Christmas Scrapbook

Christmas will be filled with many exciting activities so we would like you to spend some time recording these in the form of a Christmas Scrapbook. Postcards, maps, diary entries, special Christmas cards, photographs, art work, plane tickets...anything that shows some of the things you do over the Christmas holidays.

Creative Writing:

As part of your scrap book, please also write a story entitled 'A Christmas to Remember'. Try to include all of the things we have been studying this term:

• Connectives (Firstly, eventually, meanwhile…)

• Similes

• Spellings

• Powerful vocabulary

• Punctuation 

• Handwriting (ascenders and descenders)

• Alliteration

• Metaphors
• Paragraphs

Reading:
There are some 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' reading comprehension activities for you to complete as well as reading every day.

Maths:
Please make sure you complete your active learn online maths activities and keep practising your times tables.

Have a well deserved break and enjoy your Christmas holidays. We look forward to seeing you refreshed and ready to begin our new topic 'Active Planet' on Monday 9th January 2017.

Have a wonderful holiday.

Rainforest Concern

After an inspirational assembly from Joshua Bratt and Lewis Critchley from 4J, the sum of
£154.55 was raised at the cake sale on Friday.

This is enough money to sponsor 3 acres of rainforest!

Rainforest Concern have been in touch to say thank you and have sent a link to their website so that you can access all their educational resources.

Click here  if you want to find out more.

Active Planet

Next term Year 4 will be starting a new IPC topic called 'Active Planet'.
This weekend would be a good opportunity for children to explore what they know about the planets and our solar system.

We will also be having a round-up of all the spellings we have learned this half term. Please use your Look, Cover, Write, Check books to revise spelling patterns and make sure you know what the words mean too!

All about Chocolate

As we are nearing the end of our topic about chocolate, it is time to see how much has been understood and remembered.

We will be completing a book with chapters detailing each of the areas we have studied: History, Geography, Religious Studies and Science.

In order to include as many facts as possible Year 4 will be encouraged to reflect on all the research they have done in class and for homework. The children may want to print out maps, diagrams or pictures to improve the presentation of their book.

Click on the link to look at some of the resources we have used.

All About Chocolate

Thank you!

Thank you for the coins you sent in last week for Children in Need.
Year 4 raised a total of £78.55! (not including £1s brought in for wearing spotty clothes)

The Weekend Challenge is:

To investigate ways of making the total £78.55 using the least amount of coins.

How many £1, £2, 50p, 10p, 5p, 2p, 1p?


or


To incorporate all of this week's spellings into a story.
Please click Here for the spelling lists.

Reading Comprehension

We have been doing a variety of activities which check that we are understanding what we are reading. We have found out about the chocolate making process and Remembrance Day too.
This weekend the children will bring home a reading comprehension activity based on The Iron Man. They may also choose to write and answer 5 questions about their own reading book.

It is important that the children are able to locate their answers rather than just rely on memory.
We have been reminding the children about PQRS.

P  = Passage (Read the passage carefully)

Q  = Questions (Read the questions carefully)

R  = Re-read the passage

S  = Start answering the questions

Caburys or Frys?

Choose one of these famous chocolate families and find out more about their history.

• Key dates, names and events.
• Their religion (there are other famous confectionary making families who are part of this religion too!)
• What part of the UK did they originate from and set up their factories?

We would like you to use your note taking skills to write down these key facts and more!

The Cadbury Family

The Fry Family

Hello Friends in Argentina

Year 4 have been working on a presentation to share with pupils at St Hilda's College in Argentina.
It tells them about our school and locality. Click here to see the presentation.

We have also written emails to them with information about ourselves and questions for them to answer.

We hope to get some responses while we are on half term...

During half term we would like  you to create a poster or leaflet full of information about Argentina/South America. We are focusing on handwriting and presentation in Year 4 at the moment so please try to do this by hand.

You have also received a letter about Postcard Pandemonium from Mrs Butcher.

Have a wonderful half term.

Chocolate Facts!

We have begun our new IPC unit this week on 'Chocolate'.
Mr Willy Wonka burst into our English lesson after losing his way to his chocolate factory.

This week's Weekend Challenge is to find out some facts about chocolate. Please think about presenting your facts in an imaginative way and ensure it is not something we have already found out ie: The most expensive/cheapest chocolate bar in your local shop or the most popular chocolate bar in you family and why.
The  most interesting facts will be chosen to go onto a Golden Ticket.

4P Assembly 'International Mindedness'

Year 4 did an assembly on International Mindedness.

Click the pic to see it or click here

Well done Year 4P!

Haiku Challenge

As part of the work done for National Poetry Day this week, the children have been writing their own Haikus.

This week's Weekend Challenge is to write a Haiku about...

Remember to think about the following criteria:
3 lines....5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables.
Please use lots of Wow Words!

A big thank you to all of the parents and family who came in this morning to support 4P. The children thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and did us proud.

Video to follow soon...

Year 4 Assemblies

Year 4P Class Assembly Friday 7th October at 8:40am in Wortham Hall.

Next week is Year 4J.

Year 4 Weekend Challenge

Can you think of an exciting story which incorporates all of your spelling words from this week? You can use your LCWC books to record this.


Also, we are finding out about the history of our school and the surrounding area.
Here are some ideas to extend your knowledge on this topic:

• Research famous local historical figures other than Sir Francis Drake
• What did Tavistock look like years ago?
• Has our school always been a school?

Grow your Brain!

Have a look at this short video which talks about how we can grow our brains...

Have a look at some of these examples of work children have done at home for our 

'Year 4 Independent Learners Board'.

Next week children could have a look at creative ways of remembering their times tables...

Times Tables Games

Spellings in Year 4

This week Year 4 are looking at High Frequency Words. These are words which regularly appear in text and are often tricky to spell. The children have identified words which they find easy and those which need a bit more attention. Common areas to consolidate are homophones such as through and threw. Also, many of the children have identified tricky spelling patterns where many of the letters are silent such as could and laugh.

The children will bring these lists home with them at the end of the week to stick up somewhere around the house to practice regularly.
Next week we will begin our Year 4 Look, Cover, Write, Check System.

PS...Thanks for all the wonderful props you brought in today!

Brainwaves

At the beginning of next week Year 4 will be following a unit of work for 3 weeks which focuses on 'The art of learning'.

The past fifteen to twenty years have seen an explosion of research into how the brain works. (Almost everything we know about this subject has been learnt during this time span.) During the same period, there has been a similar explosion of interest from teachers interested in using this information in the classroom. Many of the activities in each IPC unit have been designed around this new information.

We are also learning something else. If children can be encouraged to think about their own learning, how learning happens and how they learn best, then they will learn more effectively. This short unit is about helping your child to 'learn how to learn'.

The purposes of this unit are:

• To introduce children to some ideas about how learning takes place
• To provide them with some strategies to use in their own learning
• To encourage them to think about their learning as something over which they have control

During their work they may well ask you about your own preferred ways of learning. Please help your child by being as honest as you can, particularly about your own learning habits. Please discuss the work with your child, trying to help them understand themselves as learners rather than imposing a 'one size fits all' approach. Whatever else we may have learnt, we know that this is one thing that doesn't work.

We will be inviting you in to our class assemblies to find out more about what we have been doing. You will receive an official invitation nearer the time.

Welcome to the Mount Kelly Prep Year 4 Learning Zone

This is an exciting new way to access information and support your Year 4 learning experience at Mount Kelly Prep.
There will be regular posts with information and links aimed at helping you to celebrate and share learning from the classroom as well as provide opportunities to expand your learning journey outside the school environment.