Autumn
Week Beginning 11.12.23
Wishing you a Merry Christmas!
We have now reached the end of a very busy autumn term. It has been great fun learning all about the rainforest and improving our skills across all areas of the curriculum.
We are very much looking forward to finishing off the term with our KS2 concerts, where we have been practicing a medley of Christmas songs to impress you with.
Join us on Monday 18th December at 9:30am and 2:15pm.
Then on Tuesday 19th December at 9:30am.
Next term we shall begin our new topic all about Ancient Greece. For our comprehension work, we will be reading: Who let the Gods out by Maz Evans. Thanks to the amazing PTA, we have a set of 30 copies for Year 4. If you would like your own copy to keep, please feel free to bring one in but please make sure to label it with your name.
In science we will learn all about states of matter and electricity.
In maths we will continue to work on multiplication and division, so keep up the great work on TTRS as this will really speed up your calculation skills.
We hope you will all have a restful Christmas break and we very much look forward to returning on Thursday 4th January to begin spring term 2024!
Week Beginning 4.12.23
Design and Technology - Christmas Stockings
This week we worked on adding the finishing touches to our Christmas stockings. Thank you to all families who sent donations of pom poms, bells, ribbons, sequins, stickers etc. It has meant that we were able to really give our finishing pieces that WOW factor!
We can’t wait for the stockings to make their way home, where they can be proudly displayed for all to see.
The final stage of the design process has been to evaluate our work and consider if at all; what we might do differently if we were to make stockings again.
We hope you will enjoy the Christmas stockings as much as we have enjoyed making them.
Week Beginning 27.12.23
PSHE-Celebrating Differences
This week in PSHE we identified what is special and unique about ourselves. We used mirrors to pick out unique features of our physical appearance and discussed different ways in how we can value and respect ourselves. Here are just a few of the statements we came up with:
"I am unique because there is only one of me in the world and I should be proud of that"
"I am special because I am beautiful"
"I am special because I believe in myself"
Week Beginning 20.11.23
Design and Technology
Christmas Stockings
Our Christmas stocking project is well underway!
In the first stage of the design process we looked at existing Christmas stockings and the purpose of them.
We took these ideas into our own designs where we used a plan sheet to set out the steps to making our finished pieces.
We looked at a variety of ways to join our materials together and decided that blanket stitch and running stitch worked best.
There is still much more to do but we can’t wait to take our stockings home in time for the Christmas holiday.
Thank you so very much to all of the families who sent items into school to support our project.
We really are very grateful.
Week Beginning: 13.11.23
PSHE_- Anti Bullying Week
In PHSE this week we listened to 'Maya’s Story' and in groups we discussed and answered the following questions.
1. Why do you think one person might bully another?
2. What might Maya be thinking and feeling when the bully comes up to her in school, or she logs on to the videogame?
3. What might the bystander be feeling? Could all bystanders feel the same way about the bullying?
Week Beginning 6.11.23
London Zoo
We had a really amazing day at London Zoo on Thursday.
Thankfully the rain held off long enough for us to explore lots of areas within the zoo. It was fascinating seeing all of the different animals and learning about them too. A zoo educator gave us a talk all about tigers, which taught us some really interesting facts. In the rainforest area, we had to be super quiet because there were sloths sleeping in the branches above our heads.
Here are some of our most memorable moments:
"There were giraffes called Molly and Maggie in the indoor giraffe house. Their tail hair looked so long, I thought I could braid it!" Phoebe Green - Whitebeam Class
"I liked seeing the llamas because they looked so fluffy." Raian Hasan - Whitebeam
"It was great getting up close and stroking the little goats." Frankie Chandler - Whitebeam
"My best part of the day was seeing the African Hunting Dogs. They made a really weird noise!" Dylan Williams - Lime Class
"Seeing the giraffes was my favourite part of the day. I really liked looking at all of their different patterns." Suriya Lakey - Lime Class
"I loved seeing the gorillas and little monkeys because the gorillas acted much like humans and the little monkeys were super cute!" Issy Bricknell- Lime Class
Week Beginning: 30.10.23
Maths - Measurements and Area
This week, we have been learning that area is the amount of space taken up by a two-dimensional shape or surface. We explored different ways of working out the area of a shape, and recognised that some ways are better than others. We began by practically counting squares to find the area of shapes and then progressed to using more formal calculations.
REMINDER
Maths - TTRS
Our results are improving all the time so it's important to keep up with Times Tables Rockstars!
Let your class teacher know if you have any problems logging on.
Design and Technology
Christmas Stockings
Our project this term will be to design and make our own Christmas stockings. In order to decorate your stocking in the final stages of the project, we would be grateful if you could bring any festive coloured buttons, ribbons, decorations which can be sewn onto the stocking and really give your finished pieces that WOW factor!
We will also be using a style of blanket stictch, so you might want to get ahead with your skills by practising at home!
Week Beginning 16.10.23
Geography: Rainforests
This week, we explored why the rainforest is under threat and the measures taken to protect it.
Our teachers gave us time to research the ways in which the rainforest is under threat using books and the internet. We took notes and afterwards we created eye-catching, informative posters to share ideas about the improtance of protecting our rainforests.
Times Table Rock Stars
Please remember to practise your multiplication skills by logging onto TTRS and completing some games.
Practise really does make perfect!
Week Beginning: 9.10.23
Handwriting
We are continually working hard to improve the quality of our handwriting. This week, we took time to use our neat presentation skills to complete a paragraph about a rainforest animal. Our teachers were very impressed with our presentation. We learnt that it is important to take pride in our work so we can enjoy looking at our finished pieces.
Week beginning 2.10.23
Science
Classifying Plants
We took our learning outdoors today and explored our school environment looking at the variety of plants we have at White Bridge School. It was great fun being outdoors in the lovely sunshine and comparing our findings with our friends! We managed to identify over 6 different varieties of plants, flowering plants and trees. We learnt that classification of plants is very important to identify which plants are edible and which are not.
Week Beginning 25.9.23
Rainforest Forest Celebration
Over the past few weeks, we have worked hard on our rainforest projects. We completed posters and models to demonstrate our understanding of what the rainforest is like.
Today we spent some special time sharing and celebrating our completed work. It was great fun looking at each other's finished pieces!
This week we have also worked hard on rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100. Next week, we shall learn how to round numbers to the nearest 1000.
Our teachers have said that it is great to see so many of us logging into TTRS and practising our times tables!
Week Beginning: 18.9.23
This week we have been working really hard on developing our descriptive writing skills using fronted adverbials and ambitious vocabulary. We looked carefully at The Great Kapok Tree story and craeted our own characters and dilemma. We are very proud of our work as we have achieved much of our success criteria and next week, we are looking forward to editing and evaluting our final written pieces.
We are also enjoying creating wonderful, colourful and vibrant displays with our homework projects. We look forward to welcoming many more into school.
Week Beginning: 11.9.23
It has been an exciting time settling back into school and continuing our KS2 journey!
This week we have been looking at The Great Kapok Tree book, which is centered around the plight of the Amazon Rainforest. The children wrote detailed descriptions of the story setting and completed story maps to retell the story.
We have also been learning about 'Living Things' in science and started off this week by classifying animals into groups.
In maths, we have been concentrating on place value of numbers up to 10,000, with ordering, comparing and rounding to follow in the coming weeks. All in all, a busy but very productive start to our term!
