After the crazy storm over the weekend, the sun has blessed us this week and Year 4 have been doing amazingly considering how hot it has been! Let’s have a look at what we’ve been learning this week.

English

In English this week, we have been learning the skills needed when writing newspaper reports. We began by recapping the features of a newspaper such as a headline, introduction, date, reported and direct speech, pictures and captions etc. Then we started writing a newspaper report on Roger’s (from ‘I was a rat’) day at school which was incredibly chaotic and eventful. We discussed how an introduction needs to give a brief overview of events by answers the 5 Ws (Who? What? When? Where? Why?) but not to go into too much detail early on as that is what the rest of the article is for. After having worked on our direct speech over the last couple of weeks, we then explored the differences between direct speech and reported speech.

Direct speech:

“Did anyone see the storm over the weekend?” Mr Oxley asked, “It was the biggest one I had seen in a long time!”

Reported speech:

Mr Oxley asked if anyone had seen the storm over the weekend as he hadn’t seen one like it for a long time.

Next week, we will continue to work on our newspaper skills looking at how our choice of language can influence a reader to feel a certain way about what is being described.

 

Maths

In maths this week, we have been working on our multiplication. Specifically, we have been multiplying 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. We revisited the grid method and all the steps necessary for that method and then some of us moved on to long multiplication. Let’s have a look at what each of these look like:

Thematic

In thematic this week we have been exploring different maps of Spain and why certain maps may be more useful in certain situations. For example, a map of Spanish roads is very useful if you are travelling around Spain but not if you’re interested in the topography of Spain. We then went into Science to look at how we can use classification keys to classify and identify different creatures. We explored how to use these classification keys and then tried to use them to determine what type of plant a mushroom is. As it turns out, a plant classification key is no use for mushrooms as they don’t photosynthesise as plants do and instead they are just very good to have at parties (they’re a funghi!).

We went into our playground to explore what type of plants we have at Chilton and then used our new knowledge to create classification keys to help identify the plants around us which we are excited to share with you!

Next week, we will continue to look at other ways we can classify plants and how changes in the environment can affect living things.

Spellings this week

Mrs Cousins and Miss Stephen’s groups:

Travelling        cancelling        beginning        forgetting        skipping       knitting          dragging           giggling       staring       swinging      bringing       special      straight     strange 

Challenge words: signature     literature

Mr Oxley’s group:

Now      cow      bow      clown      down       brown      growl      tower      flower      hour 

Challenge words:     allow      powder

 

Love to Learn

This week we would like you to practice your multiplying from this week as it will be very helpful as you move up to Year 5.

Using either the grid method or long multiplication, work out the answers to these calculations:

32 x 56 =

44 x 12 =

71 x 95 =

19 x 66 =

77 x 77 =

83 x 59 =

 

Messages:

As part of our ‘Great Science Share’ week at Chilton, we would like to invite you in after school on Monday 23^rd June at 3.15pm for the children to share what they have learnt in science.

Dates to remember:

23rd June – Book fair this week

27th June – Thrive coffee morning 9am in hall

1st July – Music evening at 6pm

4th July – Summer fair from 3.30pm

10th July Sports Day – KS2 9.15-12 Reception and KS1 1.30-3

11th July – Reports go out to parents

14th, 15th 16th July – Transition days; children to spend these days with their new class teachers

17th July – Inflatable fun day in school for all children

18th July – School finishes at 2pm for Reception to Year 5