Friday 26th April 2024

As part of their learning on Instruction writing, the children made Greek Gyros Falafels and Tzatziki using a recipe taken from a cookery blog. While making the food in their groups, they wrote down the appropriate imperative verbs which they were able to use in their writing up. By the end of the week, they will have written an introduction to their very own cookery blog.

In maths, we have continued our learning on fractions, ending the week with some reasoning and problem solving questions. Next week, we will be starting to introduce decimals to the children.

The children are continuing to practise their times tables in preparation for the statutory test at the beginning of June. This week, we had fun using a variety of games. Please continue to encourage your child to practise using the multiplication check on the timestables.co.uk website.

Have a lovely weekend

The Year 4 Team

Friday 19th April 2024

This week has absolutely flown by and the children have shown excellent engagement across their lessons. They were were extremely polite and respectful towards our visitors in school this week, and enjoyed telling them about their learning.

In maths, we have really dug deep into understanding fractions using bar models, number lines, area models and part whole models as aids. The first week of term is always exciting as we introduce our new topics. In history we are learning about Arabia and early Islam, in Geography, 'Greece', and in science our unit is 'sound'.

The children explored the story of Pentecost as our RE learning is 'Kingdom of God', answering the enquiry question: 'When Jesus left, what was the impact of Pentecost?'

Our english writing focus for the next week will be 'instructions', and we will continue to delve into the units of work above in other subjects.

Please remember to encourage your child to practice their times tables using the links on the homework page and their Times Tables Rock Stars login.

We wish you a very relaxing weekend.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 28th March 2024

Today, the children are bringing home their wonderful material batik artwork. We hope you like their creations and find a suitable place to put them. We all very much enjoyed our end of term Easter service this morning at All Saints, and it put us in just the right mood to begin our Easter holiday.

We hope that you all have a lovely break whatever you are planning to do, and perhaps set aside some time in the busyness of family life for some quieter thankful, reflective moments. Don't forget to find some windows of opportunity to encourage your child to practise his or her times tables in preparation for the test at the beginning of June.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 22nd March 2024

In English this week the children started to think about Biographies and Autobiographies and the features of this type of writing. In Maths we have started our learning on fractions, thinking about the whole and partitioning a mixed number. Next week we will continue these topics. A very squishy activity was our practical experiment showing the human digestive system. We used tights as the intestine and real food to show the various stages. Groans of Yuk! could be heard coming from the Year 4 classrooms as various children cut, spooned and squeezed the fruit, biscuits and orange juice!

It was lovely to see the children really enjoying being creative at the end of the week as they completed their glue batique pieces. They took inspiration from the animals and foliage of the Rainforest, looking carefully at the patterns and shapes and transferring them onto their design.

Next week on Thursday 4B will be swimming and 4CP will be in Forest School.  Brook and Warren in the morning and Forest and Ghyll in the afternoon. We are also looking forward to our end of term Easter service on Thursday morning at All Saints Church. Don't forget, drop off will be at the church that day.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year 4 Team

Friday 15th March 2024

This week, the children have been looking at their assessment writing piece with their teacher and deciding together on a target. They will be able to keep this in mind when they embark on writing tasks and hopefully improve their writing as a result.

In Geography, the children thought about the changing face of tourism and practiced their data handling skills through converting information into a bar chart. Next week, we will be exploring sustainable tourism.

Science day on Friday was marked through our Year 4 children making water clocks and learning about their history in the Middle and Far East. They were able to connect their learning about forces through thinking about the role of gravity in the working of their clocks!

Thank you to those families who are remembering P.E. kits on Wednesdays and including warm trousers/leggings as we are outside honing tag rugby skills.

Next week on Thursday, 4B will be learning in Forest School, Brook and Warren in the morning and Forest and Ghyll in the afternoon. 4CP will be swimming.

Next week is also Parents' Evenings. Don't forget to sign up and we look forward to speaking to you about your child's progress then.

Have a restful weekend,

The Year 4 Team

Friday 8th March 2024

This week the children have been showing us how well they can work independently through various assessments of writing, reading and maths. We are looking forward to sharing their progress with you at our Parents' Evenings in a couple of weeks.

The weather was kind to us this week, and the children enjoyed their outdoor learning in Tag Rugby, as well as 4B's turn in our Forest School. However, the highlight of the week was World Book Day where we 'stopped, dropped and read' when the bell rang, as well as use our imaginations to create some dialogue from the characters in the picture book 'Flooded' by Mariajo Ilustrajo.

We ended the week with an art lesson using imagery from the Rainforest as inspiration for the children to create lovely drawings with added texture and colour from pastels, crayons and pencils.

Next week 4B will be swimming and 4CP will be in Forest School - Warren and Brook in the morning and Forest and Ghyll in the afternoon.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Year 4 team

Friday 1st March 2024

The children in 4CP enjoyed a soggy Forest School on Thursday but their enjoyment of the learning was not dampened as they tried out some new skills and practiced taking turns with their peers.

In maths, the children have been exploring division using manipulatives and drawing representations. This has greatly helped their understanding. Next week, they will be putting all of their maths learning to the test in our mid year assessment. Please do keep on encouraging your child to practice their times tables in preparation for the statutory test at the beginning of June. All children are required to take this test and they have to answer each mixed times table question in just 6 seconds.

In RE we are exploring the question 'Why do Christians call the day Jesus died Good Friday?' We have been reading the Bible account of events in Holy Week and next week we will be thinking more about what Christians do on Maundy Thursday.

Next Thursday is World Book Day and your child is invited to come dressed as a book character and bring to school the book the character is from. 4B will be learning in Forest School on the same day, so if your child is in Brook or Warren and so learning in Forest School in the morning, they will bring their costume in a bag to wear in the afternoon. 4CP will be swimming next Thursday afternoon.

Please remember to pack some warmer leggings or jogging trousers and trainers for your child to wear in our PE lessons on Wednesdays. We are now learning Tag Rugby outside.

Thank you for your continued support of your child's learning.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 23rd January 2024

Our first week back this term has been extremely wet! Despite this, the children in 4B ventured out in the pouring rain and had a fantastic time at Forest School. They discussed woodland animals, eco-systems, tied knots and had a go at cutting wooden cookies with a bow saw after safety talk. Lots of play with bridge making, games and muddy fun was had by all! Next Thursday 4CP will attend Forest School with Brook and Warren in the morning and Forest and Ghyll in the afternoon. If your child is in Brook or Warren they can come to school in their Forest School clothes.

We apologise that 4CP couldn't swim this week, this was due to essential  pool maintenance. 4B will still swim next Thursday to enable 4CP to attend Forest School.

The children have been practicing their times tables on  https://www.timestables.co.uk/ Multiplication Check. This is a replica test to that of the official Multiplication Check test set by the Government. The children will take the test in early June, straight after the half term holiday. We request that you do not decide to take your child out of school for these first two weeks of June as this is only window of time that they can sit the test and it is statutory. The children will answer 25 mixed times tables questions and have 6 seconds to answer each. They will be taking the test on an ipad and so be using a touch screen and press the correct answers on a number pad. Please encourage your child to keep up the practicing!

The Year 4 Team

Friday 9th February 2024

The highlight of our week has to have been our DT day on Tuesday. The children were able to put all of their scientific learning on circuits into action as well as their creative design skills. The games they produced made out of shoe boxes were fabulous and great fun to play.

Next term, Year 4 will be having Forest School sessions on Thursdays. Swimming will also continue to be on Thursday afternoons also. The first week back 4B will be having Forest School with Brook & Warren in the morning and Forest & Ghyll in the afternoon. Children in the morning session can come into school dressed in their Forest School clothes. Please refer to the Forest School letter sent to you via email from Mrs Patient. 4CP will therefore be swimming on the first week back.

Our P.E. after half term will be Tag Rugby. Please make sure that your child has their P.E. kit in school on Wednesdays. A warm jumper and jogging trousers is advisable as we will be outside.

We wish you a lovely and relaxing half term week.

The Year 4 team

Friday 2nd February,

This week, the children have been able to use their prior learning in RE to create presentations which they shared with their classes. Each child chose a picture that represented an aspect of Hinduism and explained what it showed, why it was important to Hindus and how it affected their religious practice. Next Tuesday we are having a Design and Technology day where the children will make their electronic games. In preparation for this, they have already painted their boxes and on Tuesday they will put their learning into practice by building their games with electrical circuits.

Next week, 4B will be swimming on Thursday afternoon. PE will be Wednesday afternoon as usual. Don't forget it's church on Wednesday so drop off will be at All Saints.

Have a restful weekend,

The Year 4 Team

Friday 26th January 2024

This week, the children have continued their multiplication and division learning n maths and have been using counters to make arrays in order to help their understanding of factor pairs. This learning is crucial for our Year 4 children as they work towards taking the statutory multiplication test in June. Thank you for all you are doing in encouraging and helping your child to practice their times tables at home, it is making a real difference.

In english writing we are focusing on making sure that the children are consistently punctuating their work correctly. Our spelling focus this week was the apostrophe for possession for singular and plural nouns. The children were able to prove their knowledge of this in our end of week spelling test made up of learning done in school. We apologise for the lack of spelling words on the website over the last 2 weeks, this was due to staff illness, but we want to assure you that learning in this area is very much still taking place within the school day. Please do continue to check for home learning on our class page.

Next week we will be looking at multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100 and continuing our science learning about electrical circuits in order to create our own electrical games.

4CP will be swimming next week on Thursday afternoon and this will be the new swimming time for Year 4 moving forward. Any offers of poolside help from parents and carers for either class would be gratefully received. Please pop a note in your child's Contact Book if you are able to assist.

Our P.E. day is Wednesday afternoon so please ensure that your child has their full kit in school on that day. A reminder that next Wednesday is the Year 3 led church service on Wednesday morning so drop off will be at the church, as is normal on these occasions. 

The Year 4 Team

Friday 19th January 2024

This week, the children have been very creative! In English, they have thought about how to create an interesting story and employed their problem solving skills in science in order to make a circuit work. Over the coming weeks, they will be developing ideas for making an electrical game.

We have been very pleased with the improvement in the children's times tables tests results. Many have gained marks, so please do keep up the practice at home. https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student/47987

Next week 4B will be swimming.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year 4 Team

Friday 12th January 2024

The highlight of this week has been our wonderful Year 4 church service which was so well led by all of our children. We hope you were proud of them as much as we were. Many had overcome nerves and some self-doubts in order to confidently present, which was a joy to see. Mrs Edwards asked the whole school in our Celebration Worship how many had shown more than 10 acts of kindness since our worship, and an array of hands went up.

We started our RE unit this week which aims to answer the enquiry question 'What does it mean to be a Hindu in Britain today?' The children watched a clip where two young Hindus talked about what was important to them and in turn, our children thought about their important activities, objects and relationships.

Next week we will be continuing to focus on times tables learning in Maths. Please do continue to encourage your child to practice times tables at home.

Next week 4CP will be swimming. Please remember your kits including hats and goggles.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 5th January 2024

Happy New year! We have been back at school for three days, or four for us teachers, and it feels like we've been back for far longer! We soon slip back into the daily routines and we hope your children have found the structure of the school day helpful, and have enjoyed engaging in the learning.

The children had an opportunity to think about some SMART goals for the New Year which you can ask them about over the weekend. We are continuing to focus on on times tables in maths and we would really encourage you to help your child find a sustainable rhythm for practicing these by using the Times Tables Rock Stars website:  https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student/47987 or this one:

https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/ where your child will be able to practice a very similar test to the one they will have in June.

Our topic in science this term is electricity and the children will be working towards creating electronic games. They very much enjoyed sharing their favourite games with their class.

Next Wednesday 10th is our Year Group led worship at All Saints Church. Please do come along and support your child. There is always plenty of room for parents, as well as free tea and coffee!

Next week on Friday, 4B will be swimming. Please remember to pack your child's swimming kit including a hat and goggles.

We hope you have a restful weekend.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 15th December 2023

Year 4 have had a wonderful final week, full of creativity and collaboration. The children have practised their team work skills through baking and performing their Tarquin the Proud plays on our Roman Day. Please follow the link below to watch:

4B & 4CP Tarquin the Proud plays

Elliot, our Fermor swimming teacher, has some information he would like to share with you about the progress of our children this term:

First, I would like to say Hello! My name is Elliott Stevens, and I am the owner of Swim Stars South East and founder of Heathfield Swim School. I am also one of the teachers that are now delivering swimming lessons and a new swimming programme to your children at the school. I just wanted to spend some time to give you all a quick update regarding the progress of your children this year to date. So far, the last two terms that me and my team have been delivering lessons at the site we have seen a huge increase in water confidence, technique, and swim skills so to everyone who has been participating I just want to say a HUGE WELL DONE, you are making excellent progress.

Year 4 – Have been working on improving all four-stroke leg and arm actions, we have also introduced breathing + swim skills such as sculling and handstands.

Finally, we would like to applaud the children for singing so well at our KS2 Carol Service on Wednesday. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Thank you for all your support over this last term. Our first day back will be Wednesday 3rd January.

Have a wonderful Christmas and we look forward to welcoming the children back refreshed and ready to learn in the New Year.

The year 4 Team

Friday 8th December 2023

This week the children have really enjoyed writing their plays to perform on our Roman Day next Tuesday 12th December. Children can dress up if they wish, but there is no obligation to do so. Next week is also our KS2 Carol Service at All Saints on Wednesday 13th at 6 pm. It would be wonderful to see as many Year 4s attend as possible, if you know that it will be difficult for you to take or collect your child because of other commitments, perhaps arrange a lift share with another parent who is attending. A highlight this week was of course a visit to Santa's Grotto! Please see the photographs above. Next week 4CP will be swimming on the final day of term.

Try and have a restful weekend, although we appreciate that's difficult at this very busy time of year!

The Year 4 Team

Friday 1st December 2023

As we ended the week the children had the real treat of watching the KS1 Nativity play and loved seeing the younger children perform. We look forward to our KS2 Carol Service in the final week of term on Wednesday 13th at 6pm at All Saints Church. The children will be singing and reading the Christmas story from the Bible. It is a magical occasion as the church is decorated for Christmas and the older children carry candles up the aisle. 

This week our science learning involved an experiment which explored evaporation as part of our States of Matter unit. in order to evaluate how well the wet tea towels dried in the various locations, they weighed them at the start and after different periods of time. The children have also been employing role play to help them write their plays in english. They will perform them as part of our Roman Day which will be happening on Tuesday 12th December. The children will be able to dress up in Roman costume if the wish to but there is no obligation to do this. 

Next week 4B will be swimming.

If there are any parents from 4CP who would be willing to help with their swimming lessons on the final week of term Mrs Price would be very grateful. Please notify through your child's Contact Book.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 24th November 2023

The excitement has built in school this week as sounds of Christmas carols wafted down the corridors and glittering trees appeared in our Hall and reception entrance. Please do come to the Friends of Fermor Polar Express themed Christmas Fair on Saturday.

A highlight this week has been the 'Roar' presentations at Uckfield which was organised by the Lions. A group of children from 4CP represented our school and did a fantastic job of presenting their innovation. They really enjoyed the morning which was attended by groups of children from schools across East Sussex.

In our learning, children have conducted an investigation into the different temperatures around the school and learnt about how thermometers work. We journeyed up the Rhine and learnt about the technical vocabulary for the different parts of a river and next week we will be exploring the Mediterranean. In english, we have started to learn about features of play scripts in preparation for the children writing their own plays to perform to their class on Roman Day during the final week of term.

As the lights go on in Crowborough tonight, enjoy the Christmas feel this weekend.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 17th November 2023

As we move towards the festive season, please keep an eye on our class page and whole school newsletter for important information and dates. 

The children came to the end of their maths learning on addition and subtraction this week and next week will be moving onto measurement and calculating area.

We have been working on punctuating dialogue for speech in english and the children have written a short excerpt including speech around the character of Tarquin the proud who they have learnt about this week in history. We will continue our learning next week on Hannibal.

Next week 4B will be swimming.

have a lovely weekend,

The Year 4 Team

Friday 10th November 2023

This week seems to have sped by which must mean we've been having fun! Our science learning this week was certainly interactive as the children investigated whether air has mass through testing a deflated and inflated balloon. Many were astonished to see the inflated balloon tip the coat hanger scales. Next week we will be exploring changing states.

Our learning question this term in RE is What do Hindus believe God is like? The children have already been able to compare the Hindu and Christian beliefs in regard to this.

We hope that you found your child's Christmas card design lovely and would like to remind you that you have just 1 more week in which to order. Please see the information flier your child brought home 2 week's ago and order online via the card website.

Please also take the opportunity to buy books next week after school in the library area by our drop off and pick up door. Scholastic have put together a lovely selection and a percentage of the proceeds go to the school. Just in time for Christmas present buying!

Next week it will be 4CP's turn to swim.

We wish you a relaxing weekend.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 3rd November 2023

Welcome back! Despite the horrendous weather, the children have settled back well into the routines of our school day.

They have embraced a change to the way in which we teach spelling as we have now split the whole year group into ability groupings based on their previous scores and writing work. We hope that this more targeted approach will pay dividends. Please continue to encourage your child to practice their spelling list which will be stuck into their Contact Book. They will be tested on these each Friday.

Please also try to develop a routine at home where your child can also practice times tables. Please see the homework page for more details.

Our topic for science is States of Matter. Please see the photos above of the children exploring various solids and liquids. You may want to ask them to give you an example of a 'viscous' substance!

Swimming started again this week and next week it will be 4B's turn to swim.

Please keep safe this weekend if you are attending any bonfire celebrations and we look forward to welcoming your children back ready to learn next week.

The Year 4 Team

Friday 20th October 2023

The children have had a full and creative week. They have celebrated their learning through quizzes and used their problem solving skills through making their prototypes for The Lions' project based on their designs.

Swimming has worked well this term with classes swimming every other week. The first week back it will be 4CP's turn to swim.

Thank you for all your support over this term. It was lovely to meet parents and carers at the parents' evenings this week and to have helpful conversations about your lovely children.

Please take advantage of the extra windows of time during the holidays to encourage your children to login to Times Tables Rock Stars and improve their recall. it will give you a little break and they will have fun playing!

Enjoy the photos above of the children immersed in their biome making.

Have a lovely half term,

The Year 4 Team

Don't forget, there is an INSET DAY on Monday so the first day of next term will be Tuesday 31st October.

Friday 13th October 2023

The highlight of the week was obviously our year group trip to Wakehurst Place. We hope you enjoy looking at the photos above. The children were able to access very hands on interacting learning which they really enjoyed.

Thank you so much for all of the resources that you provided for your children to make their biomes. You will have opportunity to see the photos in next week's newsletter. The children were able to evaluate each other's work and encourage each other with positive feedback.

Next week, we will be making again! This time the learning is a project organised by 'The Lions' to encourage children to innovate, problem solve and practice team work. The children have been put into groups and each group has decided on an innovation to tackle a problem. We have asked the children to bring in various junk modelling items in order to make their prototype next Thursday afternoon. Please speak to your child about this. A member of The Lions Club will be coming into school to observe, and the winning team will be asked to present their work at a special evening event in Uckfield.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year 4 Team

Friday 6th October 2023

One of our focuses this week has been poetry and performance. The children worked hard at writing narrative poems that included features such as alliteration, simile and rhyme. They had the opportunity to perform them to their peers at the end of the week and we were very impressed by the courage shown by some children who were really very nervous about doing this, and also the attentive listening and constructive comments from their classmates.

We are looking forward to our class trip to Wakehurst Place on Monday. Please remember to pack your child a healthy lunch, snack and filled water bottle. The children need to wear their red Fermor jumpers but along with their own clothes. They will need sturdy shoes for outside work as well as suitable clothing for the weather, including a light jacket if it seems like it could turn colder or rainy. The children will be back for the end of the school day and so pick up will be at the normal time. If your child suffers from travel sickness, please give them their medication just before coming to school in the morning.

Next week the children will be making biomes in school on Wednesday. They all have been thinking about which biome they would like to make and it would be good to help your child collect items over the weekend and first few days of next week that they need for this project. They will all need a box to start off with (shoe box or similar) and then other resources for their particular biome. These could be tubes of cardboard, cotton wool, masking tape, plastine or similar to make animals. The biomes they can choose from are: Arctic Tundra; Savannah; Forest; Aquatic; Desert; Rainforest. It would also be good if you could provide your child with an old shirt or similar to protect their school uniform from paint and glue!

Thank you for your assistance with this and we hope that you have an inspired weekend!

The Year 4 Team

Friday 29th September

It has been lovely to end the week with some bright sunshine which the children really appreciated in their outdoor playtimes. We started the week with a real life 'Gulf Stream' experiment where warm water in a clear pyrex dish mixed with cold blue ice cubes. As the ice melted and the cold water sunk to the bottom the children could see the swirl of a current evolve replicating a kind of 'Gulf Stream' current which runs from the Gulf of Mexico northwards up the United States and across the Atlantic until it eventually warms the waters around our shores.

The children enjoyed their first swimming lesson of the term. From next week, each class will swim every other week. Next week 4B will start and then the following week 4CP will swim, and so forth.  Could you please provide flip flops or similar, crocs would also be good, for them to wear to and from the classroom to the pool. This will enable more swift comings and goings as the children won't have to take off shoes and socks at the swimming pool entrance. Thank you.

Our upcoming trip to Wakehurst Place will be on Monday 9th October. Please see Parent Pay to make payment and give consent. The deadline for payment is Friday 6th October.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the last remnants of summer!

The Year 4 Team

Friday 22nd September 2023

This week the children have really explored Place Value in Maths through building numbers with concrete resources. They have been reminded to always explain their understanding by verbalising their learning using the causal conjunction 'because' in their sentences. We have been encouraging them to pay careful attention to their handwriting and we have being seeing improvements. The challenge is to consistently apply what they are doing in the Handwriting sessions into their writing in other lessons. Through our poetry work this week, the children have been increasing their vocabulary and it has been lovely to see them use some of these words in their own writing.

Friday 15th September 2023

The children have been able to show us what they have remembered from their prior learning through some assessments this week. We will be compiling this information and looking at it so that we know how best to support your child. They have been able to use the outdoor learning space through bug hunts in science and problem solving activities in P.E.

Swimming will be starting next week on Friday mornings. Please make sure that your child has their swimming costume, hat and towel on that day. Swimming will run every week for every child across the Year Group. Please see our Meet the Teacher presentation on our Class Page.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year 4 Team

Friday 8th September 2023

We would like to congratulate our Year 4 children for making a really good start to the academic year. Even in the extreme heat, they were able to achieve and learn well. They enjoyed practicing team skills and thinking about different emotion words through our outdoor activities in the shade. They also thought about what is important to them by making a collaborative Class Charter, making sure that everyone is aware of our expectations.

We look forward to seeing parents and carers at our Meet the Teacher morning this coming Monday at 9am.