Two weeks in and only three more until half term! Where does the time go?


First and most importantly, we welcomed a new student from abroad into class on Monday. It's a girl, which helps redress our large boy-heavy classroom. She is a native French speaker with little English knowledge, which has been a challenge for me, whose High School French was far too long ago and far too limited to carry on any meaningful conversation. But just as I am working on more French phrases, she is immersing herself in an English environment, which will be what makes her learn our rich but often difficult tongue. It's great practise for the other children, too, as they are learning French with Mme Allin.


This week we did lots of work with fractions in maths, learning how to add and subtract them, turn them into decimal fractions. We also learned how to count up and down in tenths and hundredths, and are starting to explore the 24 hour clock.


Next week we'll focus much more on column method addition and subtraction and look at one- and two-step problems. We'll then look at multiplying and dividing larger numbers, and then decimals.


In English we just finished up our unit on writing and performing plays. The children adapted the fairy tale of Goldilocks and wrote a play about the bears entering their ransacked home. We hope to perform one at the Year 4 sharing assembly in a couple of weeks.


We'll be starting a unit on story settings that will probably take us to half term. We'll be stretching our descriptive muscles to see how vivid we can be.


In science we are looking at solids, liquids and gases. This week we explored solids that can act like liquids and the gases that comprise the air. We also looked at the space left between particles and how that allows us to compress things, especially gases.


In geography we spent a lot of time looking at maps and how they work, how to read them and how to find the cardinal directions. Next week we'll be looking at our target country in detail: India. I expect we'll have a lot of fun with it.


In RE we began looking at Sikhism and their beliefs and symbols. After a long discussion about what a symbol is and what it can mean, the children designed their own symbols for things that were important to them: pets, family, X-Boxes and football teams, mostly. Some of them were quite clever and would make good corporate logos somewhere.


We are continuing on with gymnastics, and Mr Clark has introduced them to touch rugby now that it's not snowing.


Also, I believe the letters with this term's curricula have gone out, including the long-range homework assignment. The results from the Egyptian project were so amazing, I'm quite excited to see what they come up with this time.

With another term underway we are starting several new topics. We are working on playwriting in English, which will include formatting the story properly, writing with the proper audience in mind, and then performing the piece. In Science we have just started a new unit on States of Matter, in which we will explore the different properties of solids, liquids and gases. We've started gymnastics in PE, and belonging and Sikhism in RE.


In Geography we are starting a unit on the sub-continent of India, pointing out where it is, who lives there and what the various cultures and peoples are like. We will also be looking at identifying the different features of maps and how to read them, and we may even do a bit of orienteering if time and weather permit.


This is a shorter term than the last one, which means that it will be more intense and tightly packed. So the children will be stretched in their abilities and attention spans.


As A quick heads-up, spelling tests will resume next week, and the letter with the term's long-range project will be finished and sent out in the next week or so.

With one and a half days remaining in the term, we've done all but one of the History Project presentations. So many children clearly put s lot of good work into the work, and they should be proud of what they've done and what they've learnt during the term.


We've done a lot of finishing up of things like science, watched both the EYFS and the Key Stage 1 concerts and took a trip to the local church. We did an art project based on symmetry in Maths and even managed to get one last extended writing in.


We now have Monday and part of Tuesday remaining. We're going to do a turnout of the classroom among other things, so be prepared to see things like PE kits and maybe all of those jumpers your child has not been taking home. For the weekend, get some rest amidst the last minute shopping and we will see the children on Monday.

We have one week and one point five days to go until Christmas break and it is obvious at this point that everyone has sugar plums dancing through their heads. We have quite a few things to finish up next week and I have some fun activities planned. No spoilers!


One of the big things to finish up, of course, is our Egyptians topic, and that means homework projects. I was happy to see many of you at the homework project display on Wednesday, where we got to see lots of amazing work about the Ancient Egyptians and their exotic and ancient artefacts. Over the course of this week and next week, the children will be giving their project presentations and showing off their hard work. So far we have seen Nick's, Max's, Oscar's, Izzy's and Harry's and they have all been of high quality with plenty of information and clever artefacts. I look forward to seeing the rest of them over the course of the week.


We are also finishing up our science topic on digestion and will be doing some work on the digestive organs next week for a wall display. It will be the first big research project the children will undertake, so we'll see how that works during Christmas season.


We will finish up our PE unit on dance and the children will show me what skills they have acquired during the course of the term.


In English, the children have worked hard to retell a story based on a video we watched together called the Dream Giver. Next week, they will be rewriting it with their own characters and dreams placed into the story. It will be their last extended writing of the term, and I am delighted to see how far so many of the children have come in their writing.


We are continuing to work on issues of friendship, honesty and sportsmanship as a class, and have been especially working on giving each other genuine compliments. These are skills every child needs reinforced throughout their childhood years. The Christmas season is a wonderful time to remind us all of the ideal of good will towards all people.


So, to finish up this penultimate blog of the Autumn Term (where does the time go?), we will be doing a mix of some hard work and fun activities to end the calendar year together. Have a good weekend, and try not to think about how many shopping days are left until Christmas.

Apologies that it has been a few weeks. As you are doubtless aware, the end of the year brings all sorts of new reasons to feel hectic. With the Christmas holiday rapidly approaching as well as the end of term, we are both gearing up and winding down at the same time, preparing to finish several things off whilst also looking to the Spring term approaching.




In English, the children have had a few challenges. We had anti-bullying week last week, and the national theme this year was "Power for Good" and the first thing it made me think of was the famous line from Spider-man comics, "With great power comes great responsibility." It was only a short logical jump from that to the idea of having the children create their own super heroes who would fight bullying. We had quite a few imaginative hero designs, including a hero with a magical moustache and one with special laser vision that could make a bully into a friend.


From there we designed comic strips of out hero fighting the bully, and used that as a template for writing dialogue using all the proper punctuation and formatting. The children were so proud of their comics that Ms Roberts (the head teacher) agreed to let them show them off in the assembly the next Monday.


After that we spent a week on two of the most famous people associated with Ancient Egypt: Howard Carter and King Tut. We spent a week exploring Tut's tomb and the story behind it, and at the end of the week the children wrote some brilliant diary entries as if they were the famous Egyptologist himself.


In Science, we spent a couple of days experimenting with egg shells and different liquids as part of our topic on Digestion. This was an experiment they had done last year, but this time we were more rigorous in our science and more thorough in our results. We also got to practise lab safety around unknown liquids by using tweezers to touch everything and wearing goggles to protect our eyes. In reality, the most volatile substance they had to deal with was orange juice, but it was good practice for future experiments.


Our History topic on Ancient Egypt is coming to an end, as you are all no doubt aware by helping your children put the finishing touches on their end of term projects. As a gentle reminder, they are due in on Monday (the fifth) and the children will be presenting their projects starting Monday afternoon.


On Wednesday they will be putting their projects on display for parents to see from 3:15 to 3:45. I can say that the projects I've had in already have been imaginative and well-made and I think the children have a lot to be proud of, so I encourage you all to come in and see what the class has produced.


I think that brings us up to date, for the most part. We have a two-week push to the end of the term!

It's Remembrance Day and we observed it with an extra-long assembly this morning where each class got to show off its work from the last two weeks. Class 4 had produced a large number of brilliant haikus and tankas, and it was very difficult to choose four speakers from the class of 29. Hopefully I'll be able to give everyone a chance to show off their skills in future assemblies, but in the meantime, almost everyone managed to produce at least one good, proper haiku on a Remembrance theme, so they should be proud.


We finally finished our two week unit on explanations (with a small interruption for Remembrance Day) by writing about the some of the theories about how the pyramids were built. I think that pyramid construction is especially good at capturing childhood imaginations, especially for boys, and I got some really good work from them as a result.


We delved into bar charts and fractions in maths this week. In science we are continuing our study of teeth and digestion, and we compared everyday foods for their sugar content to see how damaging they are to our teeth. The results were not what was predicted, which is always fun to find. In history we examined the Ancient Egyptian method of barter used instead of money.


Next week is Anti-Bullying Week, and we will have several writing and creative lessons built around being a good friend and recognising bullying as opposed to being rude or mean.


After that, we really only have a little more than three weeks left to the Autumn term. We will be collecting and presenting the long-term homework project at the start of week 12, just as a gentle reminder. I expect to be able to listen to and assess all of the homework projects in the last two weeks of term.

With half a term under our belts we are charging ahead full until Christmas. I've had the privilege of meeting most of you and having a chat about your student, and apologies again to those of you who caught me close to seven last night--my brain had stopped working.


We've spent a week looking at converting different units of measurement including metres, litres, grams, time and money. In English we had a look at Remembrance Day and wrote some amazing haikus for our Remembrance Day assembly next week.


We started looking at a new song to create a dance around in PE. Over the next six weeks or so we will be inventing and performing that dance. We also started a new topic in science--Digestion and Teeth--and will be looking at how we process foods and why nutrition is important.


We've started a unit on the Nativity Story in RE and are working as a class on what it takes to be a good friend. And in history we spent time looking at the Nile as a system of transport and built boats out of straw.


Now for a much-needed weekend as we head towards winter.