Autumn Term

Christmas Crackers

There is nothing more magical (or noisy) than a primary school at Christmas time. This week the children have managed to write a fantastic adventure story in our English lessons, along side all the Christmas chaos, I am super impressed.  We had our dress rehearsal for our nativity play on Monday followed by three performances for our grown ups on the Monday afternoon and Tuesday.  The class performed amazingly well, and there are definitely some future stars in our midst, I've told them all to remember who gave them their first big break once they're rich and famous !  

Friday has been all about Christmas crafts, you have some wonderful goodies to look forward to next week, the cards and calendars look fantastic.  We also had another visit from Mr Churchward who talked to us about stranger danger and how we can keep ourselves safe when we're out and about.  

Well, just one more week to go, we have so many lovely things planned for our last week including: our Christmas party, the rock band performance and the carol service at church, busy, busy, busy....

A Special Treat

Years 4, 5 and 6 enjoyed a special treat this week.  Some extremely talented students from Gateshead College came in to perform a hilarious rendition of 'The Borrowers'.  Everyone had great fun, joining is with the singing and dancing at the end.  One child even said "that was the best pantomime I've ever saw!" I made sure I passed the wonderful compliment on to the students, who in turn praised the children for being an enthusiastic and well mannered audience.

Poppies and Poetry

On Monday 11th November, year four were showing respect and remembering those soldiers (and animals) who lost their life at war.  We read the famous poem: In Flanders Field by John McCrae, and in our pairs, we were given a line to think about. After lots of really interesting discussions we performed the poem as a class, each pair reading their line out beautifully.  We then made some poppies using a range of methods and media.  Some chose collage, others preferred Pointillism (an interesting artistic technique involving dots).  We have included a photo of some of our designs, we hope you like them.

Anti-Bullying Week

This week was anti-bullying week. In year four, we discussed different types of bullying and why someone might bully another person.  The class shared lots of interesting and mature points of view.  We then looked at different bullying scenarios with made up characters. The children in these scenarios were in a difficult situation and needed advice, support and some kindness. We made cards for the children, with inspirational quotes and carefully thought out advice.  Here is some pictures of our efforts....

Murder at the Fort

On Friday 18th October, year four visited Housesteads Roman Fort.  Our task? To solve a 2000 year old murder mystery.  Two skeletons were discovered in the fort, and our job was to search for clues and try to find the truth behind the bones!

The class raced around the ruins, full of enthusiasm and came up with some very creative ideas as to whom the culprit was, their potential murder weapon and their motive for the gruesome crime.  The staff at the English Heritage site praised the whole class for their knowledge and understanding of the Roman invasion, not only could the class answer the questions asked but were also able to ask really intelligent questions themselves. Well done year four, you were fantastic ambassadors for Newburn Manor. A special thanks to Mrs Reid's and Vinney's Mums' for braving the cold and being such wonderful volunteers on our trip.  

'Cloud Tea Monkeys' Drama

In English, we have really enjoyed acting out scenes from our class book 'Cloud Tea Monkeys' by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham.  This is the story of a young girl, Tashi, who lives in a small village below the tea plantations where her mother works.  When her mother falls ill, Tashi must pick tea leaves to to earn the money for her to visit a doctor.  Unfortunately, Tashi is too small to reach the tender shoots and the cruel overseer sends her away empty-handed.  Tashi needs a miracle.  However, high on the high mountains, where only monkeys live, something amazing happens that will change her life forever ...

Practical Maths

We are continuing with our place value topic in maths, and the class are really getting to grips with 4-digit numbers.  We decided to learn more practically this week, taking our base ten equipment into the hall, to do some 'hands on' partitioning.  We also created a human number line to 10,000!  The children were asked to think of a number between 0-10,000 then arrange themselves into ascending order.  Excellent work year four :) 

The Science of Sound

Within our science lessons, we have been learning all about sound.  We went on a walk in and around school, noting down which sounds were heard and what was vibrating in order to create the sound.  We then carried out an investigation into how sound travels, we made string telephones to test how well sound waves travels along a solid in comparison to through the air!  The children had great fun and I was delighted to hear them using scientific vocabulary as they tested their 'phones'.

Welcome to Year Four's Class Page

What a fantastic first week we have enjoyed in year four.  The children have settled in so well and are clearly ready to learn.  We have lots of exciting things to look forward to this half term.  Our topic is The Romans, and we have lots of arts, crafts and research activities planned, and a trip to Housesteads Roman Fort (letter to follow soon).

In English we are learning about fables, and over the next couple of weeks we will be creating our own animal characters and writing our own fable tales.  In science, we are learning about sound!  What is sound?  How do we hear sounds?  The children will be conducting various experiments to help them answer those questions. 

We will be practising our times tables daily, and looking at place value in maths, working independently and in small groups to solve calculations and problems.  I am so excited to work with your children this year, they have already impressed me in the short time I have been their teacher, I know we will have a fabulous year of learning together.

My door is always open if you have any concerns or questions.

Mrs Reid