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Latchford St James CE Primary

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Teacher: Mrs Parkinson

Teaching assistant: Mrs Jevans

The digestive system

This week, in Science, we created our own digestive system. We discussed the processes, using accurate terminology, how the food moves through the body, extracts the nutrients before being expelled. This helped significantl6 with our understand of how our body works.

World book day

What a great day! We had such a lovely day today with various activities based on Alice in Wonderland all whilst dressed as our favourite book characters.
We bagan our day with an assembly where we showcased our outfits to the school. For maths, we practised our number work whilst playing mathmatical games with playing cards. Our version of Alice in Wonderland, had some incredible illustrations therefore we used the pictures to inspire our own pastel artwork. We were so happy with our results.
For English, we created our own poems based on Alice falling down the rabbit hole.
After swimming, we had a lovely tea party with Year 3 eating biscuits and jam tarts. It was lovely to welcome parents in before the end of the day to read with us and show off our classroom.

Ash Wednesday

Today, Reverend Rob came into school to teach us the significance of Ash Wednesday. We learned how during lent Christians are encouraged to sacrifice something they love or do something which will help others.
He showed us how the palm crosses from Palm Sunday are burned, mixed with oil blessed from the Bishop and placed on your forehead as an outward sign. During, this time it is important to ask for forgiveness for your sins think of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. Lent lasts for 46 days and leads up to Easter weekend. Finally, Rob taught us why Easter moves every year. As it is due to Easter needing to fall on a full moon.

Shrove Tuesday

STEM- Boat design

This week we were given a challenge to use all of the information we had learned from our other experiments to build a boat out of cardboard which had to hold a tennis ball. We discussed how we would need large sides to prevent the water penetrating, and a large surface area to prevent it from capsizing. We thought about how cardboard is not waterproof so we would need to add a pretective membrane of PVA glue, cling film or tin foil to stop the water from seeping in and being absorbed in the cardboard.

We worked together in partners to create our boat. This was a lot of fun and was very messy but we are so pleased with our end results!

Internet Safety Day

We spent the whole day, learning how to be safe online. With an ever changing world and our children spending more time online, it is essential for the children to be educated in how to keep themselves safe.

Throughout the day, we discussed the importance of the PEGI rating for games for allowing us to see appropriate content for their age. We looked at how we need to be aware of the information we put online as other could use it to gleam lots of information about ourselves. We looked at different sinanarios of how people might be untrustworthy in the virtual world- we acted these situations out and thought about why poeple might not be truthful and what we should do in these times. Finally we looked at what makes a strong password both online and for devices- aiming to stay away from obvious passwords which could be easily guessed.

STEM- Sail boats

Last week we made paper sail boats which fell apart when we put them into the water, we discussed how we needed something waterproof for the base. We researched the Titanic and found that it sank due to an iceberg breaking the side panel. As the water replaced the air, it pulled the boat down as water is denser than air. This week, we created sail boats with plastic bottles for bouyancy, a raft stucture on the top and then attached the sail. These were more successful than the paper boats as they didn't disintergrate and had a wider surface area so didn't capsize.

STEM

Our STEM topic this term is boat. We will be investigating different shapes, and materials to help our boats float as well as different ways a boat can move. This week we looked at different shapes. The children explored the best design to hold the most pennies. They all used the same base of a 15cm square if tin foil. We discovered that a square based design rather than an oval worked the best but we needed to make sure that we had high sides to prevent the water from getting in. Furthermore, when adding the pennies it was important to place them in carefully and to distribute them across the boat as when we put them all at one side, the boat capsized.

Escape to Pompeii

In English this half term, we are studying the book 'Escape from Pompeii.' Today we looked at some different voabulary which is explored in the book such as pumice, tremour, and excavate. We worked collaboratively, using our knowledge of other word to match the vocabulary, its definition and a picture together. Finally, we orally composed sentences using these new words.

Welcome back!

What a lovely week back we have had, concluding in a trip to the Parr Hall to see Snow White Pantomine. We all had a lovely morning and it was lovely to continue our school tradition after Covid prevented us going for the last two years! The children had a brilliant time and were a credit to the school.

Autumn term

We have reached the end of the first term in Year 4 and what a busy Autumn term. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a well deserved rest, ready for the next term of challenges and excitement!

Christmas performances

The children have worked tirelessly to learn the songs for our Christmas perfromance this year. It was regrettable they were unable to showcase it with you present however you can watch it via the link in the school newsletter. Please do not share these links with anyone outside of the Latchford family. Thank you and enjoy!

Elf on the shelf

The elf caused so much mess and left it to us to clean up! It would have been unfair for us not to have had a little fun before-hand though!!!!

Elf on the shelf

Oh no the Elf has come into Year 4! Watch the cheeky behaviour at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiWbEIrMLU8 and decide for yourself who it might be!!

Sound

In science this week, we have explored pitch and volume. We looked at different instruments to explore how we could make them louder and then discussed how you could change the pitch, making it a low or high sound.

Love of reading day

Today has been such a lovely day in school, children and adults have worn slippers all discussed books! We spent our morning reflecting on our favourite books and which ones we would recommend to others. We then sat and read and discussed our books with hot chocolate and a biscuit!

This afternoon, we retold the story 'Not Now Bernard' in Spanish. The children loved acting out the different parts and señorita Anna was very impressed with their accents!

Telephones

This week we created telephnes our of plastic cups and string. We didn't think they were going to work as they are not like our normal phones we have at home. However we were surprised by the results. We then discussed how sound moves through vibrations, the vibrations from our mouth vibrate the cup, which in turn vibrates the string and the other cup!

Mrs Jevans

This week, Mrs Jevans celebrated her 50th birthday! It was a surprise we knew anything about it, as she only told us all 3 times a day that it was coming up. We celebrated by making a BIG fuss of her in school, putting pictures of her on any surface we could find and getting her a huge cake. Happy Birthday Mrs J!

Parents evenings

This week, it was so lovely for you to come in and chat with myself and Mrs Jevans. We really appreciate you taking the time to come in and talk to us. I know some of you could not make it, so feel free to come and see us one night after school. It is so important that we are working together to achieve the best for your children.

A new face to Year 4

This week, we welcome a new teacher into Year 4. Mr Fox is a student teacher and will be with us until February. He is very excited to be part of Year 4.

Science- Sound

In Science this half term, we will be exploring sound. We started our topic by experimenting how sound moves. We used tuning forks to show how sound can move through solids, liquids and gases via vibrations to our ears!

Conductors and insulators

In Science, we learned about insulators and conductors. We created a human circuit to investigate different materials. It showed us how important it was not to have a break in the circuit.

Ancient Greece

In history, we have been learning about Ancient Greece. During the topic, we have looked at the democratic system. We role played how a government was formed and how they could make important decisions. We then looked at how the Ancient Greeks also ostracised those who they felt would jepodise the political decisions. Role playing this part was our favourite part!

Science

During Science this week, we have been experimenting with different circuits. We learned how a circuit needs a power source and how the wires need to connect to either side of the cell. We then explored how adding an extra bulb and adding another cell made a difference to the brightness of the lamps. We had a great time working together.

Welcome to Year 4- Open evening.

It was so lovely to see so many of you after school on Tuesday. For those who couldn't make it, here is the information I passed on about what is happening this half term. We are always around, so if you want to discuss anything just pop in one night after school.

Welcome to Year 4!.pptx

R.E

In RE we have learned about Jesus and the Roman centurion. We acted out the story and thought about what we could learn from the story. We decided Jesus wanted to show that we should have faith in God, we should not judge others on their beliefs and we should have faith in one another.

The new Year 4 class of 2021

DT food technology

Continuing with our food technology project, we've been practicing our food preparation skills by cutting food. Using a bridge and claw method. The children loved it and were brilliant. Definitely some future chefs in year 4!

DT food technology

For our DT project this term, we are learning about food preparation so of course we had to have a food tasting day. We sampled a selection of European and Mediterranean foods and rated them based on appearance and taste. Some went down much better than others.

Super Sports Day

What an amazing day! Our sports day this year was filled with fun, games and a little bit of slime! Year 4 had an absolute blast as did Mr Smith, Mrs Hammam and Miss Bates. Check out the pictures to see just how amazing this day was for everyone involved!

Natural Collages

This week we got started on our natural collages. We painted a watercolour background and added natural materials to create a forest scene. Stay tuned for the finished pieces soon!

Art - Where the forest meets the sea

Based on the artwork in our current reading book in English 'Where the forest meets the sea' Year 4 have been challenged with recreating some of the artwork found in the book by creating natural collages using materials gathered from around the school grounds.

Last week we took a trip to our forest school area to gather the materials we need (and to have a bit of fun in the process) check out our pictures and stay tuned for and update on our art peices.

St Georges Day

Check out Year 4's snazzy red and white outfits for St Georges Day as we research all about the rainforest.

Newsletter – Summer 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

Hello all and welcome back to our summer term. There are lots of exciting things happening in school this term including meeting our new Head Teacher Mr Hayes who I’m sure will feel quickly part of the Latchford St James family.

As we head towards the end of this year, the focus of all the staff at Latchford St James is still making sure that the children feel safe and comfortable and continue to show resilience and make brilliant progress with their learning.

This term, our focus in school will continue to be the children’s social and emotional wellbeing as well as making up for some of the time lost because of the recent lockdowns. We will be returning to a whole school recovery curriculum which includes a greater focus on maths, English, RE, physical activity, creativity through art and DT and health and wellbeing.

Uniform

Please ensure all pieces of your child’s uniform are clearly labelled with their name. Below is a reminder of our school uniform requirements:

Grey trousers
Grey skirt or pinafore
White polo shirt / white shirt.
School purple sweatshirt/cardigan
Sensible shoes (not trainers) – dark colour, flat and supporting.
Grey/white socks or dark tights.
School purple fleece (optional)
SUMMER OPTION - Grey school shorts or lilac gingham dress.

Homework

Homework this term will continue as before with children in Year 4 expected to complete 3 weekly tasks.

Practicing times tables on Times Table Rockstars;
Learn a set of 10 spelling words on spelling shed in preparation for a weekly spelling test;
Home reading and having their reading diaries signed 3 times a week.

All 3 aspects of homework will be checked by the year 4 team weekly.

At school, we are still doing everything we can to make up for lost time from last year and this year and these small weekly homework tasks will help hugely towards the children’s progress. It goes without saying that we are incredibly grateful for all the hard work parents and guardians have put in this year with home learning and these homework tasks will continue to help children progress and achieve.

All homework will be explained to the children each week and there will always be further support if needed.

Playtimes

This term, school have invested in some brand-new playground equipment for each class. It will be the children’s responsibility to take care of their equipment and their will be sanctions in place for any child who breaks or loses any of it.

In our first few days back, the children have already had a chance to play with their new equipment and it has so far been a great success which I am sure will continue for the rest of the term.

As mentioned, physical activity is still a priority this term. For year 4, PE will be taught on a Tuesday afternoon and a Wednesday morning.

Please make sure your child has a complete school PE kit of a white t-shirt and purple shorts. Since the weather is beginning to improve some of our lessons may start to take place outdoors so suitable outdoor trainers as well as indoor pumps will be needed for lessons.

P.E Kit List:

T-shirt (plain white or one with school logo)
Shorts (plain purple)
Tracksuit bottoms (plain black – for outdoor P.E)
Trainers (for outdoor P.E) and black pumps (for indoor P.E)

PE kits can now be left in school but if you would still prefer to take them home weekly to wash please make sure your children bring them back for Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

If your child has their ears pierced please ensure that earrings are taken out or covered before school.

Water Bottles

As the weather gets warmer it is extra important to make sure children are hydrated throughout the day. They will still need to bring in their own water bottle to school which should be taken home at the end of each day to be cleaned. Water bottles should only contain water, no juices please.

We are looking forward to a wonderful final term in Year 4 helping the children achieve and preparing them to transition into Year 5. If there is anything you need to discuss, please do not hesitate to contact us on Class Dojo or speak to a member of the year 4 team at the end of the school day if safe and possible.

Best regards

Mr Smith

Year 4 Teacher

Mrs Hammam and Mrs Bates

Year 4 TAs

River's Rodents and Reptiles

On Fun Friday we had a very special visitor, in fact we had several very special visitors. Some of us in year 4 joined in with River's Reptiles and Rodents and learned so much about lizards, snakes, tortoises, rats and guinea pigs.

Thank you very much River and all his animals and thank you to all the children who took part. We hope you learned lots about these brilliant animals!

Fun Friday

For Children's mental health day this year, around school we had a fun Friday!

We focused on our mental health by Expressing Ourselves in different ways,

Take a look at some of the brilliant baking and awesome artwork from our Fun Friday! Hope you all enjoyed yourself

Speech Sandwiches

Some fantastic work from our home learning!

We had a go at writing a speech sandwich at home, a way to make dialogue and speech in our stories so much more interesting to read.

Check out 3 'speech sandwiches' written by our year 4s at home.

christmas poem

Please follow this link to view Year 4 Christmas poem:

.https://youtu.be/kMbu5E3jdT4

MacMillan Fundraiser – FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2020

Don’t forget it’s non-uniform day this Friday 25th September, to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support! Please bring a £1 donation to school on Friday and hand it to a member of staff in your child’s pod at the gate. Many thanks for your support.

Welcome to Y4

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