Hello,

We hope that you have all had a relaxing and enjoyable summer holidays and that you are all feeling refreshed and ready for the new school term.

Year Four have been very excited to begin their new topic, ‘Monstrous inventions!’ As part of our cross-curricular learning, the children have been exploring their new English text, Stitch Head, by Guy Bass. On our first day back to school, we watched a short video clip about the story and then annotated the text more closely as we searched for examples of powerful expanded noun phrases. The children then had a go at using vocabulary mats and thesauruses to create their very own descriptive sentences about the appearance of the main character. We were amazed by the level of the children’s vocabulary and their use of alliteration and simile to entertain the reader. Here is a couple of great examples from pupil’s books – ‘his piercing, pearlescent eyes shimmered like jewels in the moonlight’; ‘the child’s skeletal, gaunt hands wriggled like twisting tree branches along the banister’. Well done Year 4!

In Maths, we have been learning about place value and have been exploring thousands – within the context of four digit numbers – for the very first time. As part of an investigation, both classes were given a set of hundreds, tens and ones diennes and asked to show what they thought 1000 would look like. We had some very interesting discussions about what 1000 is ‘made up of’. Already, the children were able to use place value vocabulary such as thousands, hundreds, bigger and smaller. Each group was excited to use the Maths tools on their tables to discover how 1000 is equivalent to ten lots of 100s. The children then had a go at a dice game to generate their own 4 digit numbers, before filling a place value grid to show multiple representations of the number (place value counters, arrow cards, words) – as a challenge, some children also attempted exchange problems e.g. ‘What if… I rolled an 11 for the hundreds digit, on my 12-sided dice? What would happen to your 4 digit number?’ (solution: it would become 1100).

Just to let you know that the children have all received a times table Sumdog challenge, along with spelling home learning and a coloured band reading book, all of which are to be completed by Friday 13th September 2019. Please ensure your child records the work that they have completed in their new home learning diaries.

A quick reminder of the following key dates:

• Friday 13th September 2019: deadline for school trip reply slips
• Tuesday 17th September (3.30pm): Y4 Parent Welcome Meeting
• Wednesday 18th September 2019: Y4 trip to Winchester Museum and Cathedral

We hope that you have all had a good weekend and look forward to seeing you all next week. If you would like to volunteer to help on our school trip, please contact the school office as soon as possible – your assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

Miss Honeywell, Miss Jackson-Nash and Mrs Cairns.