We have reached the end of an 8 week term and the children in Year 4 have done themselves proud! Such a long term and they have been working hard, showing amazing learning behaviours and kindness right up until the last day. We hope that the children attending the Halloween disco have a great time! 

Here is what we have been up to this week...

Maths

In maths this week we have been learning strategies to help us with multiplication and division. For example, we looked at the pattern of the ones column in the multiples of 6 (answers to the 6 times table). The ones column always goes 0, 6, 2, 8, 4, 0, 6, 2, 8, 4 etc. This pattern allowed us to make predictions about whether a number is a multiple of 6, for example, 732 would be a multiple of 6 because it has a 2 in the ones column, whereas 637 would not as multiples of 6 do not ever have a 7 in the ones column. We also looked at the 9 times table and found out that the digits in the answers to the 9 times tables will always add up to 9. For example 5x9 = 45, 4+5 is 9, 8x9=72, 7+2= 9. We also identified the pattern that the tens goes up in 1s and the ones column goes down in 1s for the multiples of 9. Finally with the 9 times tables they learnt the trick that helps learning the 9 times tables much easier; for 3x9 the answer will start with one less than the 3 so 2 and then they know that 2 adds with 7 to get 9 so the answer is 27. For 7x9, the answer will start with 6 (one less than the 7) and 6+3 makes 9 so its 63. 

After half term, we will be learning about factors and solving scaling up and scaling down problems using multiplication and division.

English

In English this week we finished our writing unit about information texts. The children learnt how to use commas in lists when writing factual sentences. We then learnt a fairly tricky skill of using cause and effect conjunctions such as As a consequence of this... For this reason.... As a result of this... Because of this... These sentence openers must be used to link back to the previous sentence, and we will continue to practice using these throughout year 4. We finished the unit by writing our showpiece which was an information text about tigers. We gathered lots of facts about tigers in our reading sessions and then the children wrote some amazing information sheets about them including photos with captions.

After half term, we will begin our new text called Ice Palace and our first writing unit will be setting descriptions. 

RE

In RE this week we have been learning about Sikh rites of passage. In our first lesson, we found out lots of facts about Sikhism. We then found out about the Sikh naming ceremony, the Sikh baptismal ceremony of Amrit and about Sikh funeral ceremonies and their belief in reincarnation.

After half term, we will be beginning our new themed unit of learning called 'Walk like an Egyptian' where we will be learning about the Ancient Egyptians. 

Spellings

Spellings to practice this week for a test on Friday 6^th November are:

magically, basically, dramatically, frantically, favourite, mention, fruit, grammar

Love to Learn

This week’s Love to Learn task is a maths one. We would like you to pick 6 of the calculations below and solve them using the column method. Some of the calculations will have regrouping and some will not – choose the level that best suits you.

736+217=                37+42=            8375+1792=            321+146 =              593+784=           64+15=

8376+5610=

85-43=       9000-3725=          486-152=          6040-2437=            59-16=          5000-2861=

573-128=

Challenge: Use some column calculations to solve this problem:

Jenny has a pumpkin shop. She starts with 8325 pumpkins. She sells 1285 pumpkins on Monday. On Tuesday there are 5473 new pumpkins delivered. How many pumpkins does she have then?

Reading competition

Other News

There will be a non-uniform day on Friday 6^th November to raise money for new playground equipment. More details to follow.

Dates for the diary

2nd November – Staff Development day, children not in school

3rd November – School begins for children at usual time

3rd – 11th November – Poppies on sale in school

3rd, 4th, 5th November – Parent teacher consultations

11th November – Children can wear service uniform to school

13th November – World Kindness Day and Children in Need day. Wear something yellow and/or spotty to school

16th November – Individual and sibling school photos

25th November – Year 4 trip to Maidstone Museum

30th November – Book fair in school this week

4th December – Year 3 and 4 Come Dine with me

9th December – Christmas Fair from 3.15pm-4.15pm

15th December – Year 3 and 4 Christmas Church performance at 10am

16th December – Party day for year 3, 4, 5 and 6. Non-school uniform for these children.

17th December – School Christmas Dinner and all children to wear Christmas jumpers to school (please note children to wear usual school uniform, but a Christmas jumper, rather than a school jumper/cardigan)

18th December – Last day of school. School to finish at 2pm. No after school club on this day.

 

We hope you have a lovely half term,

Mrs Cousins and Mr Cook