Powerdown Day!

Powerdown Day in the words of Liberty, Emily and Joshua.

On Powerdown Day, all the lights in our classroom were turned off and we had candles on our tables. 

We learnt about climate change and how it is linked to saving electricity. We looked at pictures of how climate change is effecting our planet.  We had to present our information to the class.

We then designed our class Veggie Trug. We looked at different winter pansies and autumn herbs to put in our trug. Some people decided to include the school motto in their design. 

Mathematical symbols 

Our School badge

It is clear to see that a lot of important messages have been discussed and learnt today.  Hopefully children will carry this on at home, remembering to switch off lights as well as other important things to help save our planet.  Well done Class 4! 

Friendship Week

Class 4 have covered a range of different issues and participated in a range of activities throughout this week to celebrate Friendship Week. 

Firstly, thank you to all the Friendship Ambassadors who have organised such a great range of activities for the whole school to enjoy this week.  From a disco, to car racing to friendship bracelet making, it is fair to say that that there was something for everybody to enjoy at play times.  

In class, the Year 4 children enjoyed playing different games to promote the importance of friendship and the qualities and values involved.  They also enjoyed creating a jigsaw with different pictures and messages about their friends. 

Whilst this was happening, the Year 5 children were considering the values of friendship during our monthly Oaks and Acorns session.  Linked to friendship and remembrance day last week, we designed cards that would have been sent to family and friends during the war years.  We are pleased to be involved with the Project that Wendy Shepherd is organising in Fordham village for the war memorial and we hope these cards will be part of the exhibition that will run at the end of the project.      

Finally in class, we used the theme of friendship to revisit the very important theme of e-safety.  We watched the CEOP video which helped us think about who are our friends on line and how we can use the internet safely with our friends.  For further information, there are some useful resources for parents at www.thinkuknow.co.uk.  

Wishing you all a happy weekend and come prepared next week for Powerdown Week!! 

Poets and TImes Table Masters!

This week has seen Class 4 write the most amazing poetry I have ever read!  In English, we have spent the last 2 weeks reading a variety of poetry, all themed around Space.  We focused on a poem by Pie Corbett called 'Six Ways to Look at the Moon.'  We used the structure of this poem to write group poems about the other planets.  We practised and developed writing similes, metaphors and using personification to help develop imagery through our poems.  Each and every poem that was written as a 'warm task' at the end of this unit of work was exceptional, the language and imagery created was just stunning!  Here are just a few (sorry I could not share them all!) 

Jupiter by Freddie

8 Planets by Isobelle

The Sun and Moon by Liberty

Stars by Joshua P

by Henry

In maths, we have been developing our multiplication skills, both mentally and using written methods.  We have really been focusing on learning and knowing our times tables, as we have realised how useful these are for so many different areas of maths!  We have been playing different games with the multiplication square to try and help making learn our tables fun, including 3 in a row which became rather competitive in the end!  We had our first Class 4 Times Table Master for this year achieve their certificate on Friday and I can't wait for some more over the coming weeks - continued practise at home will be very helpful!!!

We are looking forward to Friendship Week, the Friendship Ambassadors have worked hard to make sure play times are going to be full of fun so we are in for a great week next week!

Space!

We have had an excellent first week back after half term and have all enjoyed the start to our new topic.  The highlight of our week was the visit from the Space Dome which gave us all the opportunity to look at and learn about the different star constellations and planets.  I think it is fair to say we are all amazed by lots of things to do with Space and have had many fascinating conversations already.  Thank you to those who have brought books and objects in from home to help us with our topic, these are being enjoyed by all too.  

Excitement as we wait to enter the Dome! 

Eagerly waiting to see what is inside! 

In Science, the Year 5 children's learning for the term is linked to our theme and they shall be learning all about Earth and Beyond!  To help their learning about the stars, they made star scopes with Mrs Dixon. When you look through them you will see different star constellations.  

In Year 4, we will be learning about sound this term in science.  We experimented with what we could use to make different sound effects.  We also dropped pebbles in water and bounced rice on drums to try and help us understand how vibrations work.  

We have also developed new skills on the ipads this week by learning how to use a QR Code Scanner.  We had to find different facts by scanning the codes and then we had to use these facts to help us with a quiz.  

All this in just 4 days, we are all now ready for a restful weekend!  Great learning this week - Well Done Class 4! 

Mrs McMillan