Year 4 - Weekly Update

What a truly magical and action-packed week we've enjoyed! The children have dived headfirst into several exciting new topics across the curriculum.

English & Spelling Focus

Harry Potter and Narrative Writing

In English, we have officially begun reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone! We started the week with an imaginary potion-making class to set the scene, and the children are now immersed in planning a five-part narrative about a spell that goes hilariously wrong. They are showing incredible creativity in inventing their own unique spells and their consequences.

New Spellings: The ‘-ation’ Suffix

Our new spelling focus is on the '-ation' suffix, which changes verbs into nouns (e.g., 'explore' becomes 'exploration').

Please help your child practice the following words. They will be tested on Friday, November 14th.

• exploration

• detonation

• location

• coronation

• combination

• adoration

• observation

• illustration

• generation

• admiration

Below are some ways in which you might find useful to help your child practice these spellings at home:

Pyramid Writing

How to do it: Write the word one letter at a time, adding a letter on each line until the word is complete. This helps them focus on the sequence of letters.

E

Ex

Exp

Word Chain Challenge

How to do it: Challenge your child to create a chain of sentences where they use as many of the '-ation' words as possible.

Definition Match-Up

How to do it: Write the ten spelling words on separate slips of paper. Write the ten definitions (or simple explanations of the words) on ten other slips of paper. Ask your child to match the word to its correct meaning.

Silly Sentence Scramble

How to do it: Choose three to four spelling words. Ask your child to write the silliest sentence they can that correctly uses all of the chosen words.

Science: The Wonders of Sound

We launched our new Science topic: Sound! We explored the essential question of how sounds are made. The children conducted a brilliant experiment using a drum and some rice. They loved watching the rice vibrate and dance as the drum was struck, providing a fantastic visual demonstration of sound energy in action.

🔢 Maths & 🎶 Music

• Maths: We have been sharpening our multiplication skills by looking for exciting patterns within the 6, 7, and 9 times tables. The children are becoming pattern detectives!

• Music: We listened to the iconic Harry Potter music, focusing on identifying the different instruments and discussing key musical elements like tempo (speed), timbre (tone quality), and dynamics (loudness/softness).

🤸 PE & PSHE

• PE: We have started two new topics this term: Yoga, focusing on balance and calm, and Hockey, learning new grip and passing techniques.

• PSHE: We began our "Inner Wings" programme, with Session 1 focusing on building self-confidence and identifying our own unique personal "superpowers."

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Thank you, as always, for your support in making learning such a success!

Other information and reminders:

• Remember to log all reading on Boom Reader so that we can see each child's acheivements and enter them in to our reading raffle each week!

• Christmas card designs to be handed in by Thursday 13th November please.

• CLOVER CLASS ONLY - We have a Rugby Taster session on Monday. The children will need to come in to school in their PE kits.