The clocks have gone back and the cold is creeping in but that’s not stopped Year 4 coming back from half term with a brilliant attitude and giving everything their best. Let’s have a look at how we have kicked off Term 2.

Maths

In maths this week we have been looking at equivalent fractions. Year 4 have learnt what equivalent means (the same as/equal to) and how to use a fraction wall to find out whether two fractions are equivalent or not. We ended the week by ramping it up and learning how we can use multiplication or division to find equivalent fractions; if you multiply the numerator and the denominator by the same number the resulting fraction will be equivalent to the original fraction.

Next week we will be looking at comparing and ordering fractions.

English

In English we have started reading our new book ‘The Ice Palace’ by Robert Swindells which is about a small village in a wintery forest that is watched by a man called Starjik who sneaks into the village at night and kidnaps Ivan’s (our protagonist) little brother. Ivan sets out to try to find, and save, his brother. We have been discussing how we can use ambitious adjectives and language to create fantastic setting descriptions of a wintery forest.

Next week we will practice writing metaphors and dialogue.

Thematic

Our thematic topic this term is ‘Walk like an Egyptian’ where we learn all about Ancient Egypt. We have begun by learning about the social hierarchies of the time where Pharaoh’s were at the top and considered to be half gods (there was even a boy who was made Pharaoh when he was 9 years old!). We then discussed why the River Nile was, and still is, so important to Egyptians. Finally, we learned about the difference between BCE – before common era (sometimes known as BC) and CE – common era (sometimes known as AD) and then made our own pyramids out of clay. Check them out!

Spelling

Mrs Cousins' group spellings to learn:

boys, joy, toys, annoy, destroy, enjoy, cowboy, where, ask, once

Challenge words: voyage, joyful

Mr Oxley, Mr Keam and Miss Stephen's groups:

Interact, internet, international, interstate, interview, interrupt, interlinked, earth, eight, eighth, enough

 

Love to Learn

For your love to learn this week, we would like you to keep an eye out for anything you see divided into fractions. Maybe you see a chocolate bar is divided into eighths; maybe you notice that a clock is divided into halves or quarters. Let us know what you notice by writing a list, sticking in pictures or drawing what you found.

 

Dates to remember:

4th November – First day of Term 2; school starts at 8.30 as usual

11th November – Poppies on sale this week

11th November – Service uniform day; children can wear their service uniforms to school

15th November – Children in Need; children to wear something spotty to school

27th November – Year 4 trip to Maidstone Museum

11th December – Chilton Christmas Fair from 3.15 – 4.30

13th December – Year 2 and 4 Come Dine with Me

17th December – Year 3 and 4 Church performance at 2pm

19th December – Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 Christmas party day (party clothes to be worn)

20th December – Christmas jumper day (children can wear usual school uniform with a Christmas jumper)

20th December – School Christmas dinner

20th December – Last day of school; School finishes at 2pm; No after school club on this day