Amethyst Year 4/5
Amethyst Class 2022-2023
Mrs R
Welcome back to school!
The children will have PE on Friday mornings.
Please can the children bring their kits in from Monday to be kept in school.
Remember to log on to your child's Class Dojo page for daily updates, photos, notices and information.
Year 3/4 Home Learning for week beginning 1.3.21. Below you will find a grid with a summary with our home learning. Please do remember that the videos and resources will be posted on our Class Dojo page to explain your learning fully.
Year 3/4 Home Learning for week beginning 22.2.21. Below you will find a grid with a summary with our home learning. Please do remember that the videos and resources will be posted on our Class Dojo page to explain your learning fully.
Year 3/4 Home Learning for week beginning 8.2.21. Below you will find a grid with a summary with our home learning. Please do remember that the videos and resources will be posted on our Class Dojo page to explain your learning fully.
Year 3/4 Home Learning for week beginning 1.2.21. Below you will find a grid with a summary with our home learning. Please do remember that the videos and resources will be posted on our Class Dojo page to explain your learning fully.
Year 3 and 4 learning grid 25th January 2021
Year 3 and 4 learning grid for week beginning 25th January 2021
Year 3 and 4 learning grid for week beginning 11th January 2021
Year 3 and 4 learning grid 6th-8th January 2021
November
So far the children have been focusing on descriptive writing and they have been working hard to arrange their sentences to make them more exciting by adding different sentence starters and a range of new and exciting adjectives.
In maths, the children will be moving onto multiplication and division with a big focus on times tables as this will really help them in all aspects of their maths.
We have started our new science topic 'Animals Including Humans' and have so far looked into what humans and animals require nutritionally. In the next few weeks, they will have a look at what's inside the body and begin to compare different types of skeletons.
The children will be continuing with their Egypt topic and are going to be exploring Egyptian art, looking at different types of Egyptian music and learning key map reading skills whilst locating Egypt and the River Nile
October
In English, the children have been enjoying our new class book 'Into The Forest'. They have been busy changing and creating a new narrative and focusing on speech and using inverted commas correctly. Their stories have been inspiring and they have really taken all of the new aspects on board.
In maths, the children have been recapping addition and subtraction. We have been focusing on mental and formal written methods which have been introduced alongside concrete resources to cement their understand and bridge some of the gaps that had been missed the previous year.
We have been finishing off our science topic on 'rocks' and enjoyed carrying out an experiment to help us to identify and categorise them. This involved careful observational skills and predictions about the reaction different rocks would have to water and vinegar.
September 2020
The children have settled back well and our excited to learn all about our new topic The Stone Age.
In English, our learning is based on our class book 'Stone Age Boy'. So far they have enjoyed discussing what they already know about the Stone Age and they are looking forward to producing some writing around the themes in the book in the coming weeks.
The first few weeks in maths we will be focusing on place value and making sure the children understand what value each number is representing. We will be using a lot of practical resources to aid learning and make sure they are secure before moving onto addition and subtraction.
A wonderful presentation about our topic South America from NG's home learning!
Winhills now have a new online virtual school called the Diamond Online. You can find it here:
www.diamondonline.uk
This is where all of our lessons and tasks will now be for your child.
Home learning grid 7 (18.05.20 - 18.06.20)
Hunts SSP virtual school games challenge!
Summer Term Homework
I hope you have all had a lovely Easter break.
Firstly, there are some changes to home learning; attached is a letter that you should have received by parent mail on Friday outlining the new expectations for home learning.
Secondly, attached is the first of the fortnightly ideas for work. There are a wide range of activities, aimed at both indoors and outdoors learning, with 20 activities allowing for 2 activities per day (plus Maths Whizz, TT rock stars and reading). If you have any questions, please message me via Class Dojo.
Some useful websites for use at home:
Maths:
www.whizz.com (Maths Whizz)
ttrockstars.com (Times Tables Rock Stars)
https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/ Videos, lessons and worksheets all available (highly recommended!)
numbots.com (same log in as TT Rock Stars)
timestables.me.uk (Times Tables)
English:
https://ukhosted29.renlearn.co.uk/2233616 (accelerated reader)
oxfordowl.co.uk (free ebooks – sign up free)
https://subscribe.firstnews.co.uk/free-downloadable-issue/ online newspaper
https://litfilmfest.com/playlists/ (ideas for writing)
Science:
https://edu.rsc.org/resources/primary (ideas for science)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize (all subjects)
Research
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/
January
Welcome back to the spring term!
We have started a new book called 'Arthur and the Golden Rope'.
To introduce children to the book they have had to look at some illustrations in the book to infer and make predictions based on the images. They have also written a persuasive letter in response to an advert allowing the public to visit the magnificent vault.
In maths, Year 3 have started learning about measuring. They have measured objects around the classroom using mm, cm and m. They will also be comparing, ordering and adding and subtracting different measurements. Next they will begin to learn about perimeter.
Year 4 have been revising the 4 operations to consolidate the new methods they learnt last term. They have been answering fluency calculations, 1 and 2 step word problems and reasoning questions. They have done a brilliant job and have retained everything from last term! Next, they have started learning about area. They began by using post it notes to measure the area of objects around the classroom.
In science, we have stated a new topic of 'Sound'. To begin our topic we discussed what we already knew. We then went outside to listen to the sounds around us and created a sound map. Then, we learnt about vibrations and how we hear sound. we even made our own telephones.
The children have been very excited to get stuck into the new Ice Zone topic 'Anglo Saxons and Vikings'. So far they have learnt about the Anglo Saxons as they historically came first. They have learnt about the invasion, written letters to the Saxons and started designing their own pendants. They have also compared themselves to an Anglo Saxon child.
July 2019
Year 4 were super lucky and had BOSCH Rexroth in this week. The class took part in a range of engineering activities which included looking into hydraulics. They worked well in teams and even had competitions in launching rockets across the playground using force.
Please see the pictures below.
June 2019
This afternoon, Year 4 had great fun learning all about electrical circuits. They worked in small groups to create simple circuits and investigate what happens when they add and take components away. We even made a whole class circuit!
Please see the pictures below!
June 2019
Year 4 have already been super busy this month and are now fully underway in their ICE zone topic of Home and Away. Recently, they researched some European composers and then created their own composition using notations.
May 2019
Year 4 were lucky enough to have some artists come and visit this month. The children were asked to create a leaf-cutter ant colony using a range of media. Their art is currently being displayed at the local library. Have a look at the photos below.
April 2019
In their RE lessons, Year 4 have been learning all about Judaism. They have already learned all about the founder Abraham and the Ten Commandments. This week, they were investigating synagogues. They discovered what they are used for and who works in one. They even got the chance to create their own one. See the photos below.
April 2019
Year 4 have been working with our resident artist Mr Cornell. They learned all about drawing geometric shapes using hexagons and then moved onto using the computer program 'Sketch Up'. On this program, they used their knowledge of 3D shapes, axis and computers to create incredible images. Have a look at the photos below.
March 2019
Year 4 had a wonderful day at the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge. The staff there were so impressed with their amazing Egyptian knowledge and the members of the public were incredibly complimentary on their behaviour. Well done Year 4!
March 2019
For World Book Day, the children dressed up as their favourite book characters. We had a great day reading our books and making our own bookmarks.
March 2019
This week, Year 4 had their residential to Grafham Water. Over the three days, the children took part in numerous adventurous activities such as sailing and climbing. They worked incredibly hard as a team and tried their best every day. Well done Year 4.
February 2019
This week, Year 4 have been working super hard on their sketching skills. They have been learning how to draw an eye and create a reflection within it. I am super proud of them, their drawings are wonderful.
January 2019
Yesterday in science, Year 4 had the chance to make their own telephones. They had to investigate how they worked and understand how the sound traveled to their ears. Have a look at the photos below.
January 2019
Today, Year 4 had some furry visitors! In English, we are learning all about the book 'Pugs of the Frozen North' so we thought it would be a good idea to arrange some lovely pugs to come and see the class. The children (and teachers!) had great fun and now the children will be writing their very own pug fact-files!
December 2018
Today, Year 4 finished their science 'egg-speriment' and were amazed by the results. We found out that the coke, fanta and vinegar destroyed the eggs shells. We concluded that these liquids would affect our teeth in a similar way if we didn't look after them! Their reactions were great!
December 2018
Year 4 have been busy scientists this week. We have been learning about our teeth and how to keep them healthy. We are performing a whole class experiment on how sugar can affect our teeth. Instead of using our teeth, we are using eggs! We have placed the eggs in five different liquids and we will see which liquid has the worst affect on the egg. Watch this space for the 'reaction' photos on Monday!
December 2018
Today, Year 4 worked in small groups to create their own digestive system. They used a range of household objects to mimic the actions of food being digested. The children had great fun
November 2018
Year 4 have recently been learning all about the animal world. We worked as a class to create our own classification key using some of the children in the class. The children then worked on creating their very own keys all about vertebrates and invertebrates.
October 2018
Year 4 have had a super busy first half term. The class have been enjoying their class text 'The Iron Man', and have produced some wonderful work based on this. The class have also been super busy in their maths lessons and have now secured their understanding of addition and subtraction. Next term, they will be moving onto multiplication and division!
Recently, Year 4 took part in their autumn DLPT sports event. The class showed wonderful sportsmanship and had a great day. 
September 2018
Welcome back to another school year! Over the first few weeks, we have all been super busy getting to know our new teacher and finding all about what fun activities are planned for Year 4. Please ensure you have a look at our Curriculum Newsletter for an overview of the upcoming term (find this in the link below).
Creative week
Year 4 had a super busy creative week. They got to know their new teacher, had fun sharing their summer stories and were very creative with their art. We created our very own 'Birch Tree' art in the style of Monet.
The amazing Tudor day!
Year 4's Autumn Curriculum Newsletter
To say thank you to the children, I arranged a little end of the year tea party this afternoon. The children also had the chance to open their time capsule letters from the beginning of the year. It was nice for them and myself to see how much their writing had developed! Some children even read their letters out loud.
Reward Day Summer 2018
July 2018 - Sports day!
June 2018 In Year 4, we have been learning all about electrical circuits. We have learnt all about the different components of a circuit and in particular, the use of switches. This week, the children investigated different insulators and conductors. They worked in small teams to discover which materials would allow the circuit to continue working.
June 2018 - Year 3 and 4's open afternoon
Summer 2018 Curriculum newsletter
June 2018 - DLPT Sports Event
May 2018
This half term, Year 4 have been very busy (as always). Have a read below.
Topic/ICE zone
This term, our topic is based on the continent of South America! The children are lucky enough to have their own walk in rainforest! 
English
The children will be studying several topics over the next term, beginning with ‘Stories from different cultures’. The children will be exploring stories from different countries and cultures and will be creating their own descriptive work from these.
Year 4 will also be writing their very own journals based on the book, ‘The Great Kapok Tree’. They will get into the role of the character who faces difficult decisions.
Maths
In Year 4, we will again start the term by looking into fractions. We have investigated equivalent fractions and will soon be moving on to finding fractions of given numbers. The children will also be revising their written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They will use tens frames to help with their counting.
Grafham Water 2018
March 2018
In the ICE zone, the children have been learning all about Ordnance survey maps! They now know a range of symbols and this week were able to apply their learning whilst on a local walk! Have a look at the photos below!
Ordnance walk
February 2018 - Art day with Mr Cornell
Today, Year 4 worked with our resident artist, Mr Cornell. They learnt how to create collagraphs and use them to print with, the results were amazing. The class were also introduced to the computer programme 'Sculptris', this is a virtual sculpting software program, with a primary focus on the concept of modelling clay. The children were able to manipulate the software to gain some brilliant results.
Please see the photos below!
Year 4's Art day with Mr Cornell (February 2018)
February 2018. Year 4's string telephone experiment! Today in Science, we created our own telephones and investigated how the vibrations traveled down the string, allowing us to hear!
January 2018 - Year 3 and 4 ICE Zone open event. Thank you to all the parents and carers who came along to work alongside and celebrate their children's learning! We all had a great afternoon.
Fraction fun in Year 4 (January 2018)
January 2018
Welcome back to a new school term, I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas. Have a look below for a quick overview of what we are up to this term.
In English, the children will be studying several topics over the next term, beginning with ‘Stories set in imaginary worlds’. The children will be exploring worlds with fantasy settings and writing their own stories based in a world that they will create!
In Maths, we will start the term by looking into fractions. We have investigated equivalent fractions and will soon be moving on to finding fractions of given numbers. The children will also revisit the four written methods and begin to use them to solve tricky ratio, scaling and number problems.
To begin with in Science, Year 4 are going to be learning all about Sound. They are going to be learning all about how sound is produced and how we hear! The children will investigate what the inner ear looks like and also have the chance to make their own telephones!
ICE Zone
Our topic this term is all based on the ‘Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings’. The children will be immersed in the ICE zone with a Anglo Saxon house and a Viking longboat. On the 23rd January, we are opening up our ICE zone for the afternoon. If you would like to come along and work with your child (ren), then please pop into the office for a letter!
Year 4 used everyday objects to create their very own digestive systems! (December 2017)
Year 4 Intra Sports event (November 2017)
November 2017
English
Year 4 are now very busy learning all about different the different poetic features used in poetry. The children wrote their own small poem this week using a range of different descriptive devices.
Mathematics
Year 4 have now moved from learning all about a written method for multiplication to written division. The class are learning all about the bus stop method.
Science
Year 4 are now onto their new science unit named ‘Animals including humans’. The class have already investigated different food chains and are now beginning to investigate the digestive system!
Year 4 working hard to improve their multiplication skills. (November 2017)
October 2017
What a busy first half term we have had! The children have made great steps in their learning over these past 7 weeks and I am very proud of them. We have now written our own newspapers and a wanted poster all based on our class book 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes. The children have published their newspapers so look out for them in the office area.
At the end of last week, Year 4 (along with the other years) took part in a Children in Need Ramble! We took the children off to Pocket Park and raised some money for charity. Well done and thank you for your donations.
Ramble for Children in Need!
October 2017
Year 4 were learning all about the classification of organisms today in science. We even created our own class classification key!
Year 4 science
October 2017
Year 4 have had a super busy first month back at school. It seems hard to believe that 1 whole month has passed by already.
In our Maths lessons, we have now completed our unit based on place value and we have now moved onto written addition. The children are moving on from using the expanded method to the compact method.
In English , the children have now completed their own newspaper articles all about the Iron Man! The children pretended that the menacing Iron Man came to St Neots and ate all of our metal. Keep an eye out for their articles in the front office, we will be publishing them later this week.
Science has been based around learning about the different habitats found around the world. This week, the children learned all about vertebrates and invertebrates and identified a range of them.
The ICE zone is now fully up and running. All of the children are now immersed into every Roman. Keep an eye out for pictures!
Year 4 Autumn curriculum letter
September 2017 - Art inspired by Anglesey Abbey's birch trees.
September 2017
Hello and welcome to Year 4! I hope you all had a lovely and restful summer. Year 4 have had a busy first couple of weeks back, they have flown by!
The first week back was our Creative Week. During this week, we all got to know each other, had our very own Roman day and produced some great art work (make sure you check these out, they are posted on this page.)
We are now on our second week back and are back into our learning. The children have just started an English topic all about newspapers, a math's unit based on place value and a science unit all about habitats.
Keep checking the website for updates and pictures of our fun at school.
Last day fun. At the beginning of the year, the children wrote letters to themselves. Today, we opened them and the children were so impressed with how much their writing has come on!
Reward Day July 2017. For their hardwork and dedication to learning throughout the term, the children were treated to a fun day of bouncy castles and discos!
July 2017 - Sports Day!
KS2 took part in a very successful Sports Day! I was very impressed with their sportsmanship!
Here are some photos of the day!
Sports Day
July 2017
We are now into the last month of the school year, time has flown by! This past week, the children have been working hard in our maths lessons. Year 4 have been investigating whether taller people have larger feet. Have a look at the children in action!
June 2017- Science lesson fun! This lesson, the children investigated simple series circuits.
June 2017
Welcome back to our final half term in Year 4! We have a busy few weeks planned and as always we will dive straight into learning. For our new English topic, the class will be learning all about persuasive texts and creating their own persuasive leaflet all about St Neots. In Maths, the children will be investigating different geometric shapes, grids and statistics. They will have the chance to collect their own data and produce their own charts. For this final term, our Science unit is all about Electricity. The class will be creating their own series circuits and learning all about insulators and conductors.
Both Year 3 and 4 will be continuing with their ICE zone topic 'Home and Away'. Remember, we have our ICE zone open event on the afternoon of Monday the 12th June. Please come along, work with your children and have a great afternoon!
May 2017
This week in Year 4, the children have started to look at geometric shapes. The class have learned all about different types of triangles. They can now classify and identify scalene, right angled and isosceles triangles. They are also great at identifying the angles found in these shapes!
Well done Year 4.
Triangles in Year 4
May 2017
This week, the children in Year 4 have been learning all about angles in their maths lessons. They ventured around the school looking for right, obtuse and acute angles. In class, they ordered, estimated and even started to measure angles. Have a look at our photos!
Angle hunting
May 2017
In Year 4, we have been learning all about E-safety and ensuring that we stay safe online. Last Friday, we posted the below picture online.
Year 4 couldn't quite believe how far our picture of Marvin the Martian had travelled over the weekend. So far, Marvin has been shared over 530 times all around the world. This activity has proven just how quickly things can be shared on the internet.
The children have certainly learnt a lot from it!
Grafham April 2017
This week (24th - 26th April), some of our Year 4 class ventured off to Graham Water Centre for 3 days of adventure! We arrived on the Monday morning very fresh faced and ready to go! We took part in activities such as high ropes, rock climbing, raft building, bush craft, archery and orienteering! The children had a fantastic time and showed amazing team work throughout their stay. I am incredibly proud of them all.
Grafham April 2017
Year 4 St Neots Museum visit. Today (20th April), the children visited the local museum and were lucky enough to have a tour of the town! We all learned lots, for example, did you know that woolly mammoth bones have been found at Paxton Pits?
April 2017
Welcome back to the Summer term! I hope everyone had a lovely Easter break and is ready to get back to work!
English
The children will be looking at both fiction and non-fiction texts across two key units this term. The two units that will be focused on are Persuasive texts and Stories from other Cultures. The latter will link in nicely with our new ICE zone topic of Home and Away.
We will also spend a couple of weeks looking at a variety of poetry and grammar focused lessons.
Maths
In year 4, we have started the term by looking into converting units of measurements. The children are using their skills on multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000.
Further on in the term, the children will be investigating different angles, coordinates and translations. We will be doing a range of practical activities to help us with our learning. Alongside all of our lessons, we will also be having regular arithmetic practice.
ICE zone
Our topic this term will focus on ‘Home and Away’. The children will first be focusing on the local area and then investigating further away in Europe. To start off our topic, we visited the local museum. Have a look at the photos!
Year 4's Orienteering challenge!
March 2017
We would just like to say a huge thank you to all of those who attended our ICE zone open events this week!
It was lovely to see the children becoming mini teachers for the afternoon and showing off their work.
We hope to hold another event in the summer term.
Many thanks,
The KS2 ICE Zone team.
Year 3 and 4 ICE Zone open events.
World Book Day March 2nd 2017
March 2017
English
Year 4 have just started their new English unit all about Explanation Texts. They have found the features of this text type and have started to use causal connectives in their own mini explanation texts.
This week, we also visited the local library! The children had a great time exploring the library and finding lots of new books.
Mathematics
The class have been learning all about time, in particular the 12 and 24 hour clock. They are also able to answer tricky word problems dealing with time converting.
Science
Year 4 have been learning all about Sound. They recently created their own string telephones and were investigating how sound travels through solids, liquids and gases. They have also started to investigate pitch and loudness.
Year 4 Library visit 28th February 2017
8th February 2017
The children have been learning all about time in our recent maths topic. They are now becoming increasingly confident with reading the time to the nearest minute. The children have also been tackling time problems where you need to convert!
Year 4 have now completed their very own stories set in an imaginary world. They were able to use a range of description and sentence lengths to create suspense in their work. Please keep an eye out for some pictures of some of the children's work!
Don't forget, after half term we are holding two ICE zone open afternoons where we are inviting in parents, carers, grandparents, aunts and uncles to come in and see what the lovely children have been up to. Pop into see me or into the office to grab a form!
Telling the time!
January 30th
In Year 4, we are learning all about sound. This week, we investigated vibrations and how these create sound! We made our own string telephones and learnt that speaking into the cup creates sound waves which are converted into vibrations at the bottom of the cup. We even investigated what would happen if we joined our telephones together!
Have a look at our photos.
January 24th 2017
Last week, the children were lucky enough to have Anglian Water come in to visit them! They learnt all about where their water comes from and the journey it takes!
They even created 'Sewage Soup', this showed them what should and should not go down their sinks at home!
Have a look at the photos!
Year 4 Indian Drumming Session
Working hard in the ICE zone 18th January 2017
Spring term!
January
Welcome back to Year 4, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break. We are back into the swing of things and we are working hard (as always!).
Our new ICE zone topic is all about Ancient Egypt and already the children are fully engaged with their learning. They have already been deciphering hieroglyphics, researching the countries and continents of the world and designing their own canopic jars. The children are lucky enough to have their own life-size sarcophagus, are they brave enough to go inside?
Later this term, we would love to invite you, the parents and carers, in for an Open ICE Zone afternoon - keep an eye out for a letter coming your way!
In class, the children have been working incredibly hard already. In our English lessons, we have now moved onto learning all about Stories in an Imaginary world! We have already looked at different stories and have even started to look at descriptive language.
In maths, the children started off the term by investigating area, they are now experts in finding the area of rectilinear shapes. We are now investigating equivalent fractions and will be moving onto finding fractions of amounts.
December
I cannot believe we are almost at the end of term one!
The children have been very busy finishing off their ICE zone work and I would like to say how proud of them I am, their work is absolutely fantastic!
In English, the children have been focusing on poetry and the different features that can be found in poems. We looked at similes, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia and metaphors. The children have been writing lots of their own poems but most recently they wrote poems based on 'The Magic Box', by Kit Wright. Here are some examples,
I will put into the box,
A colossal piece of the Big Bang,
The first smile of a baby,
The wibble, wobble of a baby giraffe.
(Sara)
I will put in my locker,
A feather from Pegasus' wing falling in total silence,
A rainbow rose in a broken jar which is treasured in my school.
(Alicia)
I will put into my box,
The smell of soft bread,
The bounce of a baby bunny,
And the happy feeling of waking up on Christmas day!
(Chloe)
Science - In science, the children have been learning all about our digestive system! We now understand the journey our food takes through our bodies. This week, we performed our own experiment showing how this works!
November
The children have really been working hard in the ICE zone, their work is looking absolutely great and they are now experts on the Tudors! The children have recently been making their own Tudor dolls and they have been researching the life of the rich and poor in Tudor times.
In English, we have moved away from newspapers and we are now focusing on writing diaries. We have decided to look from the perspective of The Iron Man himself. The children have done really well and have taken on the roll as him. We used some wonderful sentences and emotive language.
In maths, we are now focusing on multiplication and division! These are really tricky however Year 4 have been doing a superb job. For multiplication, we have been learning all about the grid and column method. The children are now multiplying some tricky numbers! For division, we have been using a number line and also the vertical chunking method!
October
Well that first month went very quickly! We have continued to be super busy in year 4!
In our English we have been writing our own newspaper articles based on the book The Iron Man! We have become real journalists are have written some super articles. We have used headlines, captions, quotes and fantastic description in our work!
In maths, we have been working on addition and subtraction. We have looked at a range of methods that we could use which include the column method. The children are now looking into solving tricky word problems.
September
What a busy first few weeks we have had! Read all about our learning below.
English - Year 4 are learning all about newspapers for the first few weeks of term. They have already investigated the different features found in articles and just recently, they created their own headlines using puns and alliteration. Soon, the children will be writing their own newspaper articles based on our class book The Iron Man!
Maths - The children have gone place value mad over the past few weeks. Year 4 have investigated ordering numbers, partitioning, negative numbers and multiples. Most recently, we have been solving lots of problems that involve a range of place value skills.
Science - Year 4 have started learning all about different habitats found around the world. They have looked into the features of a habitat that make it so welcoming to organisms! Soon, they will be learning all about classification keys!
ICE zone - WOW! That's the word I can use to describe the work and attitude out in the ICE zone. The children have been producing amazing fact sheets all about Tudor times. Most recently, the children mimicked the work of artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo and have created some portraits using fruit and vegetables! Photos to follow!
20.06.16 - 01.07.16
06.06.16 - 17.06.16
Grafham
Investigating electrical circuits
12.04.16 - 22.04.16
Amethyst class have been working very hard the past 2 weeks!
In English, we have finished our class book, Hana's Suitcase. We loved reading Hana's story and learning about her life. We are working on making a synopsis about Hana's Suitcase to put on the book jackets we will make. we have had to learn to summarise main events, use powerful vocabulary, create a hook and cliffhanger, and come up with rhetorical questions. Our paragraph writing has improved so much since last term!
In Maths, we created our own bar charts using information we found outside our school. Some of us tracked how many different types of bugs and flowers there were, and others looked at shapes and colours. we then learned how to interpret information from a bar chart. Now we are moving on to fractions, decimals, and measures.
In the ICE Zone, we have begun our new topic about South America. We are very enthusiastic to find out more and begin to research and explore this amazing continent!
29.02.16 - 14.03.16
We've had a busy couple of weeks in Amethyst and are currently in the middle of assessments!
In English, we’ve continued to read our book, Hana’s Suitcase, to learn more about the life of Hana Brady. We’ve been learning how to find evidence from the text and put it into a paragraph. We have also been doing some artwork based on drawings Hana made when she was in Theresienstadt! This week we are working on creating haikus to go with out artwork, and focusing on using powerful ...adjectives to make our poems more descriptive. We’ve really been enjoying this book!
In Maths, we’ve finished the grid method of multiplication and have begun to look at 2D shapes. Last week we looked at finding the line of symmetry in a shape, using paper folding to support our learning. This week we’re looking at the properties of shapes so that we can classify them!
In German, we’ve been practising short phrases used to introduce ourselves to others. We’ve also continued to practise our German song, Fliegerlied. We’re getting really good at learning all of the words, even though they’re in German!
In the ICE Zone, we’ve continued our work on the Vikings. We’ve been busy researching and studying the Vikings to prepare ourselves for Viking Day next Monday, March 21st. We’ll be making Viking helmets this week in preparation!
We’ve been continuing to do cricket with our coach and are really enjoying it. We’ve been learning techniques for hitting, throwing, and catching, and are really developing our skills!
12/02/2016
Amethyst class have worked really hard this half term and are becoming very inquisitive scientists!
They have enjoyed using musical instruments to learn about pitch and volume.
We have also planned an experiment to see how the volume of sound changes over distance.
Science
Year 4 have enjoyed their table tennis sessions this half term.
30.01.16-10.02.16
It's hard to believe half-term is around the corner!
Last week in Maths we worked on problem solving using the RUCSAC method to break down word problems. We learned to identify words that mean addition and subtraction. This week we are starting on division! We’re learning how to divide using number lines as well as learning how to do short division. We’re really enjoying it!
In English, we have been working on persuasive writing. We've learned about using AFOREST techniques in our writing to strengthen our persuasive arguments. We have been creating travel brochures to encourage people to come to the fantasy worlds we wrote about in our narrative units. This week we will be finishing up our brochures. Our writing has really been improving!
In P.E., we have really developed our kickball playing! We have strengthened our techniques and are becoming very strong players. We’ve begun to use strategies to be more successful, as well as how to work with our team to be the most effective.
In German, we have begun to learn the Fliegerlied, a famous German song. Through this song, we are learning a lot of vocabulary, as well as having lots of fun! Yesterday we began to add in actions.
Outside of the classroom, we've been very busy in the ICE Zone learning about Anglo-Saxons. We've done grid references, made pendants, and researched Anglo-Saxon life.
Have a fabulous half-term and come back ready for some more busy learning!
Miss Krahn
16.01.16-29.01.16
05.01.16-15.01.16
11.11.15 - 26.11.15
We've had an extremely busy 2 weeks in Amethyst!
In Maths, we've learned how to do column subtraction to go with our column addition. We're still perfecting lining up our columns and our place values, but we're continuing to practise and improve! We've also learned how to use an inverse operation so we can check our own answers. It's been a lot of hard work, but we really enjoyed it! Now we are beginning to learn measurement, so we can start our gingerbread maths unit. We will be incorporating fractions, decimals, area, and perimeter into our unit, and in the end we will be making gingerbread houses from scratch!
In English, we've continued to work on our play script unit. We developed characters and had them respond to various situations, taking into account their personalities. We had to do a lot of deep thinking to put ourselves into our characters' shoes. We also began learning to properly read a play script, including the stage directions, and rehearsed A Charlie Brown Christmas. Miss Krahn discovered some really fantastic actors in Amethyst! We put on some beautiful performances and worked really hard to follow the script.
We will be busy decorating and learning our Christmas songs for the next couple weeks, as well as lots more learning in class. Only 28 days until Christmas!
04.11.15-11.11.15
Amethyst class has jumped back into learning after half-term!
We came back with lots of exciting stories about the things we did with family and friends, but we also came back well-rested and ready to challenge ourselves.
In English, we have begun a new unit on play scripts. We are learning the different features of a play script, so we can recognise them in various texts. Today we began working on developing our own characters for the scripts we will write. We had to brainstorm our characters likes, dislikes, names, ages, and what they looked like. We want to have really strong characters to guide our writing!
In Maths, we are learning about time. We are able to convert time between AM and PM, as well as from analog to digital. We are now learning how to convert units of time. It's really challenging, but we are getting there! We are converting seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years! There is lots to remember, but we have been very good listeners.
Amethyst has also started German lessons. We are learning how to greet each other at various times of the day, how to say 'how are you' and respond, as well as our numbers. We are really enthusiastic about learning another language!
Finally, we have started doing Quick Sticks every Wednesday afternoon. We are learning a lot of new skills and will continue to improve every week.
KS2 ICE Zone - Romans
02.10.15 - 15.10.15
Amethyst class have been up to lots of new things in the past 2 weeks!
In English, we finished up our non-chronological reports on the Romans. We included lots of interesting research in our reports, and they are now displayed in our classroom for others to learn from. We've now started our narrative unit on a fantastic book called 'Into the Forest'. We've all agreed it's kind of spooky! We've done persuasive role-plays, predictions, and figured out the key features of the book. Now we are planning our very own narratives that we will finish up before half-term.
In Maths, we've finished our place-value unit and have made some lovely posters to display what we've learned. We did some really tricky division with 10s and 100s, but we figured it out very quickly. We are now moving on to addition and subtraction. We're beginning to recognise how to do column addition!
We're very excited for half-term, but we have lots to do over the next 5 days!
