Maths - Capacity

Hi Everyone

I hope you are all OK, there have been alot of illnesses going round!!

This week in numeracy we are learning about capacity - here is a link to some great games for your child to play to help re-enforce what we have been doing in class.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/measures/capacity.html#Capacity

Have fun!

Spring Fair

Hi everyone

Please, please remember to donate prizes for the year 4 stall at the spring fair. We are in charge of the Tombola stall and have only had one prize donated so far!

The spring fair is on Thursday 8th March, see you there.

Science - Habitats.

Hi everyone

the end of this week brings the end of another science topic and the children have been learning about habitats of different animals and the food chains that exist.

If your child wants to do some science revision over the weekend, here are some links to science games related to habitats and food chains:

Food chains (producers and consumers):
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm

Chose a foodchain on the left, click and drag the inages to the right spot:
http://www.playlearnschool.com/Science/1/Food-Chain/Food-Chain-On-Land-2.aspx

Science clips habitat games:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/habitats.shtml

Enjoy!

IPC - Active Planet.

In IPC we have been learning about volcanoes and earthquakes. Over the last 2 weeks we have made volcanoes out of Modroc and used Coco Pops, red food colouring, Bicarbonate of Soda and Vinegar to cause a chemical reaction for our volcanoes to erupt - take a look at the fun they had:

This is a video showing the chemical reaction that all the children had when erupting their volcanoes:

Enjoy - And don't forget to ask your child all about it!

Year 4 Residential Trip.

Hi All


The residential trip was absolutely fantastic - I'm sure your child has given you all the details by now! Everyone had a great time and took part in all of the activities. We have taken lots of photos so if you would like to bring in a memory stick nearer the end of the week, I will copy them all for you. For now, I have put a very small sample of the photos I took:

Backwards on Mega Death!

Alex on Mega Death!

On the way to sand board!

We've got to carry this back!

Camp fire songs.

Kayak Instruction.

That was fun!

Fun rolling down Mega Death!

Instructions!

 I'm not an expert on blogging yet and I tried to put these in order - without success!! It also keeps moving them around to different places! I'm sure your child can let you know what's happening in each.


Enjoy!

School Residential to Dhaid.

Please be aware that your child needs to be at school between 7:15 and 7:25am on Tuesday, for the school residential trip, as the coach needs to leave the car park at 7:30. This is because school drop off will begin and the car park will be far too busy for the school bus to be parked there. If you have any questions regarding the trip, please email me on scox@dubaibritishschool.ae and I will email back an answer - if I know it!


The children are getting really excited about the trip - so please don't be late!

      

MyMaths

Over the weekend I have set the whole of year 4 with a MyMaths account. If you have secondary children in the school you will already be aware of what MyMaths is. MyMaths is a website that the school subscribes to which allows your child to practise the maths concepts they are covering at school. They can also be set homework on-line instead of putting answers on a worksheet, which is stimulating and visual. I will send your child's password and log-in details home with them on Sunday.


I have already set your child 2 sets of homework so if you would like to log-on over the weekend, please email me with the name of your child and I will email your child's password back. My email is scox@dubaibritishschool.ae


If you would just like to take a look around the site, familiarise yourself and view some of the lessons, please log-on to www.mymaths.co.uk, using the log-on 'dubai' and the password 'circle'. The block we have just done is Numbers (tab on the left hand side), fractions and decimals. Have fun!

Science Assessment

Please be aware that the next Science assessment is on Thursday, covering the Solids and Liquids topic. We have had a long revision lesson today, quickly re-doing experiments that we have previously covered. Please ask your child about these experiments and relate them to the games I have posted on our blog. Please also relate these to everyday situations, such as cooking using liquids or solids.


Good luck with the revision.

Sports Day

Don't forget:


Year 4 Sports Day, Monday 23rd January, 2012. PE kit with house colours, hat and water bottle.

Good Luck!

Maths Games

I've just found some really fun maths games. I've tried quite a few of them and I think they are great for practising rapid recall of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Choose the timed games for added fun - see how many your child can complete correctly in the time given. 


http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm


Keep repeating and get your child to keep a note of how many they get right in the same time. Get them to give themselves a point every time they beat their score for each game. 






Enjoy!   

Science - Separating Mixtures.

This coming week brings the end of our current Science topic - Solids, Liquids and Gases. We have been looking at separating mixtures in class and we carried out an experiment to separate a mixture of kidney beans, sand and salt. The scientific language used during the experiment was solution, dissolve, filter and evaporate. We talked about what we could do to separate paperclips if they were in the mixture. The following video clip is a similar experiment using a mixture of sand, salt and iron shavings. The scientist in the video used heat to aid the evaporation - we left our solutions on the window sill for 3-4 days with the same effect.

Another thing we learnt about was filtration. Coffee dissolves in water but tea leaves don't so why don't we have tea leaves floating in our tea? A solution (mixture of a liquid and a dissolved solid) will pass through a filter but a solid will not. In this case the filter is the tea bag. The tea bag allows the water to pass through, infusing it with the flavour but the tea leaves stay trapped inside. The following video is a simple explanation of how a filter works.

Sports Day

Just a quick reminder that we have Sports Day on Monday 23rd January. Please send your child to school wearing their PE kits with their house PE top. They will also need a water bottle and hat. 


The PFA will be selling refreshments (tea, coffee and cakes) to any parents who wish to come along to watch.

Fractions, mixed numbers and decimals.

Hi


I have shown a couple of PowerPoints to my Maths group to help them understand fractions, mixed numbers and how to convert fractions to decimals. These have been taken from the Primary Resources website which is excellent as a teaching tool. If you wish to log on to this site the address is: primaryresources.co.uk (this is not a link). Primary Resources has everything you need to educate a child from Early Years to Year 6, covering every subject - it really is worth a look.


This is the maths page relating to fractions and decimals: 


http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/mathsB6.htm


Please have a look through the PowerPoints to see what your child has been learning, here are the titles of 2 we have seen:

• Numerators and Denominators  by Natasha Duffy (it has a yellow 4 next to it which relates to year group).
• Fractions (Paul Rigby)

Have a look - there are also lots of worksheets your child can use for consolidation and revision.

Thanks.

Math lessons, games and printable resources.

Please follow the link below to access a maths website which has lots of games, lessons and resources for you to print. If you click on the multiplication choice and scroll down to the bottom, you can print off multiplication flash cards that your child can decorate and use to practise their times tables:

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

We are learning about fractions and decimals at the moment - week 2 of 2.

Have fun!

Maths Games - Fractions to decimals.

Hi everyone


I've been playing a few games from a maths games site. I haven't had time to play them all but the few I chose were good. At the moment we are covering fractions and decimals - have a look to see what they've got to offer:


http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/



Happy playing,

Comprehension Worksheets.

Hi everyone,


If you think your child is finding comprehension a bit of a struggle, you can download and print extra worksheets from home. They are simple to mark as they come with the answers! Please click on the following link and choose your level (corresponds with year group).


http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/4th-comprehension.html

You can also print Maths and Science sheets - just take a look!


This Website has recently become a fee paying website but there are still a number of worksheets free to print that are suitable for revision. 


If there are any worksheets you like the look of but have to pay for, please write a note in your child's planner/diary, stating the lesson (eg. Science, Maths...) and the name of the worksheet and I will print it off for you and send it home.


Enjoy looking!

Science - Reversible and irreversible changes.

Hi everyone - me again!

Today in science we did en experiment to see if sand, sugar or salt dissolve in water. We are now waiting to see what happens with these solutions over the next few days - The sand didn't dissolve but the sugar and salt did. I'm hoping the classroom is warm enough for the solutions to evaporate quickly, leaving the salt and sugar in the Petridishes!

It might help your child have more of an ideas during class discussions over the next few days if they play a related Science game. Please follow this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/10_11/rev_irrev_changes.shtml


I hope they have fun and I look forward to their feedback.

Good luck and happy Science!

Numeracy - Fractions

Hi all

Next week in Numeracy (w/c 15.1.12) we are learning about Fractions. Your child would have covered this before but as a bit of revision they will really enjoy playing 'Fraction Flags'. It covers half and quarter (but you can change it to make it more challenging) and they would have seen it before in class. Please follow the link and have a go:

http://resources.oswego.org/games/fractionflags/fractionflags.html

Just click on the colour with the fraction on and colour the flag with that colour, making sure you only colour the fraction of the flag the colour tells you to!

They'll enjoy this one too:

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_104_g_1_t_1.html

They'll figure this one out easily! Just make sure the numerator (top number) is how many are coloured in yellow and the denominator (bottom number) is how many segments there are altogether (white and coloured yellow).


Hope they have fun!

IPC - Active Planet

Our new topic in IPC is 'Active Planet'. I have found this video that I think will be interesting for the children to watch. Next week in IPC they will be producing a News Readers report on an earthquake and will be recorded with a video recorder whilst they read their news report. They really enjoy watching themselves when we play back!

The children were also asking about the aftershocks and after effects that result from earthquakes. I have found this video which shows a Tsunami which is caused by an earthquake which happened elsewhere. It also contains an explanation of the plates of the earth which cause the earthquakes in the first place. Each video is less than 3 minutes.

Baker, Baker

Below is the timetable for those children who have not yet done their Baker, Baker:


15.1.12 - NF
19.1.12 - HC
24.1.12 - CY
26.1.12 - DP
02.2.12 - Residential Trip
09.2.12 - BS
16.2.12 - AS
23.2.12 - Half Term
01.3.12 - WK
08.3.12 - PJ
15.3.12 - MH
22.3.12 - HJ
29.3.12 - SP
19.4.12 - DD
26.4.12 - EN
03.5.12 - HH
10.5.12 - School Trip
17.5.12 - MA


Let me know if your child's date is a problem, they chose their own dates but they can be changed. Also, let me know if your child has not had a turn and is not on the list. Thanks.
I have used initials as this blog is not yet password protected.

Big Reads

Big Reads

 

In September we launched our 'Big Read' for all Primary students. This is a weekly 20 minute discussion with your child about a book they have been reading, either a library book, reading book or book from home. It can be done in bed, on the sofa, in the car or anywhere that you can have a good chat. The idea is that you will ask them a variety of questions which will prompt a discussion about the book, enabling you to see how much your child has understood and checking their understanding of the text.

 

Please make a note in your child's diary to show that this has happened, teachers will be checking these weekly and house points will be awarded for Big Reads.

 

To help with question ideas Mrs. Barr has produced a Parent’s Guide to Reading Comprehension and Effective Questioning. This is available to download on the school’s website and copies were sent home in September. Some of our newer Oxford Reading Tree, Tree Tops and Time Chronicle books also have guidance notes and questions inside the front covers to help you.

Enjoy your Big Reads and thank your for your support.

(Letter produced and originally sent out by Mrs Barr).

Welcome!

Welcome to our class blog. I will use this blog to post useful videos, links and information. Please feel free to leave a comment on any of the info in this blog.