Spring 2 Newsletter and times tables to learn 

Dazzling Diamonds Newsletter – Spring Term 2 2020

A very warm welcome back to school after the February half term break.

This half term our topic will be Going Underground. We will be developing our Geography and History skills as we learn all about mining in the local area.  In literacy, we will be writing dairies from the point of view as a miner in different periods of history. We will use our knowledge gained on our school trip to help us do this.  In Maths we will continue our work on fractions and decimals.  As always, please keep on regularly practicing times tables. They really do make a difference to all maths work that is completed in class. Please keep practicing using the daily 10 website. Tests will continue on Monday mornings. Please see the additional sheet, as we will focus on the middle part of each of the x tables. I will test these in class.

PE kit

Our PE days continue to be Mondays and Wednesdays. Mondays we will be inside, Wednesdays will be outside so please include any fleece tops / tracksuit bottoms. Please make sure your child has their P.E kit in school on these days.

Targets:

Reading:

• Reading books at an age appropriate level (within the year 4 Lexile Range)
• I can explain and justify my understanding of the text using the PE prompt ( Point and explain)
• I can listen to, read and discuss a range of non – fiction in different forms
• I can identify, analyse and discuss themes within a book
• I can explain the meaning of key vocabulary within the context of the text

Science:

• Animals, including humans, need the right types of nutrition, and they cannot make their own food.
• Humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.
• A food chain is a network of links in a food web which identifies producers, predators and prey.
• There are different types of human teeth and each has their own simple function.
• Humans have a digestive system and each of the basic parts has its own simple function.

Homework

Your child will continue to receive homework every Friday to be handed in the following Wednesday.

Spellings will be handed out on a Wednesday to be tested the following Monday. Children can take their books home so that you can see their results, but they must have their book back in school every Monday. Please continue to learn and practice the spellings from the Y3 and Y4 word list.

Times tables will be tested every Monday morning. Children will be learning a selected times table during our weekly maths lessons. The aim is for all children to know their times tables up to 12x12 by the end of year 4.  Any short practice, at any time will help your child to know all their facts for quick recall.  Children will be tested by myself this half term, but still using a 6-7 second time frame to recall the facts.  It will be set at level 4 and we will start on a 7 second interval for each question. This can be practiced at home at any time.

Dates for the diary

Tuesday 25^th February Wicked Weather Showcase 9:10am in the school hall

Friday 28^th February Stand up to Bullying day in school

Tuesday 3^rd March School trip to Mining Museum

Thursday 5^th March – World Book Day Dress as a book character

Thursday 12^th March – Parents Evening

Wednesday 18^th March -  Parents Evening  

Thursday 26^th March 2:00pm village hall y3/y4 play

Friday 27^th March village hall y3/4 play 

                                                                           Kind regards Mr Fidler

Times tables to learn for Spring term 2.

Year 4 Mr Fidler

Useful Websites that support learning the times tables by heart:

1: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10. 

1. https://www.timestables.co.uk/speed-test/

 We had a  fantastic time, touring underground and found out lots of facts from the miner.

Dazzling Diamonds Newsletter - Spring Term 2 

Dazzling Diamonds Newsletter – Spring Term 1 2020

A very warm welcome back to school after the Christmas holidays. I wish you all a happy new year and all the very best for 2020.

This half term our topic will be Wicked Weather. We will be developing our Geography skills as we learn all about the climate and the effect that it can have on our environment.  We will be collecting data about the weather, analyzing it and using it to present information. In literacy we will be writing letters about the effects of different weather phenomenon’s. We are also going to be writing poetry based around the weather. In Maths we will be working on multiplication and division to start with then moving onto fractions and decimals.  As always please keep on regularly practicing your times tables. They really do make a difference to all maths work that is completed in class. Please keep practicing using the daily 10 website. Tests will continue on Monday mornings:

PE kit

Our PE days continue to be Mondays and Wednesdays. Mondays we will be outside , if dry, so please include any fleece tops / tracksuit bottoms. Please make sure your child has their P.E kit in school on these days.

Targets:

Reading:

• Reading books at an age appropriate level (within the year 4 Lexile Range)
• Using suffixes – ture , - ation to understand meanings of words
• Record information from a range of non-fiction texts based on the weather
• I can learn a range of poems by heart and rehearse for a performance
• I can recognize and analyze different forms of poetry

Science:

• I can identify and name appliances that require electricity to function.
• I can construct a series circuit.
• I can identify and name the components in a series circuit (including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers).
• I can draw a circuit diagram.
• I can predict and test whether a lamp will light within a circuit.

Homework

Your child will continue to receive homework every Friday to be handed in the following Wednesday.

Spellings will be handed out on a Wednesday to be tested the following Monday. Children can take their books home so that you can see their results, but they must have their book back in school every Monday. Please continue to learn and practice the spellings from the Y3 and Y4 word list.

Times tables will be tested every Monday morning. Children will be learning a selected times table during our weekly maths lesson. The aim is for all children to know their times tables up to 12x12 by the end of year 4.  Any short practice, at any time will help your child to know all their facts for quick recall.  Children will be tested using the Daily 10 Top marks website: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10.  It will be set at level 4 and we will start on a 7 second interval for each question. This can be practiced at home at any time.

Dates for the diary

Monday 3^rd February Enterprise week in school

Friday 24^th January Chinese New Year celebrations in school

Wednesday 12^th February 2:45pm class showcase event – Wicked Weather

Friday 14^th February  Break up for half term

ADVANCED NOTICE: Thursday 27^th February Y3/Y4 SCHOOL TRIP TO MINING MUSEUM

                                                                           Kind regards Mr Fidler

Florida Topic Afternoon

We had an exciting afternoon introducing our Florida Topic. We took part in activities including cheer leading, pledging allegiance to the flag of the USA and hotdog tasting.

Dazzling Diamonds Newsletter – Autumn Term 1 2019

A very warm welcome back to school after the summer holidays. I hope you have all had a lovely summer break and all the children are refreshed and well rested ready for the learning challenges ahead in year 4!!

As you can see from the title, we have chosen to be called Dazzling Diamonds for this academic year. Dazzling : Adjective “extremely impressive, beautiful, or skilful” Traits from the Oxford English Dictionary we all felt matched our class!!

This half term our topic will be Awesome Egyptians. We will learn all about The Egyptian civilization, the significance of the Pyramids, Egyptian Gods, and the mummification process. We will share what we have learnt in our topic in our special museum with parents during the last week of term. In English we will be writing a newspaper report based on Howard Carter’s discovery of King Tutankhamun and writing a time slip story linked to this discovery. Our maths lessons will focus on place value. As always please keep on regularly practicing your times tables. They really do make a difference to all maths work that is done in class.

In RE we are learning about the significance and importance of sacred spaces. We will be comparing places of worship and hope to take part in a school trip to a Sikh Gurdwara in Derby, towards the end of the half term. This will be confirmed shortly.

PE kit

Our PE days are Mondays and Wednesdays. Please make sure your child has their P.E kit in school on these days.

Targets:

Reading:

• Reading books at an age appropriate level (within the year 4 Lexile Range)
• Asking questions of a non fiction text to improve understanding
• Explaining and justifying understanding of the text using the PE prompt ( Point and Explain)
• To record information from a range of non-fiction texts
• Scan for dates, numbers and names.

Science:

• I can group materials based on their state of matter ( solid, liquid, gas)
• I can describe and explain how some materials can change state
• I can describe the water cycle
• I can explain the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle. 

Homework

Your child will continue to receive homework every Friday to be handed in the following Wednesday.

Spellings will be handed out on a Wednesday to be tested the following Monday. Children can take their books home so that you can see their results, but they must have their book back in school every Monday. Please continue to learn and practice the spellings from the Y3 and Y4 word list.

Times tables will be tested every Monday morning. Children will be learning a selected times table during our weekly maths lesson. The aim is for all children to know their times tables up to 12x12 by the end of year 4. Any short practice, at any time will help your child to know all their facts for quick recall. For the first half term I will test the children using the Daily 10 Top marks website: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10. It will be set at level 4 and we will start on a 7 second interval for each question. This can be practiced at home at any time.

Dates for the diary

Thursday 10^th October 3:45 – 5:00 y3/4 Mega Fest at Heritage School

Monday 14^th October INSET day school closed

Tuesday 22^nd October Y3/Y4 school rip to Sikh Gurdwara in Derby – this is to be confirmed.

If you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to help then please do not hesitate to ask.

Kind regards Mr Fidler

(Class teacher Year 4)