Welcome back! I hope everyone had a lovely half-term break.

Homework – Weekly book reviews

This half-term in Year 4 the children will taking it in turns to complete a book review – three children per week. The review will be based on the book that they are currently reading or have most recently completed (not including football programs/magazines – Connor!). This can be either hand written or typed up (download the template here)

The reviews will be posted on the class blog each week.

Times Tables Challenge

This half-term we are upping the ante with times tables! At least once a week the children in Year 4 will complete a Times Tables Challenge (just like the grids they have completed as part of homework tasks). We will time them each week and their times will be displayed in the classroom. Here is a photo of the results from the challenge today:

Easter Play (15th March)

Finally, rehearsals for the Easter Play began today. We were treated some excellent acting! Particularly from those who have already learned all of their lines! Well done!

On Monday Year 4 traveled to the Birmingham REP theatre to watch The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. The whole class behaved beautifully throughout and were very mature and sensible when boarding and departing the trains at Canley and Birmingham New Street. Teachers from other schools and members of the general public complemented the class on their behaviour. Well done Year 4! I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did!

Here are a few photos from the day:

Today Year 4 finished off and evaluated their musical instruments.

Year 4 – Birmingham trip details

Everyone should have received a letter regarding the Year 4 trip to the Birmingham REP theatre – if you have not had a letter, please let Mr Marsh or the school office know and we will get you the details as soon as possible.

Here are some more details about the trip that were not included in the letter:

• There will be 6 adults taking care of the class during the trip.
• For the journeys to and from the theatre the class will be split up into groups of 5 with one adult allocated to each group.
• The class will walk from school to Canley train station and get the train to Birmingham New Street station. We will then walk to the Birmingham REP theatre.
• Mrs Quinn and Mr Cooke travelled to Birmingham last week in order to plan and assess the safety of the exact route we will take, including which entrance and exit to use at New Street station. Furthermore, the school has completed a detailed risk assessment for the trip.
• For the return journey we have bought some reflective tape to stick to the children’s coats to make them more visible when walking between the theatre and New Street station and between Canley station and the school.
• Finally, Mr Marsh will be having a chat with the class about what to expect at the train stations and how they can help to keep themselves safe when travelling by train.

Over the next few weeks Year 4 will be designing and making their own musical instruments from recycled materials (rubbish!). Please allow them to keep hold of anything that they think might be useful.Photos of the finished products to follow.

Here are some ideas:

Year 4’s new Science topic is sound. We began by seeing how sound is made and how it travels. This involved making string telephones, straw oboes and ‘sound sandwiches:

To represent how sound travels through the air Year 4 made a ‘human sound-wave’:

Year 4’s first Science topic this year was Animals Including Humans. Part of this topic including learning about human teeth. Year 4 investigated which liquids do the least damage to teeth and also weighed out the amount of sugar in different foods/drinks for our display.

The first book that Year 4 studied this year was a picture book called Flotsam by David Wiesner. 

The book is about a boy who finds an old underwater camera containing magical and mythical photos taken by its previous owners. Year 4 posted a review of the book online, see it here https://www.amazon.com/review/R2KMCUAZIWA178/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Year 4 also had a go at making their own photos within photos (just like in the book – see above) in ICT with Mr Youson. Here are some of them:

Please write your reviews of the book as a comment below. Use the sheet that was given to you to help. Think about what you liked about the book, what you would change and whether you would recommend it to a friend.