Boreal Owls Y4

Hello everyone and Welcome to Year 4!

Year 4 - Boreal Owls

Teacher: Miss Lois MacDonald 

TA: Mrs. Julie Grayshon 

TA: Miss. Beckie Sharples 

This week we are learning...

English- exploring the story of The Great Kapok Tree

• looking at the different types of persuasive techniques used within the story
• using different persuasive techniques in our own writing
• writing a persuasive speech from the point of view of an animal living in the Kapok Tree

Maths- subtraction, focus on using place value to understand different subtraction methods

• number and place value 
• multiplication
  • grid method
  • ladder method
• times table focus is- 7, 8, 9 and 10s

Guided Reading- this week we are exploring chapter 4 of our book. 

Topic- exploring the four different layers of the rainforest and beginning to understand which rainforest animals reside in each layer

• forest floor
• understory 
• canopy
• emergent

PSHE- understanding what is a risk, hazard, and danger

Science- explore the different animal species and being able to group them and classify them

Welcome to Spring Term 1

Dear Boreal Owls and Parents, 

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year but now ready to get back to our classroom and continue on our learning journey, together! I plan for our classroom to not just be a hive for learning but also one that is filled with fun, laughter and smiles. I am very much looking forward to getting back to the classroom and share with you all that I have planned for this term.

This term, our topic is The Rainforest! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be teaching you one of my all time favourite topics! It also links in perfectly with our Science for the term which focuses on Living Things and their Habitats. 

Spring Term 1 Important information

• Drop off time is from 8:45- 9:00 am at the green gate and will be greeted by members of staff. This will be Miss Sharples, alongside other members of staff.  The gate will be shut at 9:00 am. The children will then walk round to the door of the classroom where I will be waiting to greet them inside the classroom. 
• The children will be continuing with their guitar lessons. These will continue to take place on Thursday mornings at 9am. Last term, we had a lot of children forgetting their guitars on a regular basis. I would like to try and avoid this taking place again this term. 
• This term, the children will be having  PE on Wednesday mornings with Mr. Sykes. The children will need to come into school, on a Wednesday, wearing their PE kit. Weather dependent, the children will be doing their PE outside, so it would be best to send them in with some extra layers to ensure they are warm enough. We know how unpredictable the English weather can be. I am looking to do another PE session with Boreal Owls on a different day but need to confirm the day and that we can use the hall, on that day. As soon as I have this confirmed, I will update the class page with the details needed. 
• PE kit should consist of:
  • Dark bottoms (navy, black or grey). These can either be shorts, joggers, tracksuit bottoms or a sports skirt.
  • A white top
  • A dark PE jumper or hoodie (navy, black or grey)
• Homework will be handed out on a Friday and will be due back in on a Wednesday. I will go through this with the children but it will not start until the children have settled back into the routine of school. The children will be given their weekly spellings to practice alongside either a piece of English, Maths or Handwriting homework or sometimes a little bit of all three. In addition, there is an activities grid for the children to choose one activity from, each week. This activity will be completed alongside their other homework set.
• Pick up time is 3:30 pm and will be from the main playground. The children will be brought to the top of the playground and then will be sent down to you. If you have anything that you wish to speak to me about, at the end of the day, I am happy to do so but please wait until I have sent all of the children home before coming to speak to me. 

If you have any questions or wish to discuss anything with me, please let me know. 

Kind regards,

Miss MacDonald, Mrs. Grayshon and Miss Sharples 

Whole Class Guided Reading

This term, we will be continuing with doing guided reading as a whole class and enjoying the same book together. The book we are going to be delving into this term is...

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Written and illustrated by C. S. Lewis.

If you have any copies of the story at home that you would be happy for your child to bring in and use in class, I would be extremely grateful. Having a copy of their own would be extremely useful to have so if you do not have a copy at home but are willing to buy your child a copy of the story that they can bring into a keep at school, would make a huge difference and be truly appreciated. Any books that come in would need to be labelled with your child's name and they will be kept at the front of the classroom, next to my desk, in our guided reading book shelf. Once we have finished the book, the children will then be able to take their copy home and continue to enjoy this book in the future. 

Please feel free to speak to me about this if you have any questions or wish to discuss further. 

Can you climb the Reading Rainbow?

A new reading rainbow challenge is coming to Boreal Owls this term and I have upped the level of challenge! We have discussed our new challenge today and the children are all very excited to take on the new reading challenges! 

Pineapple Reading Rainbow Challenge 

Plum Reading Rainbow Challenge and Pomegranate Reading Rainbow Challenge 

Are you up for the challenge?!