake trip on the 21st March.

A message from the school SENCO:

Please find attached details of the Being a Parent groups running next term. There will be two 9 week groups starting on Tuesday 25th April

10.00am-12.00pm The HealthWorks, 1 Clifton Street, FY1 1JD

6.00pm-8.00pm Online using Google Meet.

The group is suitable for parents of children aged 18 months – 11 years (priority is given to parents with children under 4 years) and is led by parents. It looks at communication, behaviour management and listening techniques. The group is free and childcare can be paid for to attend the group.

Parents can book their place by contacting Blackpool Learning Rooms on 01253 478131 or learning.rooms@blackpool.gov.uk .

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Emilia

Maths Award - Peter

Writing Award - Olivia W

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedMarch 11, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Congratulations to our Young Seasiders nominees for 2023 whose work is currently displayed in Blackpool and the Fylde College. A big well done to Corben, Zahra, Harriet and Olivia Welsby who were nominated from Year 4.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have been practising their newspaper article writing this week, taking a piece of narrative text written in the first person and turning it into a recount of interesting events.

Year 4 also worked hard at inserting speech into their newspaper report, using inverted commas to slot in eye witness reports within their newspaper report.

Maths: Year 4 have continued working hard on their multiplication and division skills, this week focusing on multiples of 6 and 9.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have been trying to understand Jesus’ shining example and how he shows us the way to live through love, forgiveness and strength.

Science and PSHE: Year 4 had a visit from The Life Bus this week! Not only did did Year 4 get to see Harold the Giraffe again but they learnt about how great it is to be themselves. Year 4 spent their time learning all about how they are unique from their physical body to their personality.

History: Year 4 started learning about Alfred the Great this week. The class looked at a portrait of King Alfred and came up with lots of different adjectives they thought described him.

Year 4 then thought about the question; How great was Alfred the great? .

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Our Fairhaven Lake trip will be on Tuesday 21st March for a full day. Please remember to send your child in their PE hoodie, comfy/waterproof trousers and their wellies/waterproof shoes. Please also bring a spare change of clothing and a carrier bag. Packed lunches will also be required for this day.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Lola Mae

Maths Award - Elsie

Writing Award - Rosanna, Dominic and Jana

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedMarch 4, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

In our RE and Liturgy learning this week, Year 4 have been trying to deepen their thinking about Lent and what its true meaning is to Christians all around the world. We thought about Jesus’ 40 days in the desert as he was preparing himself for what was to come in the near future and used this story to think about our own Lenten promises and sacrifices. No matter how small it may seem, Year 4 are determined to do something out of their ordinary over this Lenten period such as a sacrifice or going out of their way to do something extra so that they can feel closer to Jesus and the amazing sacrifices he has made for us.

Year 4 were wonderful during our Ash Wednesday Mass and were proud to show the cross on their foreheads as evidence of their faith and also yet another reminder of God’s sacrifice on Good Friday.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: This week, Year 4 have been learning all about what an eye witness report is and how reporters and journalists use these in a newspaper article to make their reports more interesting as well as more reliable.

Year 4 then had a go at writing their own reports as a witness of a bizarre, fictional sight they had witnessed!

Maths: Year 4 have been working hard on their multiplication and division skills, particularly starting to become more fluent in multiplying and dividing a variety of numbers by 10 and 100.

Science: Year 4 began exploring their new Science topic of Electricity this week. We investigated what an electrical appliance is and thought about all of the appliances we could not live without! Then we examined these same appliances and what gives them power, such as the electrical mains and batteries.

History: Year 4 concentrated this week on the Vikings’ first invasion of Anglo-Saxon Britain in 793 AD. We learnt about how the monks of Lindisfarne were horrified to discover that the new visitors on their monastery’s shore were not friendly and instead wanted to raid all of their goods!

Year 4 then put themselves in the shoes of the unfortunate monks in 793 AD and wrote a diary documenting the timeline of events on that day over a thousand years ago.

Also, a big thank you for the amazing Anglo-Saxon/Viking projects that came into school. Every single member of Year 4 presented an insightful and unique interpretation of one aspect of our History learning and the staff in our classroom could not have been more blown away.

Thank you!

PE: Year 4 have started their new ball games topic by practising their throwing and catching skills over a long and a short distance and exploring how the two are very different.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars and The Daily Ten on Topmarks regularly.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Ronnie

Maths Award - Corben

Writing Award - Teddy

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedFebruary 24, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Everyone in Year 4 hopes you all have a happy and restful half term!

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have continued using their vehicle text of ‘The Whale’ to inspire their Writing and English learning. This week we have been gathering more banks of vocabulary including powerful adjectives and nouns related to the story to prepare us for our writing.

We moved on to using this vocabulary to create different expanded noun phrases so they will be ready to slot into our final piece of Writing when we come to it. We added these expanded noun phrases into full sentences ensuring we were including a determiner, adjectives and nouns linked to our story. The children did so well with this that they were challenged to add prepositional phrases onto their expanded noun phrases. Year 4 felt very grown up and scholarly!

Maths: Year 4 have gone back to exploring how to calculate the perimeter of rectilinear shapes after mastering more efficient ways of counting last week. Last week’s interlude of practising our fluency in counting really helped us when adding up measurements to calculate the perimeter.

Year 4 then progressed to calculating the lengths of sides of a rectilinear shape. This is something the class found tricky at first and still need to practise over time but their hard work and resilience has resulted in clear progress!

Science: Year 4 had a fantastic Science lesson testing the hypothesis ‘The further the distance, the quieter the sound’. Our experiment consisted of making an old-styled cup and string telephone to communicate with each other and find out if sound is quieter or louder depending on the distance the sound waves have to travel.

RE/RSHE: This week, Year 4 were aiming to recognise the words of the Gospel and chose their favourite Bible passages, writing them in a bright and colourful way to celebrate the word of God.

History: Year 4 have been learning about the story of Saint Cuthbert this week. Saint Cuthbert was a Monk, who in the 670s travelled to the Monastery in Lindisfarne. In the year 687 AD Cuthbert died and after eleven years had passed, the Monks discovered his body had not decayed.

As well as exploring what is deemed to be a miracle to Christians around the world, Year 4 investigated how this story serves as evidence that by the 7th Century, Christianity was a prevalent religion within Anglo-Saxon Britain.

Art: Year 4 have been creating more landscape pieces inspired by the artist John Brunsdon. This week we incorporated oil pastels into our drawings to bring out strong and bold colours that contrasted with one another in the same paintings.

PSHE: Year 4 have been looking at the way our brains work and how they are responsible for the emotions we feel. Together we worked hard to come up with strategies that will help us be in charge of our emotions and prevent us from making wrong choices in challenging situations.

PE: Year 4 have continued progressing in creating routines to perform for their class to close off their Gymnastics topic before half term.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars regularly.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Corben

Maths Award - Tommy

Writing Award - Grace

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedFebruary 10, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

This week, Year 4 have continued exploring how they can be supportive and encouraging friends, thinking about the qualities they should demonstrate and how to love one another as Jesus has loved us. We deepened this thinking further by thinking of the small everyday acts of kindness we can perform to show our love towards others, treating others how we would like to be treated.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: This week, Year 4 continued exploring ‘The Whale’ and used one of the drawings of a shipwreck as inspiration to write an incidental piece of descriptive writing. Year 4 were experts as they did so much descriptive writing about shipwrecks and storms when we studied ‘Twelfth Night’ so were excited to prove that they had maintained all of their skills from the Autumn Term.

We edited our work, ensuring we included the important features we have worked so hard on throughout the year including fronted adverbials, similes, powerful verbs and adjectives and all of our expected punctuation.

Maths: Year 4 have been concentrating on making our counting more efficient, especially when crossing over the tens, hundreds and thousands. We explored using our number bonds to help us count in a more fluent way without relying just on our fingers or column addition!

Science: Year 4 continued exploring why pitch can be high or low. We used a practical experiment of three cups filled up with different amounts of water. Our class hypothesis was, ‘The amount of water in a glass changes a sound’s pitch’. Year 4 made their predictions and worked out which variable we would change before we tested the pitch of a noise made when we tapped a pen against each glass.

Year 4 discovered that the glass with the largest amount of water made a sound with a lower pitch than the glass with the least amount of water as the pitch of a sound depends on how much space vibrations have to travel through.

History: Year 4 concentrated this week on where the Anglo-Saxons settled when they first came to Britain. We discovered that they settled predominantly in the South-East. We know this because of all of the artefacts archaeologists have discovered (for example the Staffordshire Hoard) and how this can tell a story of the types of people that once would have been there.

PE: Year 4 have linked their Gymnastics this week with their Science learning. The class are building routines in their groups to represent a sound’s journey from being a vibration, to colliding with air particles, travelling as sound waves, through the ear canal and ear drum before reaching the brain as electrical signals.

Spanish: Year 4 have been revising their learning so far in their ‘Ancient Britain’ topic including the different eras, how to say they are a boy/girl from an era, the different tools and inventions from each age and the different homes from different eras.

Year 4 created group posters to showcase all of their learning so far this topic. We only had one rule, all of the vocabulary on their posters had to be in Spanish!

Art: Year 4 have started creating landscape sketches inspired by the artwork of John Brunsdon and our experiences of living on the coast.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars regularly.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Harriet

Maths Award - Olivia W and Lilly C

Writing Award - James

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedFebruary 3, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

This weeks Gospel tells us of Jesus’ teaching to us that we should be patient, that whatever our troubles, we can be rewarded when we get to heaven.

Year 4 have spent this week discussing friendship and what we look for in a good friend.

Year 4 have agreed that there are lots of things that add up altogether that make us a good friend. However, that we have to think about all of these different qualities, can be quite challenging.

We agreed that to be a good friend you have to be kind, caring and respectful. Year 4 also thought about the importance of being a trustworthy friend, a friend that stands up for what is right but is also not afraid to disagree with what is wrong, even if that person is their friend. The class also thought about our differences and how it is ok to be friends with someone that is different from us.

Overall, Year 4 are in agreement with the qualities they have selected that make a good friend and noticed that these qualities link well with our school values of care, learn and respect.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have started immersing themselves in a new book called ‘The Whale’ in preparation for their final piece of writing; a newspaper report.

Year 4 debated the newspaper headline from the story;‘Giant Whale or Giant Hoax’ , about a great spotted whale sighted 50 years ago. Year 4 had to decide if they believed the whale was real or if it was all a giant hoax invented and turned into legend over the 50 years. Year 4 concentrated on forming an argument based on their opinion and ensuring they backed it up with evidence.

Maths: Year 4 have been looking at units of measurement this week; metres and kilometres. We started the week by converting metres into kilometres and vice versa.

Year 4 then moved on to investigating the perimeter of squares and rectangles.

RE and Liturgy: This week, Year 4 explored the Jewish prayer ‘Shema’ and its importance in the Jewish faith.

To share the Wednesday Word together each week, please follow this link:

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 have been exploring different musical instruments this week and investigating how they can make the sounds from the instruments louder, quieter, higher and lower. We discovered that the volume of a sound depends on the force and the pace used to create vibrations. Year 4 also learnt that the pitch of an object depends on the space vibrations have to travel through.

PE: Year 4 have consolidated the different balances, rolls and now jumps they have been learning about within their gymnastics topic this week, creating routines to perform for their class.

Spanish: Year 4 have been revising their learning so far in their ‘Ancient Britain’ topic including the different eras, how to say they are a boy/girl from an era, the different tools and inventions from each age and the different homes from different eras.

Computing: Year 4 used the computers this week to transfer their designs of a system to prevent extreme weather harming people or places on to a digital platform.

Art: Year 4 used a reference of a feather to develop and showcase their sketching and shading skills. We concentrated on our shading becoming gradually darker and darker to create texture as well as adding depth by subtly adding colour into our sketches.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars regularly.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Lily T

Maths Award - Darcy

Writing Award - Hallie

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedJanuary 28, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Year 4 have spent their PSHE time this week thinking about the rules, rights and responsibilities that they have in their school. As we follow our school values, we are learning to respect the set rules of our school to ensure everybody is safe and thriving. We are understanding the importance to care about each others rights within our community, our rights to say stop and to speak out against any injustices we may witness. Finally, we can learn about the responsibilities we have as individuals in our school.

Year 4 have spent this time discussing these issues as they will need to understand the rules, rights and responsibilities of society in our democratic country. We explored what it means to have rights such as freedom of speech, the right to vote and the right to live peacefully in our country’s society.

Year 4 have decided that understanding these three concepts well and in depth now, is going to make their wider school life and later on experience more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Having written their information reports all about polar bears and their habitats last week, Year 4 have spent this week rereading and editing their work. Year 4 wanted to take ownership of making their writing better by going over it, checking their grammar, spelling and punctuation and editing it to create a final and formal piece of writing.

Year 4 have also spent a good portion of their time practising their reading comprehension skills, particularly their ability to infer information from a text. We have examined how subtle information in a text can reveal how a character is feeling, what they are thinking and other important factors that contribute to a story’s plot.

Maths: Year 4 have continued extending and deepening their problem solving and reasoning skills using addition and subtraction. We have concentrated on exploring a word problem and underlining the important information within it. We then spent time using that important information to help us choose the most appropriate operation and calculation to use. Finally, we ensured that we were presenting and showing ALL of our calculations and working out to help us explain our answer clearly.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have revisited the parable of The Prodigal Son and have linked the story to our school values of care, learn and respect.

In the parable, the younger son takes responsibility for running away from his home and his family and wasting his share of inheritance by returning, apologising and accepting the consequences he believes he should face. This is just like how Year 4 have been working really hard on taking responsibility for their actions to guide them in learning from their experiences and making the right choices in the future.

To share the Wednesday Word together each week, please follow this link:

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 practised recording information in the form of diagrams this week. The class have spent lots of time exploring how sound is made, how sound travels through a medium to the ear as sound waves and how the parts of our ear work for the sound to be heard and recognised by the brain. Year 4 drew a diagram of the inside of the ear, labelling its anatomy clearly.

PE: After spending time on mastering our balance in Gymnastics, Year 4 have started looking at rolls that can be used in a Gymnastics routine. We explored using pencil rolls, egg rolls and forward rolls safely on our mats. Year 4 then thought about how they could combine their balances and rolls into a routine; demonstrating their teamwork and resilience to achieve their learning objective.

Spanish: Year 4 have been revising their learning so far in their ‘Ancient Britain’ topic including the different eras, how to say they are a boy/girl from an era and the different tools and inventions from each age. We have also started to learn the different types of homes used in the various eras.

Computing: This week, Year 4 used their prior learning of the different types of extreme weather and started their preliminary plans and designs for a system that can either warn of or prevent extreme types of weather.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars regularly.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Alexander

Maths Award - Lily T

Writing Award - Ronnie

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedJanuary 20, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

Year 4 have been continuing to work hard, this week, to be kind, caring and compassionate members of society. As a class, we have spent time thinking about how it is our duty to make the right choice and to be the best we can be, even if we find it challenging.

As a class at Our Lady’s, we always want to make sure we are following our school values of care, learn and respect.

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have spent this week making final preparations and planning for their information texts all about polar bears and their habitats. As part of this, we have spent time revising how to use apostrophes for possession and add more information into our sentences using fronted adverbials. Finally, Year 4 were ready to write out their non-fiction information texts independently.

Maths: Year 4 have been exploring how to solve word problems using addition and subtraction.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have spent their RE time this week exploring who Jesus was as a person, his religion and the qualities that have made him the person he is. It is often difficult to understand why Jesus was given such an ordinary life, born into a hard working Jewish family that were not considered important during their time on earth. However, God wanted the human part of himself that he gave to the earth to represent and connect with the everyday people of the earth, understanding their problems. Through understanding and having access to our everyday lives, he was able to perform the amazing miracles with the people that really needed them the most.

To share the Wednesday Word together each week, please follow this link:

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 explored in more detail how sound travels from its source all the way through the air particles as invisible sound waves, through the ear canal and ear drum before it is turned into electrical signals and reaches our brain.

PE: Year 4 have been thinking about and discussing the different types of balances used in gymnastics this week and how they can use individual balances, mirror balances and solo balances in their PE.

Computing: Year 4 have continued with their topic all about investigating the weather by exploring the different types of extreme weather experienced on the earth such as thunder and lightning, tornados, tsunamis, flooding and scorching heat. Year 4 then started thinking about and planning their ideas to create a mechanism or machine that could help warn against and prevent extreme types of weather and are ready to begin their designing process next week.

Art: Year 4 continued with their ‘Jeffrey the Maggot’ inspired drawings, thinking about their sketching and shading skills.

Notices:

Please make sure you are reading at home regularly and recording this in reading records.

Please make sure you are practising times tables on TT Rock stars regularly.

Please make sure your school instruments are practised at home for our weekly Wider Opportunity lessons on Thursdays.

Times tables booster club will continue weekly on Fridays until 4:10pm.

Congratulations to our award winners this week!

Golden Award - Olivia S

Maths Award - Zahra

Writing Award - Elsie

A big thank you from Miss Whitehead and Mrs Dunford!

PostedJanuary 13, 2023

AuthorKatie Whitehead

All of Year 4 hope you all had a very happy and restful Christmas time!

Year 4’s learning this week:

English: Year 4 have continued preparing to write their information reports about polar bears and their habitats. In preparation for this, we have spent time exploring similar information reports and analysing what makes them a good example to help us with our writing.

Maths: Year 4 have been revising our estimating skills using numbers up to 10,000.

RE and Liturgy: Year 4 have been exploring the story of the three wise men bringing their gifts to Jesus. Year 4 spent time comparing the three kings to Jesus’ other visitors, the shepherds, and discussed how we felt God wanted to represent all walks of life, rich and poor, by Jesus’ side.

The three wise men went searching on a long journey, trusting that they would find the new king after many days. Like this, Christians also search for many virtues and answers in their pursuit to find God, trusting that one day they will reach God and understand what they need to do to embrace him in their hearts.

To share the Wednesday Word together each week, please follow this link:

http://www.wednesdayword.org/

Science: Year 4 have started to explore their new Science topic, Sound, this week. We spent time investigating how sound is made by making as much noise as we could! Then we explored how the vibrations that we produce are what cause sound to be made.

We then thought about the fact that the vibrations that are produced need air to be able to travel as sound waves before reaching the ear to be heard.

PE: Year 4 have started their new Gymnastics topic this week. We spent time discussing the importance of balance and posture to be a successful gymnast and to practise this, we spent time working on our counterbalancing skill in pairs.

PSHE: Year 4 have continued examining their relationships this week, including the different groups of people in their lives. The class then thought about the choices they could make to make these people in their lives happy.

Computing: Year 4 started their new Computing topic of investigating weather this week. We used the computers to go online and investigate the different time zones, temperatures and weather in different locations across the world before comparing them to our local weather in Blackpool.

Art: Year 4 explored the story of Jeffrey the Maggot together in class and his journey through the inside of a pumpkin; from the pumpkin being harvested, all the way to being used on Halloween to hold sweeties and candles.

The children discussed what they thought each stage of Jeffrey’s journey would look like before using different forms of media to sketch and shade their interpretation of the journey through the pumpkin.