It’s been a fantastic first week of what is to be our final term in Year 4! The children have returned with a fantastic energy and ready to end the year on a high. Additionally, we had some special visitors in the school this week who came to see why Chilton is as special as it is and we could not have been prouder of how Year 4 conducted themselves and shared their enthusiasm for learning and Chilton as a whole with our visitors. Let’s have a look at how we have kicked off Term 6.

English

In English this week we began the book ‘I was a Rat’ by Phillip Pullman (who you may know from ‘His Dark Materials’. The story starts off with an old couple, Bob and Joan, who, while relaxing late in the evening, get a knock at the door and meet a young, scruffy boy who keeps repeating ‘I was a rat!’ and seems to have little idea of very simple things. When writing, we have been focused on practising writing dialogue and punctuating speech correctly. This involves ensuring the inverted commas are placed correctly and that the speech has appropriate punctuation in it. We need to ensure that we start a new line when we have a new speaker and that we make it clear to our readers who is saying what.

Next week, we will look at the different ways we can structure speech and will be revisiting compound and complex sentences.

Maths

This week in maths, we have been practising division. We have been learning some methods which help us divide mentally instead of writing down our working out. We began by learning how we can use our multiplication facts (which we practice in TTRS) to deduce division facts. For example, if we know that 7 x 8 = 56 then we also know that 56 ÷ 7 = 8. We then took this further. We had learned last term that 70 x 8 = 560 as 70 is 10x bigger than 7, therefore our answer would be 10x bigger. Combining this knowledge with division means we can mentally calculate that 560 ÷ 8 = 70.

The next trick method we learned is using the distributive law to divide mentally. We practiced partitioning numbers into friendly numbers to help us divide easier.

PSHE

In PSHE this week we have been exploring the kind and unkind words we hear around us. We first discussed what unkind words we might hear and why they might hurt people’s feelings. We then talked about how, even if unkind words have been said and the person who said them apologises, the effect of those words can stick around and affect the person for a long time. To finish the week, we shared compliments we have received that left a lasting impact and realised that the compliments that impact people the most were those that complimented our character and choices as opposed to material things or appearances. We then wrote compliments for our classmates and it was lovely to see how much the children all value and appreciate each other, even when writing compliments to peers who are not necessarily super close friends.

Next week, we will be starting our thematic topic, My Home, Your Home.

Viking Games

On Thursday we travelled to Upton to compete again Year 3 and 4 from Upton and RAPS for our annual Viking games. Take a look at some of the things we got up to:

 

Spellings

Mrs Cousins and Miss Stephen’s groups:

Capture   picture   structure    nature   future    fracture    puncture    culture    moisture     texture    recent     remember      separate  

Challenge words: signature     literature

Mr Oxley’s group:

Oil      foil    boil   soil    join    moist    point    coin    spoil    plant

Challenge words:     toilet     ointment

 

Love to Learn:

Since we are practising writing dialogue this week. Write a short scene inspired by this picture from ‘Anisha, Accidental Detective’ that involves the three characters speaking to each other. Remember all the punctuation we need when writing speech and challenge yourself to avoid using ‘said’

Dates to remember:

17th June - Book fair in school

5th July - 3.15-5pm Summer Fair

9th July - Thanet Games year 3 and 4

10th July - Sports day

11th July - Music evening with Mr Redwood

15th, 16th, 17th July - Transitions days (children to spend these days with their new teachers)

18th July - Inflatable fun day

19th July - School finishes at 2pm

 

Thank you to those of you who completed the parent survey and for your ongoing support throughout year 4.

Mrs Cousins and Mr Oxley