Hello!

And so, our year together draws to an end… I cannot believe how quickly time has flown, and that I have now parted ways with my lovely class of 2023-24.

Thank you so much for the support you’ve given me; I really, really appreciate all of your efforts throughout the year.

Thank you also for your *extremely* generous gifts! ‘Thank you’ cards will go out during the first week back into September to all pupils and parents who contributed to my voucher and to those who gave separate gifts!

Have a great summer and don’t forget to say ‘hello’ if you see me during the holidays (if I appear to ignore you, please note that I usually have my wireless earbuds in whilst out and about without Apollo, so probably wouldn’t be able to hear you, so just tap me on the shoulder!)

See you all in September,

Luke / Mr. Faith

Hello!

Year 4 have had a superb week! Lots of rehearsals resulted in four wonderful performances of ‘Naughty’ and a very tired, but delighted, Year 4 class and teaching staff! I hope you were able to attend, and enjoyed yourself if you did!

We even squeezed a lovely mindfulness-themed trip to Kensington Palace too!

(As of time of writing) Three more days to go now – I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by! Your children have been a pleasure to teach, and I will miss them greatly!

Be sure to get check your ParentMail inbox from 1615 on Friday 19th July for your child’s report; a lot of work went into writing all 28 of them, and I hope you enjoy reading your child’s one. Once you’ve read it, I’m happy to go through any aspects of your child’s report in greater detail (such as ongoing targets) and / or answer any further questions you may have. If you’d like to meet up, just drop me an email and we can sort something out.

Have a great (and if you’re a Year 4 child reading this, restful – you’ve earned it!) weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

One-and-a-half weeks to go; wow…

First of all, thank you to all of you who came up to say ‘hello’ to Apollo during the summer fair; he had a thoroughly great time!

Secondly, we will be all systems go with regards to our whole-school production next week. We plan on doing a full dress rehearsal first thing on Monday, so if you haven’t yet had your child bring in their costume (thank you to those who have already done so), please have them do so by Monday. Guidance for costuming was sent out a while back via ParentMail, but here it is again for ease of access:

Listed below are wardrobe requirements for our extravaganza (an extremely easy wardrobe this year but please no trainers):

Year 4: Boys school trousers/ shorts, white shirt, black shoes and school tie. Girls school skirt/ shorts, white shirt, black shoes and school tie.

During English, we worked on poetry, writing haikus, kennings and cinquains throughout the week.

In our Maths lessons, we started our final unit of work for the year, on position and direction. In doing this, we read and plotted coordinates on a grid, as well as used positional language to identify movements. We also answered related word problems throughout the week, putting our reasoning skills to good use!

During RE, we reflected upon what the miracles of Jesus’ ministry teach Christians about being the ‘People of God’.

During RHE, we learnt about how to ask for help if a secret makes us uncomfortable.

In Geography, we finished our unit of work on the River Nile by describing, in detail, a journey up it.

The children also enjoyed another session with QPR (please note that we now have an extra session with them next week – see our ParentMail message for more information).

During Computing, we continued to work on Scratch coding, creating more complex dances using our sprites.

For our Art lesson, we were lucky enough to be visited by EYFS / KS1 parent, Dominique, who led the class in creating Henri Matisse-inspired pieces!

Please note that there is no homework this week, but please have your child practise their song (‘Naughty’) and dance for the school production.

Here is our half-termly poetry performance, our final one of the year:

Poetry Performance

The children were also fortunate enough to have a bonus drama session with Mark from Raw Academy!

Also, we have a trip next week. If you haven’t already done so, please provide consent via ParentMail at your earliest convenience. A big ‘thank you’ to those who have already done this.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

2 ½ weeks to go! Blimey…

For English, we finished our work on adventure stories. We finished writing our adventure stories, reviewed them thoroughly using our green pens, and then redrafted them in our neatest handwriting! We also completed our end-of-half term Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation tests, as well as our reading ones.

During our Maths lessons, we spent the week looking at statistics. In doing this, we analysed and drew pictograms and bar charts, read and plotted line graphs, answered questions related to all of the aforementioned and completed our end-of-unit tests. We crammed a lot of Maths into just one week!

In RHE, following Kat’s workshop of a few weeks back, we reflected upon what puberty is and how it can change our physical appearance.

During our RE lesson, we continued to reflect on miracles and thought about our own beliefs regarding the same.

In our Geography lesson, we compared and contrasted the uses of the River Nile during ancient and modern Egyptian times.

During Computing, as we ended up having a somewhat abbreviated lesson, we continued experimenting with Scratch coding in creating dance sequences. Next week, I hope to move onto having the children plan and execute more complex sequences / pieces of code.

Here is this week’s homework, which is the final one of the year:

050724 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Thank you to all of those who attended the Arts Café on Friday. Once again, a big shout out goes to our very own Miss Amy, who was the driving force behind all of our artistic endeavours during our two arts mornings a few weeks back.

Please note that we have our final class trip in a short while. If you haven’t already done so, please provide consent (AKA a ‘payment’ of £0 on ParentMail; the trip itself is free) as soon as you can. Thanks!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Another busy week! I cannot believe that we have less than a month to go before I part ways with my lovely class; how time has flown…

For English, we continued to work on adventure stories. We looked at spelling strategies for words featuring ‘que’ and ‘gue’, planned our own nautical adventures and wrote them too! Top work me hearties!

During our Maths lessons, we concluded our unit of work on Shape. In doing so, we explored reflective symmetry, learnt more about the properties of polygons and completed our end-of-unit test.

In RHE, following Kat’s workshop of a few weeks back, we reflected upon what puberty is and how it can affect our emotions.

In our Geography lesson, we explored the physical and human geography of the River Nile.

During our RE lesson, we looked at Jesus’ many miracles and reflected upon the ones that mean the most to us.

During Computing, the children had a great time experimenting with Scratch coding in creating dance sequences. I promised the children that I’d share a link to the template used so they could show their parents / carers at home, so here it is: tinyurl.com/scratch4rosen.

During Art, Miss Amy led the children in washing out and mounting their batik pieces.

Speaking of Art, here’s a message from Mrs Allen, our most excellent Art / DT Coordinator:

Arts Cafe

Our annual Arts Cafe will be taking place in the Main Hall on Friday 5th of July from 3:00pm-4:30pm. You will be able to see a collection of all the amazing art the children produced during Arts Day and admire their hard work!

Here is this week’s homework (please note that there is a reading comprehension component):

280624 – Spellings Homework Sheet

280624 – Reading Comprehension 16 – Bus Route

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

I hope this message reaches you well and that you had a fantastic weekend.

We have had a fantastic Arts Day (well, two separate Arts Mornings, to be precise), participating in a range of fun activities and creating some fabulous pieces of work inspired by this year’s theme, recycled art.

As is usually the case in 4 Rosen, art-related activities were largely led by the wonderful Miss Amy (with assistance from her ever-so-slightly-less-artistic class teacher, Mr Faith, as well as the far-more-artistically-competent Miss Tracey). A huge ‘thank you’ goes out to Miss Amy for her amazing efforts in planning and delivering these superb lessons – we are very lucky to have her, and greatly appreciate her Herculean efforts in and around the classroom! Her activities included making mixed-media collage posters using a range of recycled materials, as well as a year group poster inspired by Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’.

We were also fortunate enough to be visited and helped by several class parents, including Taran and Nicola (as well as Nicola’s mother, Carol). Nicola, a former art teacher, led a fantastic session where children created Matisse-inspired compositions using wallpaper samples and magazine clippings.

A note from Mrs Allen, our most excellent Art and DT Coordinator:

Whole School Display!

The Arts Day fun does not stop there! We will be creating a whole school display to celebrate eco-art. In order to do this, every child needs to bring in 1 round found green-coloured object.

We will also be having our Arts Café on the 5th of July – more information to follow.

During our Maths lessons, we continued to work on shape, identifying angles, comparing and ordering angles, as well as a lesson where we comprehensively explored triangles.

For English, we used subordinate clauses to write pirate-themed sentences, wrote detailed descriptions of the legendary Kraken and completed a reading comprehension.

During our RE lesson, we learnt about who performs miracles, whilst during RHE, we reflected upon those who can help us deal with change.

In our Geography lesson, we found out the positive and negative effects of the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile.

Here is this week’s homework:

210624 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Another busy week! Here are some of our highlights:

During Maths, we finished off our unit of work on time, converting 12-hour time to 24-hour time and vice versa, then completing our end-of-unit tests. We then started our new unit on shape, understanding angles as turns.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, continuing to have your child practise telling the time in practical, real-world fashion (particularly during the summer holidays, with the various adventures you will all be on) is incredibly useful and will help consolidate their understanding of key concepts. This is even more important to do now we have stopped learning about it in class!

The entire Year 4 Rosen cohort have now completed their Multiplication Tables Checks – as mentioned last week, it is crystal clear that the vast majority of those who sat their tests have indeed been practising diligently. This will stand them in good stead as they enter Year 4; thanks again to those who facilitated this occurring at home.

During English, we continued to work on adventure stories, creating our very own pirates, writing detailed pirate fact files, and paragraphs using similes, metaphors and personification.

In our first Geography lesson of the term, we started to explore the River Nile. We learned a range of facts about the famous river and separated the same into ‘true’ and ‘false’ categories. We also followed up with a look at how the River Nile flows from its source to its mouth.

During RE, we built upon the work we did last week on miracles, and explored the differences between miracles and magic.

The boys and girls each had a pair of Relationships and Health Education (RHE) sessions with relationships expert Kat François. I was on hand for the boys’ sessions, whilst Mrs Walsh did the same for the girls’ ones, and I was highly impressed with how well my group worked – well done them!

Here is this week’s homework (please note there is a reading comprehension component):

140624 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Reading Comprehension 15 – Feathered Record Breakers

A big thank you to all those parents / carers who aided their children in having them wear their PE kits this Monday; the children had a great time working with Sinead and Dylan from QPR.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

I hope you all had a lovely half term break!

We packed a lot into our four-day week; here are some of our highlights:

We had a lovely pre-Arts Day printing workshop courtesy of the lovely folk from Kite Studios! Everyone had a great, albeit very inky, time, where we created prints using recycled Tetra-Paks (a huge thank you to those who washed and sent in these by the way).

During English, we moved onto our new unit of work on adventure stories, starting with a GPS lesson on determiners, studied an exemplar inspired by our key text, ‘Molly Rogers to the Rescue’ by Cornelia Funke, and answered a reading comprehension about the Kraken!

We continued to work on time during Maths, learning and exploring the differences between 12-hour analogue, 12-hour digital and 24-hour digital time. As mentioned during my last blog post, having your child practise telling the time in practical, real-world fashion (for example, calculating jumps in time during a day out, reading the time as part of everyday life, using a calendar to work out the time until people’s birthdays etc) is most useful and will help consolidate their understanding of key concepts.

Many children in 4 Rosen also completed their Multiplication Tables Checks – it is very clear that the vast majority of those who sat their tests have indeed been practising diligently. A huge ‘thank you’ to those who facilitated this occurring at home.

We also started our new RE unit on Miracles, exploring the very concept of miracles. Interesting discussions were to be had during this session, with children offering their thoughts and opinions about the concept.

During Miss Art, Miss Amy led the children in painting their Batik compositions.

Here is this week’s homework, alongside the usual supplementary documentation that kicks off each half term:

070624 – Spellings Homework Sheet

4 Rosen Class Poem for Summer Term 2 2024 – Busy Day

Year 4 Key Vocabulary List – Summer Term 2

RHE Knowledge Page – Summer Term 2 – Year 4 Growing and Changing

Finally, a gentle reminder that your child will also require their PE kits each Monday from this Monday 10th June through Monday 8th July.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

It’s the half term! Sadly, that means we are now 5/6 (or 0.83, if you’re decimally-inclined, as we have been in recent weeks) of the way through our time together… How time flies!

In our English lessons, we finished off our unit of work on instruction / information texts, wrote and edited our own machine explanations. As we approached our half term break, on Wednesday, we completed our end of half term spelling test. After doing this, we completed a separate grammar and punctuation test. On Thursday, we completed our end of half term reading comprehension tests, whilst on Friday, we had a book appreciation session, writing reviews on ones we have recently enjoyed.

During Maths, we continued and concluded our new unit of work on money. We wrote money using decimals (for example, £13.47), converted pounds into pence (and vice-versa,) compared money, and estimated and calculated with money. We then completed our end-of-unit tests. Ted DiBiase would be proud… For the final Maths lesson of the half term, we started to work on time. Speaking of time, having your child practise telling the time in practical, real-world fashion (for example, calculating jumps in time during a day out, reading the time as part of everyday life, using a calendar to work out the time until people’s birthdays etc) would stand them in very good stead for their first few Maths lessons of the final half term of the 2023-2024 academic year… Thanks!

On a Maths-related note, although no official homework has been set for the half term break, please ensure that your child continues to practise their times tables (and the mock MTC test, which can be found at tinyurl.com/y4mtc2024) throughout the half term break; keeping these skills sharp is vitally important as we rapidly approach our MTCs, which will take place during our first few weeks back. Please refer to my ParentMail message (sent on Thursday 23rd May) for further information on this. I must say, I am delighted with the efforts both my class and Maths group have put forward so far; the children have all got appreciably better since we really started working hard on our times tables and I applaud them for their efforts!

Here is this half term’s poetry performance:

https://youtu.be/jT70E7LPoPw

During RE, we finished off our unit of work on the Old Testament by looking at the different ways in which Jonah and Daniel responded to God, and completed our end-of-unit tests.

During RHE, we learnt about ways in which we can be first responders in a situation that may require first aid to be deployed.

For Computing, we finished our unit of work on photo editing, using Pixlr E to further tweak our vividly-coloured alien landscapes.

In our Art lesson, we crafted patterns for batik using PVA glue.

Speaking of Art, here’s an important (and time-sensitive!) message from Mrs Allen, our fabulous Art and DT Coordinator:

Arts Day – TETRA PACKING NEEDED

To celebrate Arts Day, the children will be participating in a printing workshop led by Kite Studios on *Tuesday 4th June 2024 (our first day back!)* In order to do this, the children will need to bring in any tetra packaging (e.g. oat milk, soy milk or juice cartons). Over the holidays, please save any of these packaging you use ready to be donated to school when we return.

Arts Day is also approaching on the 19th of June. Over the holidays, keep collecting found objects like buttons and ribbons so that these can be donated to school when we return.

Finally, please be sure to check your inboxes for several important ParentMail messages about events taking place during Summer Term 2.

Have a lovely half term break, thank you for the continued support, and I’ll see you all on *Tuesday 4th June* – don’t forget those Tetra Paks! (please remember, Monday 3rd is an inset day)!

Mr Faith

Week Commencing 13th May 2024

Hello!

A full week! Our first of two, before we have a half term break, followed by… another four day week!

During Maths, we finished off our unit of work on ‘Decimals B’ by completing our end-of-unit tests regarding the same. As the week progressed, we practised our times tables ahead of our Multiplication Tables Check (please see the homework section for more information / advice on that), and started our new unit of work on money. In doing this, we used decimal notation to write amounts of money, converted between pounds and pence, and compared amounts of money in a variety of ways.

In our English lessons, we continued to work on instruction texts. Our GPS lesson for the week consisted of a refresher on the possessive apostrophe in both of its forms, singular and plural. With regards to instruction texts, we carefully analysed several key texts (including ‘The Teacher Pleaser Machine’ by Pie Corbett) and started to plan our own versions ahead of writing our end-of-unit pieces next week.

During our Art lesson, the children finished their close-ups and then traced part of them to create a patter.

In History, we explored what Mayans did in their spare time, as well as practised using their counting system.

During RHE, we celebrated the great folks that support our school community.

During RE, we learned about David (of ‘and Goliath’ fame) and how his faith made him strong. In doing this, we reflected upon ways in which our faith (both religious and non-religious) keeps us strong.

For Science, children enjoyed 90 minute long sessions with our scientist-in-residence, Linda. Throughout the morning, the class was split into two groups of 14. During these sessions, both groups explored the following learning objectives: 1) To be able to use a classification key to identify animals, and 2) To be able to identify and classify a variety of British plants. In doing this, they completed a range of fun activities, including making animal classification chatterboxes!

Here is this week’s homework (please note there is a reading comprehension component):

170524 – Spellings Homework Sheet

170524 – Reading Comprehension 14 – The Mango Tree

Time for a suspiciously similar looking update about the Multiplication Tables Check…

Whenever possible, please have your child practise their times tables, regular and often (ideally daily – it only takes about ten minutes a go), using this link: tinyurl.com/y4mtc2024.

If you are able to, please do this on a PC / laptop / Chromebook, although if none of those are available, a tablet will suffice. Continued practise of this simulated Multiplication Tables Check will really stand your child in good stead when it comes to preparing for the real thing in early June!

Please note that we will not be setting any new Mathletics tasks for the next few weeks – in lieu of these, myself and Mrs Walsh expect your child/ren to practise their times tables as much as possible ahead of the Multiplication Tables Check in early June. Thank you for the continued support!

I don’t know about you, but those last few paragraphs certainly invoked a sense of déjà vu on my end…

From Mrs Allen, Art Coordinator:

Arts Day

Arts Day on the 19th of June is fast approaching! We are still looking for parents, carers, grandparents, godparents- really anyone with an interest in art, to come in to school to support the classes on the day with their art. This could be either by leading a workshop or to support the teachers in class. If you would like to volunteer please email Mrs Allen (e.allen@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk).

We are also continuing to collect found objects, especially small items such as buttons. Please donate these by placing them into the red letterbox outside the main reception.

From Mr Gane, Maths lead and Year 6 impresario:

FANTASTIC FUNDRAISING

Lily arrived for the Y6 SATs breakfast on Monday morning with her hoodie hood snuggly fastened, as if she wanted to hide something… We didn’t have to wait long for the big reveal.

A long time in the planning, Lily said it was a year ago that she made the decision to donate her hair for children with cancer. She grew it looooong, had it cut on 11th May and is asking for contributions towards the £500 it takes to turn her hair into a wig. The Little Princess Trust then provides real hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or to other conditions such as Alopecia.

The Little Princess Trust, also one of the largest funders of childhood cancer research in the UK, relies solely on the generosity of its wonderful supporters, who help the charity give ‘Hair and Hope’ to so many children and young people with cancer each year.

Please visit Lily’s JustGiving page and do what you can to help her achieve her £500 goal. https://www.justgiving.com/page/lily2024hair?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Flily2024hair&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

We are VERY PROUD of you Lily.

And a bit from me – top work Lily; I’m very proud of you too!

Finally, a reminder from Miss Rachel, Music teacher and subject coordinator:

Class music concerts next week

Just a reminder that we will be having informal “class concerts” during our music lessons week. It would be lovely for children to share something that they are learning on their musical instruments or voice. We will be in the top hall which has a piano. Remember to bring your music in if you are using a book (and if you have a piano accompaniment bring it along and I can play with you). I’m looking forward to hearing you all!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

I hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend.

In our English lessons, we started our new unit of work on instruction texts. In doing this, we started with a GPS lesson where we practised using apostrophes to mark plural possession and explained the difference between the plural and possessive –s. As the week progressed, we carefully read and analysed an exemplar text, then moved on to designing our own inventions inspired by a short video called ‘The Shirt Machine’.

During Maths, we started to bring our second unit on decimals to a close by ordering decimals, rounding decimal numbers to the nearest whole and expressing quarters and halves using decimals. We will complete our end-of-unit tests on Monday, before moving onto our new unit of work on Money (Money Money – pretty fitting, considering that at the time of writing, we are on the eve of the Eurovision finals)!

During RE, we learned about Ruth and how she demonstrated her faith through her selflessness.

In our History lesson, we learned about Mayan religious customs – certainly one to be filed under the ‘Horrible Histories’ category!

During Art, Miss Amy led the class in using a viewing frame to pick out part of an image to draw in close-up.

We were also treated to a bonus drama session from Mark from RAW Academy – nice!

Here is this week’s homework:

100524 – Spellings Homework Sheet

(Ctrl+C; Ctrl+V from last week AND the week before AND the week before – do you see the pattern emerging ;-p?) Also, whenever possible, please have your child practise their times tables, regular and often (ideally daily – it only takes about ten minutes a go), using this link: tinyurl.com/y4mtc2024.

If you are able to, please do this on a PC / laptop / Chromebook, although if none of those are available, a tablet will suffice. Continued practise of this simulated Multiplication Tables Check will really stand your child in good stead when it comes to preparing for the real thing in early June!

Please note that we will not be setting any new Mathletics tasks for the next few weeks – in lieu of these, myself and Mrs Walsh expect your child/ren to practise their times tables as much as possible ahead of the Multiplication Tables Check in early June. Thank you for the continued support!

A message from Miss Rachel, our wonderful resident music teacher:

Class music concerts (w/c 20th May)

We will be having informal “class concerts” during our music lessons during the week before half term. It would be lovely for children to share something that they are learning on their musical instruments! It doesn’t have to be a perfect performance- more to share with the class and to hear and learn about different instruments! Please send music in with your child if they would like to play.

On a music related note, on Wednesday, Year 4 enjoyed a trip to Royal Festival Hall. In doing this, we joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra for a lively concert of celebration, optimism and fabulous American music! This included a reworded version of perennial St Stephen’s favourite ‘Lord of the Dance’, which had the children quite literally stamping their feet in excitement (at the concert host’s request, naturally)! A huge thank you goes out to class parent Hugo, who did a great job in helping us out on the trip.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Week Commencing 29^th April 2024

Hello!

First off, it was lovely to meet (and reconnect with) the lovely grandparents and significant grandparent-like figures during our annual Grandparents’ Afternoon. A big thank you goes out to class grandparent David, who delivered a fascinating talk to the class about his past career working at the Royal Albert Hall!

During English, we finished off our unit of work on ‘Charlie Small’. We answered VIPERS reading comprehension questions, reflected upon the aspects of the story that we most appreciated, and planned a dramatic escape scene to be used during our end-of-unit write early next week. After doing this, we finished off the unit by writing our own alternate versions of the book’s finale.

In Maths, my group continued to work on our second unit of work on decimals. We started the week by working with hundredths, moved on partitioning decimals in both regular and irregular fashion, and, finally, compared and ordered decimals.

In our History lessons, we explored the city states of the Maya and how their society was organised.

During our Art lesson, Miss Amy led the class in creating rainforest-inspired mixed media scenes.

In RHE, we doubled up on content, looking at ways in which food can affect our physical and mental health, as well as ways we can look after the environment. For the former, we looked at the Eatwell Plate, whilst for the latter, we learned all about the ‘7 Rs’:

Refuse – Saying no to things we don’t need.

Reduce – Using less in what we do.

Re-use – Using things thoroughly before throwing them away and then using charity shops to re-use items.

Rot – Turn organic food waste into compost.

Recycle – All plastic, metal, glass and anything else (such as batteries) that could be recycled.

Repair – Items should be repaired before discarded.

Re-think – Work out creative ways to cause less damage to the environment.

During our Science lesson, we continued to classify animals, this time by using classification keys (dichotomous keys, to be precise) to identify a range of animals by working through a series of ‘Yes’ / ‘No’ statements.

During RE, we learned about Ruth and how she demonstrated her faith through her selflessness.

Here is this week’s homework (please note that there is a reading comprehension component):

030524 – Spellings Homework Sheet

030524 – Reading Comprehension 13 – In The Rue Bel Tosoro

(Ctrl+C; Ctrl+V from last week AND the week before – it’s very important, so does bear repeating!) Also, whenever possible, please have your child practise their times tables, regular and often (ideally daily – it only takes about ten minutes a go), using this link: tinyurl.com/y4mtc2024.

If you are able to, please do this on a PC / laptop / Chromebook, although if none of those are available, a tablet will suffice. Continued practise of this simulated Multiplication Tables Check will really stand your child in good stead when it comes to preparing for the real thing in early June!

We actually practised the MTC this week as part of a special, 4 Rosen-based, maths session, and it is clear that people have been practising at home – thank you to all of you who have helped in facilitating doing this with your child!

Please remember that we have a class trip scheduled for next week. If you haven’t already done so, please provide payment and consent at your earliest convenience. Please note that we will return from said trip before 12.30pm, so no packed lunch will be required. Please also ensure that your child arrives to school wearing their PE kit too.

Have a great (bank holiday) weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Year 4 started their week off with a trip to Perivale Wood, where they explored minibeasts in their natural habitats by pond dipping and having a (controlled) ramble through the woods. This trip had a strong Science link to our current unit on Living Things and their Habitats (Living in Environments) in terms of both the subject matter and general scientific concepts being taught (for example, the use of dichotomous keys to identify the characteristics of organisms). A great time was had by all of the children! A massive thank you goes out to class parent Andra, who did an amazing job in helping us out on the trip!

During our English lessons, we continued to work on ‘Charlie Small’. We predicted what might happen to Charlie later in the story, read and discussed an extended extract from the text, picking out key vocabulary comprehension along the way. Later lessons consisted of writing descriptive paragraphs while making use of features such as expanded noun phrases – in doing this, we wrote about a rainforest setting and explored ways in which tension can be built within a piece of writing.

During our Maths lessons, my group worked towards completing their current unit of work – ‘Decimals A’. We did this by looking at hundredths as fractions and decimals, identified and placed hundredths on a place value chart, and divided 1- and 2-digit numbers by 100. We rounded out our week by completing our end-of-unit tests. On Friday, we then moved on to… Drumroll please… ‘Decimals B.’ Brilliant stuff…

In RHE, we reflected upon the importance of making the right choices, whilst for Science, we classified animal features using Carroll Diagrams.

During our Art lesson, Miss Amy led the class in creating rainforest-inspired mood boards.

Here is this week’s homework:

260424 – Spellings Homework Sheet

(Ctrl+C; Ctrl+V from last week – it’s very important, so does bear repeating!) Also, whenever possible, please have your child practise their times tables, regular and often (ideally daily – it only takes about ten minutes a go), using this link: tinyurl.com/y4mtc2024.

If you are able to, please do this on a PC / laptop / Chromebook, although if none of those are available, a tablet will suffice. Continued practise of this simulated Multiplication Tables Check will really stand your child in good stead when it comes to preparing for the real thing in early June!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

I hope you had a lovely Easter break.

Summer term eh? We’re now in the final third of our year together – how time has flown…

We packed a lot into our first four days back together, starting new units of work across the board (with the exception of Maths, where we continued our work on decimals).

Speaking of our work on decimals, this week we divided two-digit numbers by 10, represented hundredths as fractions and expressed hundredths as decimals.

During our English lessons, we started a new unit of work on journals and diaries. We did this by starting one of ‘Charlie Small’s Journals.’ As the week progressed, we first explored expanded noun phrases, predicted future events of the story via inference, gathered exciting new vocabulary and answered a related reading comprehension.

In our Science lesson, we started to look at living things and their habitats. Our class trip next week relates directly to this new unit. Thank you to those of you have already paid / provided consent; if you haven’t, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you!

During RE, we started our study on the Old Testament by looking at how Abraham demonstrated faith in God.

In History, we started our new unit of work on the Maya Civilisation by exploring when and where the remains of it were discovered.

During RHE, we started our ‘Being My Best’ unit by looking at the ways in which everyone is unique, as well as the importance of compromise in fostering positive relationships.

Here is this week’s homework:

190424 – Reading Comprehension 12 – What Is The Sun

190424 – Spellings Homework Sheet

4 Rosen Class Poem for Summer Term 1 2024 – Tiffy Taffy Toffee

RHE Knowledge Page – Summer 1 – Being My Best

Year 4 Key Vocabulary List – Summer Term 1

Also, whenever possible, please have your child practise their times tables, regular and often (ideally daily – it only takes about ten minutes a go), using this link: tinyurl.com/y4mtc2024.

If you are able to, please do this on a PC / laptop / Chromebook, although if none of those are available, a tablet will suffice. Continued practise of this simulated Multiplication Tables Check will really stand your child in good stead when it comes to preparing for the real thing in early June!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

It’s the Easter Holidays – hooray!

The class have had a fun, but busy (would you expect anything less?), week leading up to it.

The class worked hard on completing their current units of work in Science, Computing, RE, RHE and Geography, on top of completing end-of-unit tests.

In Maths, we continued to work on fraction / decimal equivalents, whilst during English, we wrote our formal letters encouraging companies to pursue Fairtrade certification.

We also had a lovely trip to Fulham Palace. In doing this, we were able to tour the main house and grounds, participate in a most excellent history workshop and tuck into our delicious packed lunches! A huge ‘thank you’ goes out to Year 4’s very own Mrs Walsh, who did a great job in booking the trip and working on its behind-the-scenes logistics. Please remember that we have another trip shortly after the Easter break; if you haven’t already provided consent / payment for this, please do so at your earliest convenience.

A note regarding homework. As is now the case with regards to school holidays, there is no homework for your child over the Easter holidays – as I have said on more than one occasion, I feel that the whole class should have a well-earned rest! Also, as we restart school on Tuesday 16th April (Monday 15th is an inset day,) we will have no spelling test at the end of our first week back, so I haven’t attached any homework sheets to this blog post.

If you really want to do some maths work with your children, I would recommend practising times tables (up to x12), their related division inverse operations (including ways of working out calculations with remainders, e.g. 52 ÷  7 can be calculated by first performing the inverse operation 49 ÷ 7 = 7, with 3 being the remainder) and telling the time. A daily diary is also always good when it comes to keeping writing skills sharp – please focus on good use of quality verbs, adverbs and paired adjectives.

Also, whenever possible, please have them practise their times tables, regular and often, using this link: tinyurl.com/y4mtc2024.

If you are able to, please do this on a PC / laptop / Chromebook, although if none of those are available, a tablet will suffice. Continued practise of this simulated Multiplication Tables Check will really stand your child in good stead when it comes to preparing for the real thing in June.

Here is our half termly poetry performance – enjoy:

https://youtu.be/Xg7mZN7Ro-4

Our Easter Bonnet Parade was very successful, with some marvellous hats on display. Everybody’s parents and carers – erm, I mean all of the children – had clearly put forth a great effort in creating a cornucopia of eye-catching bonnets, but special congratulations go out to our winners – enjoy your prizes!

Have a great Easter break and as always, thank you for your continued support – I couldn’t do what I do what I do with your children in class day in, day out, without being backed up by you all!

Mr Faith

Hello!

Firstly, a big thank you to the 4 Rosen parents / carers for the productive and positive conversations I had with you about your children over a two-day period. Despite being a touch hoarse after talking virtually nonstop for approximately three hours each evening, I thoroughly enjoyed telling each and every one of you about the great work your children have been doing!

It’s been a very busy week both in and out of class; here are some of our highlights…

During our Maths lessons, we completed our end-of-term general tests, then moved onto our new unit of work: decimals. As we are only in the early stages of this, we have started things by revisiting tenths as fractions, relating them to their decimal equivalents, then placing counters in place value charts to represent decimal numbers. We will pick up the pace next week in furthering our understanding of the topic, but so far, my group have done an excellent job in consolidating and building upon their understanding of tenths and place value!

In our English lessons, we completed our end-of-half term tests in spelling, reading, punctuation and grammar. After doing this, we continued to work on our information text unit, creating and answering VIPERS-related reading comprehension texts related to some Fairtrade posters, as well as creating our own fact files related to the same. We also created word banks for use ahead of our planning and writing our formal letter next week.

In our RHE lesson, we reflected upon the concept of ‘safety in numbers’, and during our DT lesson, we decorated and put together the bodies of our slingshot cars.

In our new RE unit on Christianity and fame, we reflected upon how the two are connected, whilst for our Computing lesson, we answered weather-related questions using our class database.

For Geography, we learned about the prevalence of plant-based products (particularly non-food ones) and thought about ways we can reduce our use of them in order to avoid damaging our environment (for example, by overlogging).

Here is this week’s homework:

220324 – Spellings Homework Sheet

4 Rosen Class Poem for Spring Term 2 2024 – Hobble Gobble Wobble – Please ensure that that is practised ahead of our whole-class performance for inclusion on the school website next week. Thank you!

Finally, a gentle reminder that we have class trips both next week and within a week of us returning from the Easter break. If you haven’t already done so, please provide consent / payment via ParentMail at your earliest convenience.

Have a great weekend; not long to go until the Easter holidays now!

Mr Faith

Hello!

I hope this update reaches you well and that you have had a lovely week.

During English, we started our new topic on non-chronological reports. We began our week by identifying the features of a formal letter, then moved on to answering reading comprehension questions about Fairtrade. As the week progressed, we practised laying out a formal letter, wrote about a Fairtrade cooperative, then rounded out things by researching Fairtrade products. As you can see, we fit a *lot* into our program of study for the subject this week!

In our Maths lessons, we brought our work on fractions to a close. In doing this, we added fractions and mixed numbers, subtracted two fractions, subtracted from whole amounts and mixed numbers, and finally, completed and reviewed our end-of-unit assessments. Another busy week!

During our DT lesson, we created the side panels for our cars, cutting tabs into them to ensure that they can easily be fitted to the chassis next week.

In our Computing lesson, we all added an entry to a class database on weather conditions, which we will use to answer questions from next week.

For Geography, we reflected upon the roles plants play in agriculture, whilst for Science, we investigated how sounds can be different pitches / volumes and how length, thickness and tightness of string affects pitch.

In our RHE lesson, we looked at ways we can be influenced, and thought about how the act of Holy Communion demonstrates God’s peace in RE.

Here is this week’s homework:

150324 – Spellings Homework Sheet

150324 – Reading Comprehension 11 – The Dragon’s Egg

A reminder from Mrs Pereira, our school librarian that sponsorship money can still be paid for the school sponsored read that we conducted between 4 – 10 March. The final deadline is 22nd March, and the JustGiving link can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ststephens-primary

Have a great weekend and I look forward to speaking to you all during our parents’ / carers’ evenings next week,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Another busy week!

A big ‘thank you’ for coming to the ‘Mums and Chums’ breakfast this morning; it was great talking to many parents, carers and other significant females of pupils past and present!

In our Maths lessons, we did some more work on fractions. We converted improper fractions to mixed numbers, identified equivalent fractions on a number line, identified equivalent fraction families (*click click* – ask your child about this one if they’re in my maths group) and started to add fractions with the same denominator.

During English, we brought our unit of work on explanation texts to a close. We did this by first planning our explanation text on the history of chocolate, then writing the same over a two day period. On World Book Day, in lieu of a regular English lesson, we instead had a day of book appreciation, which included:

• Participating in our annual Book Character Parade;
• Having a ‘book share’ where we talked about the books we are currently enjoying reading;
• Creating word searches about the same books;
• Participating in an in-class sponsored silent read to raise money for our school;
• Visiting the pop-up book fair that opened up in the library.

A big ‘thank you’ goes out to Mrs Pereira, our school librarian, for organising the events that took place throughout the day.

We rounded out our week by refreshing our knowledge on how to use dictionaries, completing a range of independent and group activities designed to improve and consolidate our understanding of using them. A great time was had by all and we look forward to using our newly-refined skills to ensure our spellings are as good as they can be going forward!

In our RE lesson, we reflected upon how the act of sharing Holy Communion demonstrates God’s piece, and thought about ways we can make a difference in school during RHE.

For Science, we learnt about ways sound can be muffled, while in Geography, we looked at harsh climates around the world.

In our DT lesson, we designed the side panels for our cars (ensuring that they are aerodynamic in doing so) and attached the wheels to our chassis.

Here is this week’s homework:

080324 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Please note that two trip letters have gone out digitally this week for events in the coming weeks and months. Please ensure you provide consent and payment at your earliest convenience. A huge ‘thank you’ to those of you who have already done this.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

It’s been another busy, albeit damp, week!

During English, we continued to work on explanation texts. As part of doing this, we practised our summarising skills, answered a reading comprehension related to our exemplar, recognised and used prepositions in our writing and used synonyms to make our sentences more interesting.

In our Maths lessons, we continued to work on fractions. In doing this, we partitioned mixed numbers, placed mixed numbers on number lines, compared and ordered mixed numbers and finally related mixed numbers to improper fractions! So, in a nutshell, it was a very mixed number-heavy week!

For Science, we explored the relationship between volume and distance via an experiment where we dropped coins from varying distances, exploring the effect it had on the volume of the sound we heard.

In our RE lesson, we looked at how and why Christians share the body and blood of Jesus Christ during the act of Holy Communion. We also compared and contrasted the differences between Catholic and Church of England versions of the ceremony.

During RHE, we reflected upon the various rights and responsibilities we have, alongside the responsibilities that *we* have towards others.

In Geography, we explored biomes, whilst during Computing, we started to look at the importance of working with databases, using the Met Office’s website to find interesting facts about the weather from last year.

We also started work on our new DT unit, where we will be creating slingshot cars.

On an Art / DT related note, here is a message from Mrs Allen, our wonderful Art / DT Coordinator:

Royal Academy Young Artists Competition

There is still just under a month left to enter your artwork into the Royal Academy Young Artists Competition. The artwork can be in any medium you’d like: painting, drawing, sculpture or even performance art!

The deadline for entries is 5pm March 27th. Please visit: https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk/ to find out more and enter your child’s artwork.

If you have any questions about the competition please email Mrs Allen: e.allen@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

Here is this week’s homework:

010324 – Spellings Homework Sheet

010324 – Reading Comprehension 10 – The Swoose

Reading Challenge (please read the ParentMail message sent on February 28th for further information):

Primary_Letter to Parents and Carers – St Stephens (1)

RSR Reading Log (2)

RSR Sponsorship Form – St Stephens (3)

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

It’s been a very busy first week back!

In terms of physical activity, the children upped their in-class (well, technically out of class, but you get the idea!) output with the addition of a dance session, which they thoroughly enjoyed!

In terms of regular learning, here are some of the week’s highlights:

During English, we have continued to work on explanation texts, conducting a deep dive into an exemplar piece on the chocolate making process, answering a related reading comprehension and practising writing introductions that engage the reader and leave them wanting to continue.

In our Maths lessons, after finishing our unit of work on perimeter, we moved onto fractions. We did this by first comparing a fraction to the whole, then started to work with mixed numbers.

We doubled up on Science this week, working on our new unit of work on sound by first exploring how sound is created and transmitted, then carried out a simple experiment where we looked at ways in which soundwaves can be blocked.

During RE, we explored what Jesus did and said at the Last Supper, reflected upon the same and drew our own miniature versions of Da Vinci’s masterpiece.

In RHE, we started our new unit of work on ‘Rights and Respect’ (the knowledge page for which can be found in the homework section) by looking at those people who help us stay healthy and safe.

Our first Geography lesson of the term consisted of a look at various plants around the world as part of our new unit of work on, well, plants around the world!

We also held a mini Coding Day, where we created online safety-related chatterboxes and programmed virtual BBC Micro:Bits. The latter activity was particularly popular, and pupils requested I post the link to the website used so they can continue the activities at home. It can be found here:

https://makecode.microbit.org/#

Here is this week’s homework:

230224 – Spellings Homework Sheet

4 Rosen Class Poem for Spring Term 2 2024 – Hobble Gobble Wobble

Year 4 Key Vocabulary List – Spring Term 2

RHE Knowledge Page – Spring 2 – Rights and Respect

As there was no update on the last day of Spring 1 due to our residential trip, here is our half termly poem performance:

https://youtu.be/iReIMwIdLSw

An important message from Mr Gane, Year 6 teacher and Maths Coordinator:

Always ahead of the curve, St Stephen’s has already instituted a ban on smartphones for children in school, and is strongly promoting collective move action by parents / carers to not give their primary aged children smartphones at all. There is now a strong and growing movement to persuade the government to take the issue of smartphone addiction, and the mental health damage it can cause children, more seriously – have a listen to this very powerful, short radio discussion from earlier in the week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0h9h4nt

Let your Class Rep know that you will join the No Smartphones Moratorium, if you haven’t already.

Thanks as always for the continued support and I look forward to speaking to you all during our upcoming parents’ / carers’ meetings in a few weeks’ time.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

In English, we started our new unit of work on explanation texts, where we started by looking at the key features of the same. We also completed our end of half term tests in reading, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

During Maths, we started our new unit of work on perimeter. We did this by first calculating perimeter using a grid. After doing this, we moved onto calculating the perimeter of rectangles. After a lesson where we built upon earlier concepts learned by calculating the perimeter of rectilinear shapes, and rounded out the week by finding missing lengths in shapes we had been provided with the perimeter of.

In RE, we looked at the concept of ‘Nirvana’, reflected upon life in the Sangha, learned about Buddhists’ thoughts on the meaning of life and explored how Christianity and Buddhism, although different, share many similarities.

During Art, Miss Amy worked on lovely scratch paintings with the class!

We finished up our current unit of Science work by looking at ways we can look after our teeth, reflected on how our digestive systems *might* work, then actually learned how they *do* work!

In Computing, we continued to research our chosen countries using search engines, learning how to produce more detailed search results.

During RHE, we looked at the differences between a dare and a challenge, as well how why and how we safely use medicines.

In History, we finished up our unit of work on the Normans by exploring the feudal system and the creation of the Domesday Book.

Here is this week’s homework:

020224 – Spellings Homework Sheet

020224 – Reading Comprehension 09 – I Love Our Orange Tent

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

During our Maths lessons, we finished our unit of work on multiplication and division. In doing this, we divided 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers, calculated answers to correspondence problems and worked on efficient methods of multiplication. With regards to the correspondence problems, my group’s minds were blown when they discovered just how many combinations of pizza are available at the local Domino’s (we got into the millions)!

In English, we finished our unit of work on stories with historical settings by planning, writing, editing and redrafting our own retellings of ‘St George and the Dragon’! I hope to mount and display many of these wonderful pieces of work next week. Your children were most excellent in following the success criteria that was set for them too – the stories featured abundant use of fronted adverbials (with commas), words that followed certain spelling patterns, direct speech and varied pronoun use; well done them! We also fit in a significant amount of handwriting practise.

During Art, Miss Amy led the children in working on tonal sketching and creating a background for a wax resist picture.

In our RE lesson, we learned about the Noble Eightfold Path and why it is of such significance to practising Buddhists.

During Science, we looked at our teeth, learning the purposes our incisors, canines, premolars and molars serve.

In Computing, we looked at different web search engines, how they can produce different results and the importance of being wary of sponsored content.

During RHE, we looked at the differences between a dare and a challenge, as well how why and how we safely use medicines.

In History, we explored the fallout of William the Conqueror’s victory, looked at Norman castles and learned about life as a knight.

Here is this week’s homework:

260124 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Our first full week has been a very busy one!

During our Maths lessons, we continued to work on multiplication and division. This week, we worked with related multiplication and division facts, used informal methods for multiplication and division, multiplied 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers, and divided 2-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers. So in a nutshell, the children covered a *lot* of mathematical concepts this week!

In our English lessons, we continued our work St George and the Dragon. In doing this, we reread Geraldine McCaughrean’s retelling of the legend, inferred and retrieved information from the text via several different activities, and learned about St George’s links to Ethiopia and Turkey. Our GPS lesson consisted of a look at adverbials and determiners.

During History, we learned about the Battle of Stamford Bridge and the Battle of Hastings, putting ourselves in the shoes of those leading the charge/s.

During RHE, we reflected upon ways that people can share their photographs online in as safe a fashion as possible.

In Science, we explored the concept of food chains, ensuring that we used the correct associated terminology – producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore – in doing so.

In our Art lesson, Miss Amy completed a Henri Matisse-themed task where they ‘drew with scissors’! Exciting stuff for sure…

This week’s homework can be found here:

190124 – Spellings Homework Sheet

190124 – Reading Comprehension 08 – The Wind In The Willows

A note from Mr Gane, Y6 teacher and St Stephen’s Social Media Impresario:

St Stephen’s Instagram: Who has spotted the new Instagram account?

Do take a look using the links below and follow us to keep an eye on what’s been happening here from day to day.

Children whose parents have given consent will appear anonymously, unless specific permission has been obtained when pupils names will be included.

This supersedes the X / Twitter social media account, now dormant.

https://www.instagram.com/ststephensce_w12/

A note from Mrs Allen, Y1 teacher and Art / DT Coordinator:

Royal Academy Young Artists Competition 2024

The Royal Academy Young Artists Competition has opened again this year! Children can enter with any art they have made, be it at home or at a club. The winning entries are displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts in central London! The deadline for entry is the 7th of March. To find out more about the competition, or to enter your child’s artwork, please visit: https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk/

If you have any questions about the competition, please email Mrs Allen (e.allen@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk)

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello and a Happy New Year!

Thanks again for the lovely gifts; ‘thank you’ cards have been sent to you all, so if you haven’t yet received yours, ask your child to have a dig around in their bag!

We’ve crammed a lot into our first four days back together!

During our Maths lessons, we continued our work on multiplication and division, focusing on related multiplication and division facts and using informal written methods. If you haven’t already done so, please practise rapid times table recall with your child, alongside their related division inverse operations. This will be of increased importance as Year 4 continues and, indeed, as your child works their way further up Key Stage 2!

In our English lessons, we started a new unit of work based on the classic tale of St George and the Dragon. In doing this, we read Geraldine McCaughrean’s retelling of the legend. Our GPS lesson consisted of a look at pronouns, both regular and possessive.

During RHE, we learned about the differences between a danger, a risk and a hazard.

In our History lesson, we started to learn about the Normans, understanding who the contenders for the throne were in 1066.

For Art, we began work on our new unit entitled ‘Power Prints’.

On an Art / DT-related note, we really put in the overtime this week, with a few marathon sessions where we created our lovely pavilions!

During Science, we started our new unit of work on animals, including humans, with a focus on eating and digestion. This week’s lesson consisted of a look at the terms carnivore, omnivore and herbivore, and then explored the dietary habits of a wide range of creatures.

Here is this week’s homework, alongside our poem and other resources for the half term:

120124 – Spellings Homework Sheet

4 Rosen Class Poem for Spring Term 1 2024 – Bugs Go Wild

Year 4 Key Vocabulary List – Spring Term 1

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Year 4 have had an exciting, activity-packed week, which has included our marvellous Key Stage 2 Christmas Quiz!

I hope you enjoyed our carol service; a big ‘Thank You’ goes out to our wonderful assistant head, Miss Bell, who organised, planned, rehearsed and led the event, as well as Miss Rachel, who diligently taught and practised the songs with all pupils and provided some most excellent backing music!

However, it is definitely time for a much-deserved rest! Thank you for all the support you have offered me over the past term; it is hugely appreciated. I would also like to say thank you for the lovely Christmas gifts – you have been *extremely* generous! Expect ‘thank you cards’ early in the New Year!

Please note that there is NO HOMEWORK for the Christmas holidays; normal service will resume on the first Friday back (12th January.)

Here’s our poetry performance of ‘Don’t Put Mustard in the Custard):

https://youtu.be/tBKndaI_s9M

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; I’ll see you all on Tuesday 9th January (please remember, Monday 8th January is an inset day!)

Mr Faith

Hello!

Not long now until the Christmas holidays!

In Maths, we focused on multiplication and division by 10 and 100. My group remember multiplication by 10 using a catchy tune (which really does need the heavy rock backing track to do it justice): “Move the digit one place to the left, then add zero and you’ve multiplied by 10.” From that, we sang variations of the song to remember how to multiply by 100, divide by 10 and divide by 100!

During our English lessons, we continued to work on imagery in poetry. In doing this, we wrote our own versions of ‘Summer’ and conducted a deep dive into ‘The Magic Box’ by Kit Wright by completing a related reading comprehension and exploring the poem’s structure and style by writing our own versions of it. To round off the week, we wrote our own, totally original poems and performed them to the rest of the class.

In Geography, we explored Indian culture and the influence it has had on the rest of the world, then compared and contrasted life in India with that in the UK.

In Computing, this week on Logo, we clicked on Level 3 and we continued to work on writing instructions on drawing shapes, building on our last lesson.

During Science, we explored the processes of condensation by means of a hands-on experiment and also looked at evaporation.

Here is this week’s homework (please note that there is a reading comprehension component and this is the last homework set this term):

151223 – Spellings Homework Sheet

151223 – Reading Comprehension – Tim The Trumpet

Poem for Autumn Term 2 2023 – Don’t Put Mustard In The Custard – Please practise this some more ahead of the class performing it next week.

Y4 Rosen – Class Hymn – Come They Told Me – Please practise this some more ahead of the class performing it next week during Carols By Candlelight. If you haven’t already done so, please read the ParentMail that was sent out to you regarding the same.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Less than two weeks to go before the end of our first full term together! I would say “My, how time has flown!”, but despite the general delightfulness of your children, our current eight-week whopper of a half term has made it seem anything but! Still, not long now and, in the ‘swings and roundabouts’ department, we don’t come back until well into January 2024, so it’s all good :-)!

During our English lessons, we finished our end-of-unit dragon pieces and moved onto a new unit of work on imagery in poetry. In doing this, we wrote and answered our own VIPERS questions about ‘Summer’ by Walter Dean Myers and conducted a deep dive into the poem’s structure.

In Maths, after completing our end-of-unit tests for our unit ‘Multiplication and Division A’, alongside our end-of-term general tests (the latter of which we reviewed on Monday), we moved onto our new unit of work, which is… Drumroll please… ‘Multiplication and Division B’! In doing this, we looked at and used factor pairs, then moved on to multiplying by 10.

During our RHE lesson, we explored stereotypes, the negative effect perpetuating them can have, and worked on ways of combating them.

In Geography, we explored the human and physical features of cities in India.

During our RE lesson, we reflected upon how the Church lives out its message of peace, particularly at Christmas time.

In Computing, we used Logo (Level 3) and continued to work on writing instructions on drawing shapes. Building on our last lesson, we learned how to write a set of simple procedures, then activate them using the command line.

During Science, we researched the temperatures at which materials change state and conducted an experiment where we explored the concept of evaporation further.

Here is this week’s homework:

081223 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Y4 Rosen – Class Poem – Come They Told Me – PLEASE PRACTISE THIS!

We were also lucky enough to be visited by class parent (and optometrist), Fazlin, who gave us an inspiring talk as part of our school ‘Cracking Careers’ initiative. Thank you Fazlin for being so generous with your time, and for inspiring the children in Year 4 and 5.

Time for another gently-paced weekend: two grown-up parties, one toddler party, one toddler swimming session, an afternoon carolling / drinks gathering, a visit to Apollo’s grandma and a walk along the river with his uncle. Oh, and buying and decorating a Christmas tree along the way. Like I said, gently-paced…

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Another busy, busy week!

In our English lessons, we continued to work on ‘Dragonology’, first learning about expanded noun phrases and using them to create some descriptive dragon-related sentences. Later in the week, we planned our explanation texts about our dragons and started to write about them in detail, completing paragraphs about their habitats, diet and appearance.

During Maths, we finished our current unit of work on Multiplication and Division, answering related challenges and then completing our end-of-unit tests. We also completed our end of Autumn Term arithmetic and reasoning / problem solving papers; the results of these will be used to aid our planning and groupings for the upcoming Spring Term.

During our RHE lesson, we reflected on similarities and differences and how we can demonstrate respect to others.

In Geography, we studied the rivers of India.

In our RE lesson, we thought about what the Bible tells us about Jesus’ message of peace.

During Computing, the children continued to work on ‘Level 3’ of Logo, these time including ‘repeat’ instructions in programming their turtles.

Here is this week’s homework:

011223 – Spellings Homework Sheet

011223 – Reading Comprehension 06 – What’s It All About

Finally, we had a fabulous trip to the Science Museum to enjoy a range of videogames from the past 50-odd years via the ‘Power Up’ exhibition. The children thoroughly enjoyed playing these games, and in doing so, made connections with the work they have done in Computing (Computer Science and coding in particular). In playing the games, pupils focused on how input (giving a game instructions using a controller) leads to an output (something happening within a game) and how sprites and backgrounds are used to create compelling gaming experiences. For those children, parents and carers interested in delving into the world of ‘Power Up’ further, extra resources can be found here:

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/power/resources

A huge ‘thank you’ goes out to class parents Andra and Miranda, who did an amazing job in helping out on the trip; you were absolutely invaluable!

Right, after that incredibly busy week, I’m looking forward to my (ahem) ‘restful’ weekend – I’ve got my godson / Apollo’s godfather coming over for dinner tonight, followed by *two* birthday parties for Apollo to attend over the weekend. Add two other family gatherings and the Christmas Fair to the mix and work seems rather sedately paced in comparison!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

A big thank you to all parents and carers who came to watch our class Collective Worship / assembly on Thursday – keeping in with the Christmas commercialism theme, I’m sure you’ll join me in being incredibly prideful of your children’s wonderful performances. My further apologies for dredging up dormant memories of Mr Blobby at number one during Christmas 1993…

It wasn’t just assembly practise this week either. We also crammed in a full slate of lessons! Here are some of our highlights:

During Maths, we continued to work on multiplication and division, this week working the 12 times table and its related division facts, multiplying by 0 and 1 (rock hard, that one – ahem – but still, very important to go over as it helps establish a foundational understanding of both processes), dividing numbers by 1 and itself, and (finally) working on some multiplication and division related word challenges.

In our English lessons, we moved onto a new unit of work, explanation texts. In doing this, we will be looking at the book ‘Dragonology’ by Dugald Steer and various other texts. In unleashing said dragons, hopefully Sisqó won’t make an appearance, although without him showing his silver-haired face, one could argue that said unit would be Incomplete (a very late 90s / early 00s reference there – if you know, you know!)

In our RE lesson, we reflected upon ways in which Christians believe Jesus brings peace.

During our RHE lesson, we thought about ways we can deal with aggressive behaviour.

In our Science lesson, we conducted a simple experiment where we observed materials changing state when they are cooled and heated.

In our DT lesson, we drew floor plans for our pavilions.

During Computing, the children moved on to ‘Level 3’ in programming their Logo turtles.

Here is this week’s homework:

241123 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Right, after that incredibly busy week, I’m looking forward to my weekend – I’ve got my brother’s birthday meal to look forward to. Caribbean food and drinks in Romford – lovely stuff!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Firstly, a huge thank you to all of you for our parents’ / carers’ evening meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday – it was fantastic to speak to you and tell you all about the wonderful things your children have been doing in and out of class!

In our English lessons, we continued to study ‘The Dot’ by Peter H Reynolds. In doing this, we further reflected on the use of speech in the tale, annotated an exemplar short story, reflecting upon its use of language, structure and other techniques in creating a compelling piece of writing. We rounded out our week by planning our own short stories inspired by ‘The Dot.’ Oh, and we even had some time for Book Talk!

During Maths, we worked on multiplying and dividing by 3, 6, 9 and 11 using a range of techniques.

In our Science lesson, we conducted an experiment where we explored whether or not air has weight.

During our RHE lesson, we explored the different relationships we have, and identified the differences between a friend and an acquaintance as part of this process.

In our RE lesson, we started our new unit of work on peace at Christmas. We did this by reflecting upon ways we can attain peace, and depicted relaxing Christmas scenes.

During Computing, the children moved up to ‘Level 2’ in programming their Logo turtles!

During our DT session, the children designed their pavilions.

The class continue to do well in terms of squeezing in our Class Collective Worship (class assembly in old money) practise sessions this week – just under a week to go – see you on Thursday 23rd at 9am!

Here is this week’s homework (please note that your child’s top priority is memorising their lines and song lyrics; if you are pushed for time, please have this take precedence over writing their sentences / answering the reading comprehension):

171123 – Spellings Homework Sheet

171123 – Reading Comprehension – Stowaway

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

To say this was a busy week would be huge understatement! However, to paraphrase Mr Schumm, I am really pleased with how it all went…

During English, we moved onto our new unit of work on Short Stories. In doing this, we have been studying the (extremely!) short story of ‘The Dot’ by Peter H Reynolds. Just because a story is short doesn’t mean that it lacks substance though – it packs a real emotional punch in its 32 illustrated pages, teaching the children about the importance of accepting one’s emotions, managing them, finding ways of persevering and moving forward positively. This week, we reflected upon the feelings of the main protagonist (Vashti,) reflected on how anger is portrayed in different media, storyboarded the tale and answered VIPERS-related reading comprehension questions about it. We rounded out our week by analysing the use of speech in the short story and created our own imaginary dialogues between Vashti and her parent / carer.

During Maths, my group moved onto their new unit of work on multiplication and division. We have started off with the basics, working with multiples of 3 and 6. We also looked at multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100, but with a more considered, thoughtful approach, looking at the mechanics behind the processes beyond the classic ‘just add / take off a zero or two,’ which is likely what you, and certainly I, were taught! Looking at the processes underpinning multiplication and division by 10 / 100 allows the children to have a greater depth of understanding regarding such calculations, and will stand them in good stead when it comes to doing the same to decimal numbers (where, of course, adding / lopping off zeroes doesn’t work!)

In RE, we wrote our own Beatitudes and reflected upon all work done during our mini unit of work.

We also started our new DT unit of work. In doing this, Miss Amy started to work on pavilions with the class – I was loving some of the Jelly Tot-and-toothpick structures that the children fashioned!

Here is this week’s homework:

101123 – Spellings Homework Sheet

The children were fortunate enough to enjoy a drama session with Mark too – fantastic stuff! They also rehearsed their upcoming class collective worship as part of this process; hooray!

This week, we celebrated Parliament Week. To mark this occasion, we were joined by MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, Andy Slaughter, who spoke to the children about our British Values and the importance of democracy. The children asked a variety of probing questions which sparked a healthy debate.

We have an upcoming Year 4 trip, one which I am *very* excited about. If you haven’t already done so, please provide payment and consent via ParentMail.

As promised, I have sent the children home with their scripts for the upcoming class collective worship on November 23rd. Apologies in advance for that second song 😉

Also, I am looking forward to our parents’ / carers’ evenings next week. If you haven’t already done so, please book your slot as soon as you can!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

I hope you all had a fun and (hopefully!) restful half term!

After a week of Black Voices Week activities that were fun and thought-provoking in equal measure, we moved back to a week of ‘regular’ English lessons. In doing so, we finished off reading ‘The Last Bear’ (talk about a powerful ending!) We started our week by using our retrieval and inference skills to make predictions based on stated and implied details. We then moved on to working on our understanding of how to use a formal tone in our writing. From there, we planned and wrote formal letters to Mr Schumm echoing the environmentally-conscious message that underpins the entire ‘Last Bear’ book.

During Maths, after finishing our work on addition and subtraction, we have been working on a short unit on area, calculating the same by counting squares, making shapes by shading squares and understanding the important of being fastidious when calculating areas.

In our Science lesson, we started our new unit of work on States of Matter by exploring the differences between solids and liquids, while in RE, we started to learn about the Beatitudes.

In our Computing lesson, we started our unit of work on Logo programming by creating shapes using experimentation and gave clear sets of instructions. In doing this, we started to understand the importance of giving and writing clear instructions.

During our new unit of work in Geography, we started to explore India and where it is in the World, while in Art, Miss Amy led the children in their ‘final paint’ task of their current unit.

Here is this week’s homework:

031123 – Spellings Homework Sheet

031123 – Reading Comprehension – Thrills City

4 Rosen Class Poem for Autumn Term 2 2023 – Don’t Put Mustard In The Custard

Year 4 Key Vocabulary List – Autumn Term 2

Years 4, 5 and 6 also enjoyed a fabulous cross-country event at Wormwood Scrubs! A huge ‘thank you’ goes out to Miss Marchant and Clare for arranging the event. Another sporting event is taking place next week, for which Clare has sent out a ParentMail message. Please ensure that you have read this and followed the instructions within. Thank you!

Finally, you may have heard rumblings from your children that we have started preparing for our upcoming class assembly. As it is on November 23rd, to avoid burnout, I am planning on doing this lightly for the next week, then ramp up things during our final fortnight. As such, I expect I will send the children home with their scripts next Friday!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

This year’s Black Voices Week has been an amazing one! It started with a whole-school assembly led by, well, me, where we outlined the activities that laid ahead.

In-class, 4 Rosen worked on a series of activities related to our notable BVW person, who was Diane Abbott, the first-ever female Black MP. In doing this, we learned about her life story and wrote letters ‘to her’ asking for her help in handling the homelessness crisis.

We were also visited by master puppeteer Caroline Yawa Ada, who led the class in creating traditional puppets. The whole school also got to enjoy her production of ‘Anansi’ – wonderful stuff!

Miss Marchant’s class shared their amazing class assembly all about Black History Month.

Thank you to all of those mentioned in this section for your contributions this week!

During Maths, we focused on column subtraction, first performing it with no exchanges, then with one exchange, and finally two. To end the week, we started to work on efficient calculation methods and estimation.

In our English lessons not related to Black Voices Week, we continued to read ‘The Last Bear.’ Over the course of the week, we inferred how a character felt through their words and actions, then planned a descriptive paragraph. In completing the latter task, the concept of DADWAVERS (Description, Action, Dialogue, Where, Adverbial, Verb, Estimation of time, Rhetorical questions, Similes or metaphors) was introduced, which allowed children to craft a wide range of highly descriptive sentences.

In terms of other lessons, during Science, we recapped everything we already learned about electricity this term (different components, how circuits work, conductors and insulators.) We then designed our own simple circuits to include simple switches made from paper clips and drawing pins, understanding that bulbs will only light up when a circuit is closed.

In RE, we looked at the story of ‘Buddha and the Angry Elephant’ and used it to explore how Buddhism sets an example for others in terms of remaining calm and kind, especially in the face of adversity.

In our RHE lesson, we explored the range of feelings we can have and the purposes they all serve.

During our Computing lesson, we continued to code in HTML by working on Webtech Tutor in pairs. This was a very popular activity, and for those pupils who wish to continue to work on this during the half term break, the weblink is webtech.lgfl.org.uk.

Here is this week’s (well, a week today’s homework if we’re being specific!) homework:

201023 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Here is a YouTube video of our class performing our poem for the half term:

https://youtu.be/mQST764t81g

Finally, thank you for all of the support you have offered me during our first half term together; I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the class, and long may it continue!

Have a great half term,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Another fun-packed week; here are some of our highlights:

In our English lessons, we continued to read ‘The Last Bear.’ Over the course of the week, we had a GPS lesson where we practised writing formal letters and described April’s mood using similes. As we are nearing our half term break, on Thursday, we completed our end of half term spelling test. After doing this, we completed a separate grammar and punctuation test. On Friday, we completed our end of half term reading comprehension tests.

During Maths, we added four-digit numbers using column addition, starting with no-exchange problems, then moving onto ones that did involve exchanging (one and two exchanges in fact). We rounded off our week by subtracting without exchanging.

In our RHE lesson, we reflected upon the different feelings we may have, while during History, we learnt and rewrote the story of Beowulf. Miss Amy also led the children in creating compositional drawings this week – lovely stuff!

Here is this week’s homework (please note there is a reading comprehension component):

131023 – Year 4 Spellings Homework Sheet

131023 – Year 4 Reading Comprehension – Three Girls

131023 – Optional Homework – F1 car designing tips

131023 – Optional Homework – F1 competition with Hammersmith Library poster

The written homework for this is to be handed in no later than this coming Thursday, October 19th 2023.

Also, we will be performing our poem for the half term this week; feel free to practise it (for your convenience, a link can be found here):

4 Rosen Class Poem for Autumn Term 1 2023 – Down Behind The Dustbin

On Tuesday, as a prelude to Black Voices Week, Miss Bill led the school in participating in a whole-school Collective Worship session where we enjoyed this year’s online ‘Great Big Assembly’. While that took place in the lower hall, I was hosting my yearly online safety workshop in the upper hall with a group of parents / carers. Busy times ahead of our half term break…

Speaking of Black Voices Week, if you haven’t already done so, please read the letter I sent out earlier this week regarding the same. I’m very much looking forward to it!

On Wednesday, we had our annual Hispanic Day! We enjoyed singing our school song, participated in a folk dance workshop with Ilusion Flamenca and watched a salsa concert at the end of the day. In the classroom, we focused on our given country, Argentina. We explored the Argentinian tradition of Tango, designing our own shoes as part of the process. We also had a visit from 4 Rosen parent Ana, who read to the class (in Spanish, naturally) and hosted an extended Q&A session. A huge ‘thank you’ goes out to Mrs Pereira, who organised the whole event and Ana, for being so generous with her time in visiting us!

On Thursday afternoon, both Year 4 classes took a trip to the London Buddhist Vihara in Chiswick to hear about what happens in this place of worship and how Buddhists live their faith. A great time was had by all during this most interesting and informative trip.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

I’m sure you’ll be stunned to hear that 4 Rosen have, in fact, had a very busy week!

Here are some of our highlights:

During English, we moved onto a brand-new unit of work, Letter Writing, doing this by reading and studying the book ‘The Last Bear’ by Hannah Gold. We got off to a great start this week, using the text to make inferences about characters’ thoughts and feelings, write from the main character (April)’s point of view and construct detailed answers using evidence from a given chapter.

In our Maths lessons, my group finished our first unit of work on Number and Place Value by rounding numbers to the nearest 10 / 100 / 1000 and completing our end-of-unit test. We then started our new unit of work – Addition and Subtraction – by adding and subtracting 1s, 10s, 100s and 1000s. We did this by working through multi-part questions that involved adding and removing counters, then noting the numbers that had been made.

In RE, we looked at the story of ‘Buddha and the Angry Elephant’ and used it to explore how Buddhism sets an example for others in terms of remaining calm and kind, especially in the face of adversity.

During our RHE lesson, we explored the importance of teamwork.

In our History lesson, we enjoyed an immersive activity where we joined in with various activities that Anglo-Saxons, Picts and Scots may have enjoyed in their spare time.

Miss Amy led the class in a fabulous Art activity where the children used a range of painting techniques to create fabulous renditions of apples, all with a delightful 3D effect (and some were sparkly to boot)!

During Computing, we learned about how adverts within search engines work, and started to program mini websites using HTML.

We ended our week with two two-hour Science sessions with our wonderful scientist-in-residence, Mercedes. Over the course of the day, the class was split into two groups, with one having a morning session and the other an afternoon one. During these sessions, both groups explored a range of learning objects centred on creating electrical circuits. In doing this, they enjoyed a range of fun activities and even created moving vehicles! A huge thank you also goes out to Miss Kelly and Mrs Hayes, our lovely Science Coordinators, who, well, coordinated the entire day!

Here is this week’s homework:

061023 – Spellings Homework Sheet

The written homework for this is to be handed in no later than this coming Thursday, October 12th 2023.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Another fun-packed, busy week for 4 Rosen!

In our Maths lessons, my group continued to work on Number and Place Value. This week, we compared numbers to 10,000, ordered numbers to 10,000, worked with Roman Numerals, rounded numbers to the nearest 10, then rounded out the week (if you’ll pardon the pun) by rounding to the nearest 100.

During English, we finished off our unit of work on Varjak Paw. After starting the week with a GPS-focused look at fronted adverbials (don’t forget the comma at the end!) we planned, wrote and improved our own stories told in the Varjak Paw universe. A lot of effort was put into these across the class; well done 4 Rosen! We even ended the week by writing and sharing our own VIPERS-related reading comprehension questions based on our stories.

In Science, we looked at ways we can use electrical appliances safely.

During RE, we took a look at the Buddhist story of the Monkey King, exploring the concept of sacrifice as we studied it.

In our RHE lesson, we learned about the importance of being assertive and practised ways of saying ‘no’ in a polite fashion that is unlikely to cause offence.

In our History lesson, we learned about the Picts and Scots, using online information texts to answer a range of questions about them both.

During Computing, we learned about the ways in which internet search engines work.

This week’s homework can be found at the link below:

290923 – Spellings Homework Sheet

290923 – Reading Comprehension Sheet

The written homework for this is to be handed in no later than this coming Thursday, October 5th 2023.

Finally, a massive ‘thank you’ to all those pupils, parents and carers who came over to say hello to Apollo and I during the Family Supper. I think it is fair to say he was pretty overwhelmed by the amount of people present, and your kind words, smiles and interactions really helped to put him at ease!

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

Somehow, we managed to have an even busier week than the last!

During English, we continued to look at Varjak Paw. In doing this, we b wrote a range of VIPERS (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval, Summarise) questions related to the text, used it to define and identify pronouns and identifiers, shared exciting vocabulary and phrases contained within the story and practised our paragraphing. We also got some creative writing practice in by writing short, detailed paragraphs that made good use of adjectives, pronouns and determiners.

During Maths, my group continued to work on Number and Place Value. This week, we worked with numbers to 10,000. We initially represented numbers to 10,000 using a range of means, then partitioned similarly-sized numbers, both regularly and flexibly.

In our Computing lesson, we finished looking at how emails work, demonstrating how confusion can often occur in their use, and simulated the use of email via Google Classroom.

During RE, we learned about the concept of suffering and how Buddhists perceive it, while in our RHE lesson, we reflected upon the various aspects of a healthy, positive relationship.

During History, we talked about the end of the Roman Empire and what that meant for Roman Britons. We learnt about the Anglo-Saxon invasion from the East coast which left Britain open to another attack from the Picts and the Scots in the North. We then discussed the impact of the invasion and the consequences of the Anglo-Saxon settlement. Finally, the children worked in pairs to find the answers to a quiz.

This week’s homework can be found at the link below:

220923 – Spellings Homework Sheet

Please note that there is no reading comprehension task this week.

The written homework for this is to be handed in no later than this coming Thursday, 28th September 2023.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Week Commencing Monday 11th September 2023

Hello!

A busy week for Year 4 Rosen; we’ve crammed a lot into the last week.!

During Maths, my group started to work on the Year 4 learning for the unit on Number and Place Value. As part of doing this, we identified place value up to the thousands, sequenced numbers according to their value, partitioned numbers and worked with thousands.

In English, we looked at SF Said’s modern classic, Varjak Paw, and in doing so, predicted and inferred the content of the story by looking at its front cover, inferred character traits of the book’s main protagonists and practised our weekly spellings and inverted comma (altogether now: “Also known as speech marks!” – ask your child about this) use.

In our Science lesson, we started to work on Electricity by looking at currents and appliances that are powered by mains electricity and batteries.

During RHE, we explored how our emotions affect our physical state.

In Buddhism, we learned about the origins of the faith.

During History, we started to look at Anglo-Saxons, Picts and Scots.

In our Computing lesson, we looked at emailing and how the concept of ‘packets’ works via a hands-on unplugged lesson.

This week’s homework can be found at the links below:

150923 – Homework Sheet

150923 – RC01 – The Eagle and the Turtle

4 Rosen Class Poem for Autumn Term 1 2023 – Down Behind The Dustbin

Year 4 Key Vocabulary List – Autumn Term 1

The written homework for this is to be handed in no later than this coming Thursday, September 21st 2023.

Have a great weekend,

Mr Faith

Hello!

4 Rosen have settled in well and we have been having a lovely time together!

Our first week together has been a most excellent one – the class have worked extremely hard in getting our new room in tip-top shape (lots of display material has been produced and mounted) and completing beginning-of-year tests, and I am delighted with the work they have produced.

Homework will be set for the first time next week.

Also, please find attached a copy of our current timetable and curriculum map:

Timetable – Year 4 Rosen 2023-24

Year 4 Curriculum Map 2023-2024 v1.1 (slightly revised from initial version uploaded earlier)

Have a great weekend, and please ensure that your children have a good rest – despite only being here for three days, they’ve certainly earned it!

Mr Faith