Year 4
The Andy Murray Tennis Challenge
Hi all,
As we hurtle towards the end of the Summer Term, it is the time of year where we usually have our school’s ‘Sports Day’. It is also the time of the year where we being to look at clubs for children to attend during the summer holidays. Active Devon and the School Games Organisers have teamed up with Andy Murray to present you with a challenge – ‘The Andy Murray 100 Volley Challenge’
Click on the link below for more….
NRich Maths Games
Hi all,
This week in school, we have been introducing children to a series of new maths games. Here are some of the activities we have being learning about.
Please see the links below to access two of them. They are called ‘Strike it out’ and ‘Less is more’.
Just copy and paste the web address into the address bar at the top of your internet browser, easy as that!
Strike it out:
https://nrich.maths.org/6589
Less is more:
https://nrich.maths.org/14684
Hope you have fun with these….
Mr Whitty
Week beginning Monday 6th July 2020 – Year 3 and 4 Base 2 – Welcome Back!
Hi Everybody,
What a week we had last week with Year 3 and 4 Base 1! We had learning, fun, smiles, laughter, friendship making, creative thinking and so much more. Now it’s your turn!
This week while in school, I will be giving children learning packs to take home and introducing them to a new online maths resource that will be tailored to each child’s need.
We can’t wait to welcome Mrs Cousins’ class up into the Year 5 classroom for their day in school. We have so much to chat about. Mrs Louise and I can’t wait!
In the meantime, stay safe and take care!
Mr Whitty
NRich Maths Games
Hi all,
This week in school, we have been introducing children to a series of new maths games. Here are some of the activities we have being learning about.
Please see the links below to access two of them. They are called ‘Strike it out’ and ‘Less is more’.
Strike it out:
https://nrich.maths.org/6589
Less is more:
https://nrich.maths.org/14684
Hope you have fun with these….
Mr Whitty
Week Beginning 29th June 2020 – Out of this World – Our Splendid Space
Week beginning 29th June 2020 – Out of this World – Our Splendid Space
This week we welcome back children from Year 3 and 4 Base 1 into school and next week we will welcome back Year 3 and 4 Base 2. We are very excited to welcome you all back into school albeit into the Year 5 classroom. If you remember, you all have had lessons in the Year 5 classroom before during Monday’s carousel of learning. I am sat writing this on my sofa with the biggest smile on face in anticipation of seeing all you marvellous learners again.
In the knowledge that you will be in school sometime over the next few weeks, we will be revisiting some learning in preparation for coming into school alongside some space themed activities.
SPACE ACTIVITIES
The space themed learning pack will hopefully provide you with a range of activities to try out and to have some fun with. With the pack, scroll down through it to have a good look at all of the different activities. Please feel free to try the ones that you like the look of while not worrying about completing the ones you do not like the look of.
Finding the Range, Mean and Mode
Out of this World Our Splendid Space Activity Booklet
VOCABULARY LEARNING
It would be really beneficial if you could have a go at or revisit again the vocabulary learning about the animal ‘mash up’.
Revisit English Vocabulary Learning:
Top Tip: Try to complete one part each day over three days. This will allow time to explore some of the space themed activities as well.
Part 1:
Watch the 10 minute challenge on Authorfy (https://authorfy.com/10minutechallenges/ ), set by Sibeal Pounder (Author of Bad Mermaids and Witch Wars). In this challenge, Sibeal asks you to create your own animal mash-up and gives tips and advice on how you might do this.
Part 2:
Using your animal mash-up (or one you found and really liked online!) create a mind map of interesting words you could use to describe your mash-up pet.
Part 3:
Can you turn the descriptive words into sentences about your mash-up pet?
My examples are:
The squox peered out of his burrow, his pointed ears alert to any sounds.
Life was challenging for the squox, for she was regularly toppling over from the weight of her expansive head.
Week beginning 22nd June – Very Vibrant Vocabulary!
Very Vibrant Vocabulary
This week we are looking at vocabulary and are calling our week ‘Very Vibrant Vocabulary’. We are looking at vocabulary in fun, exciting and interesting ways. This will take in both vocabulary for writing and vocabulary for maths.
The week’s activities will take in a bit of reading, a bit of watching (a video clip), a bit of research and to top it all off, the best bit, your amazing thinking.
Monday:
English Vocabulary Learning:
Watch the 10 minute challenge on Authorfy (https://authorfy.com/10minutechallenges/ ), set by Sibeal Pounder (Author of Bad Mermaids and Witch Wars). In this challenge, Sibeal asks you to create your own animal mash-up and gives tips and advice on how you might do this.
Maths Vocabulary Learning
To start off our maths ‘vocab’ week we thought it would be a good idea to spend some time investigating what different words mean in a mathematical context. Please see the attached maths word sorting activity.
Tuesday:
English Vocabulary Learning
Using your animal mash-up from yesterday (or one you found and really liked online!) create a mind map of interesting words you could use to describe your mash-up pet.
Here is my example:
Maths Vocabulary Learning
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zh26sbk
An introduction to 2D shapes. A street performer challenges children to make different shapes. The performer starts with a square piece of paper and asks a child to turn it into another shape. He challenges the children to make triangles, smaller squares and a star. Have a look to familiarise yourself with some of the really common 2D shapes.
The link above will bring you to a video presentation with questions all about 3D shapes and the vocabulary associated with them. It can be found by going through the TOP MARKS website we are all familiar with.
Wednesday:
English Vocabulary Learning
Can you turn yesterday’s descriptive words into sentences about your mash-up pet?
The squox peered out of his burrow, his pointed ears alert to any sounds.
Life was challenging for the squox, for she was regularly toppling over from the weight of her expansive head.
Maths Vocabulary Learning
Using the PowerPoint to guide you, can you think of different ways you might see or different ways you might see the four operations said or written in a word problem. The symbols can be represented by many different words. How many can you think of?
Thursday:
English Vocabulary Learning
How can you describe the characteristic of your mash-up pet? Complete a new mind map showing the personality traits.
e.g. Friendly, affectionate, amiable, well disposed
Jumpy, springy, athletic
Maths Vocabulary Learning
Now that you have become familiar once again with the vocabulary to do with shape, let’s look at some more maths vocabulary. Here is a list of some more maths specific words for you to explore.
Parallel, Intersect, equilateral, difference, product, change, array, sequence, greater, compare, divisor, estimate, equivalent, scalene.
Use the template below to record your learning if it helps. In the template you will see three columns. The left column is to draw a picture to show your thinking, the middle column is where the word you are learning about goes and the right hand column is where you can write the meaning or definition of the word you are investigating.
Understanding Vocabulary Maths Template
Friday:
English Vocabulary Learning
Can you create a poster about your mash-up pet? Or maybe a ‘David Attenborough’ style video where you pretend to be observing your mash-up pet in its natural habitat?
Maths Vocabulary Learning
As you have been learning lots of new ways to say different mathematical words, it might be fun to begin to write some fun word problems using the new mathematical words we have learned about.
So let’s take the number sentence, 16 + 7 = ?
We can make a number sentence up to represent it.
Sixteen add seven equals what? Now turn it into a word problem. We could say: If I had sixteen sweets and Jenny gave me seven more, how many would I have altogether?
More is a different way of saying add and altogether is a different way of saying equals. See how I have used different words which mean the same thing! You can do it too!
Can you write a word problem for the following number sentences?
6 + 6 = ?
74 – 32 = ?
6 X 4 = ?
35 ÷ 7 = ?
If you feel like you want to make up your own, please do so. It’s up to you.
Have a great week everyone.
Stay safe and take care.
Mr Whitty
Week beginning June 15th – Part 2: Birds, Birds and Birds
Birds, Birds and Birds!
I hope you have had fun learning about the ‘King of the Birds’ story.
Our activities for the remainder of the week will focus on maths, spelling, timestables and handwriting.
Wednesday
Maths
This week we have some bird themed maths activities. We will be concentrating on telling the time and fractions.
There is a very helpful website to assist with fractions. It is called Maths Bot. It can be found using the following link. https://mathsbot.com/manipulatives/fractionWall
Please see below for the link to the activities.
Thursday
Spelling
I have uploaded some handwriting/spelling resources. It includes the Year 3 and 4 statutory spelling list, along with another list of words we use every day called High Frequency Words or HFW spelling list. You do not have to use the spelling and the handwriting resources together but it works well using both together. The best thing to do is to only choose about 5 or 6 spellings at any one time and focus on those until they are learned rather than trying to learn too many at once.
Another fun activity
As the fine weather has left us maybe it might be less likely to head outside. With this in mind, I am keen to offer ideas for exercise.
Please see the following clip from Discovery Education to explain bird dances. After clicking on the link you will still need the usual Discovery Education login details to access. If these details are not at hand, please contact the school and we can get them to you as soon as possible.
After watching the clip, I would be keen for you to try to make up your own bird-style dance. Remember you can upload photos and videos to the school website splash page if you wish to share them.
Friday
Handwriting and Timestables
Choose a timestable you feel comfortable with and master it. Please do not feel these options are a to-do list. They are not. They are broad in range to offer choice.
Handwriting is always a Key Stage 2 focus. Feel comfortable practicing little and often.
Practice handwriting the words you were spelling earlier in the week. This will either be from the Year 3 and 4 Statutory Spelling list or the high frequency words list.
Additional Fun Activity
Fancy a bit of bird spotting? What can you see in your garden? We took a close look at birds a few weeks ago. Have the birds that are entering your garden changed? If so, what can you see now?
Use the bird identifier below to help you identify bird you do not readily recognise.
Use the link to be taken to the RSPB bird identifier tool.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/identify-a-bird/
I can’t wait to see you all again soon!
Stay safe and take care.
Mr Whitty
Week Beginning June 15th – Birds, Birds and Birds!
Birds, Birds and Birds!
Hello Year 3 and 4. I so wish that you have had a weekend that was both exciting and restful in equal measure. Our theme for this week’s learning is ‘Birds’.
This week will follow the same format as last with a focus on reading, vocabulary, times tables and maths games. However, I am going to upload the weeks activities in two parts (Part 1. Monday and Tuesday and Part 2. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday).
Monday
Reading
There is a beautiful story called the ‘King of the Birds’. This traditional story is about a race to become the bird king. Which bird will become king? It is retold by an author called Michael Scott in a book called ‘Beyond the Stars’ by Sarah Webb.
This is actually an old Irish folk story that my Grandmother told me as a very young child. It fostered within me a love for the ‘underdog’ which I still hold to this day. It taught me that even though the odds might be stacked against you, if you try hard enough and think clever enough you can achieve your dreams.
For today’s activity, I want you to read the story with an adult or by yourself. It would be lovely for the adult to read the story so your child can take it all in.
Beyond the Stars Sarah Webb [1]
To help to understand the general theme of the story, please see the video of the story which has been narrated by Melvyn Hayes.
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/short-stories/the-bird-king
Top Tips for home reading:
Make books a part of family life – Always have books around at home. That way you and your children are ready to get reading, even if it’s only for ten minutes.
Get comfortable! – Snuggle up together somewhere warm and cosy, whether it’s in bed, on a beanbag or on the sofa. And make sure your child has somewhere comfy to read on their own too.
Ask questions – To keep them interested in the story, ask your child questions as you read. Start with ‘Where did we get to last time?’, ‘Can you remember what’s happened so far?’ and ‘What do you think will happen next?’
Enjoy bedtime stories – Read with your kids at bedtime as often as you can. It’s a great way to end the day and to spend valuable time with them.
Tuesday
Vocabulary and Story Mapping
Vocabulary
Are there any words or phrases from the story that you are unsure of that you would like to investigate further in order to clarify what they mean?
You can do so using the word investigation sheet by writing the word in the middle, then drawing and writing the meaning or definition either side of the word or phrase,
Understanding Vocabulary Template
Story Mapping
When we study texts in school we ask the children to story map the text so they can see that the story is made up of different parts. Whether it be setting the scene where the story takes place, the part in the story where something ‘bad’ happens or the part in the story where the ‘bad thing’ gets resolved. By breaking down the story into these parts allows you to better understand the story and the way stories are generally written. For children to see this helps them be better writers when it comes to writing their own version of story.
The story map is created by drawing pictures or sketches along with words to represent that part of the story.
There are story mapping resources below. There is no right or wrong. Just chunk the story up into major events as you see them. The main thing is to have fun and be creative.
Storyboards How to instructions
Story Planner with visual prompts
King of the Birds template storyboard
Some Other Fun Activities
Week beginning 8th June 2020 – Extreme Earth
Week Beginning Monday 8th June 2020 – Extreme Earth
Hello everyone,
I hope you had an enjoyable week last week despite the weather not being so kind. With the change in weather in mind, in Year 3 and 4, we will explore weather from around the world through our Key Stage focus, ‘Extreme Earth’.
Monday’s Focus
Spelling and Vocabulary
Today we will be completing a word search to become familiar with words to do with weather. Choose 6 of these words that you do not understand and investigate their meaning. By investigating words you will be able to influence your own learning and it will help you to better understand the learning throughout the week while also learning some new vocabulary, which is cool!
Understanding Vocabulary Template
Tuesday’s Focus
Reading
Get to understand weather a little better by reading with the help of an adult or by yourself. Focus on just reading the first page to get to know more bout weather. If you you scroll down, there are bonus activities that you can do if you choose!
Here is a link to learn a little more about weather by watching the video and doing the quiz near the bottom of the page.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z849q6f/articles/z7dkhbk
Wednesday’s Focus
Writing
As you have discovered there are many different types of weather In the world. Today, let us have fun investigating two contrasting types of weather from two different regions for example, a temperate climate and a tropical climate.
Create a weather fact-file for these two regions.
National Geographic Kids is a great place to start your investigation. See the link to be taken directly to it!
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/primary-resource/weather-primary-resource/
See the link below for a fact-file template. There are three within the PDF. You can choose which one you like and they can be used for any type of fact-file or presentation.
Fact file template with picture boxes
Thursday’s Focus
Times tables
On Thursday it would be great if you would be able to have a go at completing a times table you feel comfortable on to begin with and them investigating a new one. For example, if you are comfortable with X2, maybe have a go at X4. Alternatively, if you are on X3, have a go at X6.
A couple of fantastic website to do this are:
https://www.timestables.co.uk/
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables
Friday’s Focus
Maths
Here are a couple of fun maths games for you to enjoy.
The first one is called ‘Inside Triangles’.
The second one is called ‘Strike It Out’.
Strike it out is a two player game. There is a video to explain what to do. There is also a PowerPoint to help if the video does not work on your computer.
Have a wonderful week everyone. Any questions, please get in touch.
Be kind, have fun and stay safe.
Mr Whitty
Week beginning 8th June 2020 – Extreme Earth
Week Beginning Monday 8th June 2020 – Extreme Earth
Hello everyone,
I hope you had an enjoyable week last week despite the weather not being so kind. With the change in weather in mind, in Year 3 and 4, we will explore weather from around the world through our Key Stage focus, ‘Extreme Earth’.
Monday’s Focus
Spelling and Vocabulary
Today we will be completing a word search to become familiar with words to do with weather. Choose 6 of these words that you do not understand and investigate their meaning. By investigating words you will be able to influence your own learning and it will help you to better understand the learning throughout the week while also learning some new vocabulary, which is cool!
Understanding Vocabulary Template
Tuesday’s Focus
Reading
Get to understand weather a little better by reading with the help of an adult or by yourself a little about it.
Introduction to weather, climate and climate zones
Here is a link to learn a little more about weather by watching the video and doing the quiz near the bottom of the page.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z849q6f/articles/z7dkhbk
Wednesday’s Focus
Writing
As you have discovered there are many different types of weather In the world. Today, let us have fun investigating two contrasting types of weather from two different regions for example, a temperate climate and a tropical climate.
Create a weather fact-file for these two regions.
National Geographic Kids is a great place to start your investigation. See the link to be taken directly to it!
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/primary-resource/weather-primary-resource/
See the link below for a fact-file template. There are three within the PDF. You can choose which one you like and they can be used for any type of fact-file or presentation.
Fact file template with picture boxes
Thursday’s Focus
Times tables
On Thursday it would be great if you would be able to have a go at completing a times table you feel comfortable on to begin with and them investigating a new one. For example, if you are comfortable with X2, maybe have a go at X4. Alternatively, if you are on X3, have a go at X6.
A couple of fantastic website to do this are:
https://www.timestables.co.uk/
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables
Friday’s Focus
Maths
Here are a couple of fun maths games for you to enjoy.
The first one is called ‘Inside Triangles’.
The second one is called ‘Strike It Out’.
Strike it out is a two player game. There is a video to explain what to do. There is also a PowerPoint to help if the video does not work on your computer.
Have a wonderful week everyone. Any questions, please get in touch.
Be kind, have fun and stay safe.
Mr Whitty