Immanuel and St.

Andrew CE Primary School

Year 4 Class Bulletin Term 2
Dear Parents / Carers, Welcome to Year 4s Term 2 Class Bulletin! We hope you had a good half term break. Our topic for this term continues to be A Global Village. We did some exciting work last term on this topic and the children completed a fantastic documentary on our local area which we hope to invite you to watch this term. We will be moving further a field from Streatham to study the many diverse communities around the world. This links in very nicely with our literacy unit for the start of this term which is Stories from other cultures. We will be touching on Amazonian, Asian, Caribbean and Chinese cultures and comparing the traditions and customs with those of our own. We will spend some time talking and learning about sustainable development and issues that concern us with regards to the environment. We hope to do some creative art projects such as batiks, paper making and cooking which will be linked to this. If you feel you can help or contribute in any way to our topic, please do speak to one of us. Any other concerns, you can contact us on our email addresses below. Mrs Laing & Mrs McCraw olaing@immanuelschoollambeth.org.uk bmccraw@immanuelschoollambeth.org.uk

November 2011

Topics this term Literacy This term we start off with the unit Stories from other cultures which is a very rich and exciting subject area. We have a lot of wonderful resources in the school and we hope to explore the different traditions and cultures that are portrayed through these stories. The unit for the latter part of the term is Persuasive writing. The children will be learning about how persuasive language can be used to influence someones point of view. N umeracy Each week we will be focusing on a different aspect of number or topic work, based on the National Numeracy Strategy. By the end of year 4 children should know multiplication facts for the 7, 8 and 9 timestables! This means that they should already be confident with the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 timestables! Please encourage your child to regularly practise the timestables throughout the school year. We are starting a timestable challenge each week where the children have to try and beat their time from the previous week. The more they practise at home, the better their time will be!

Important N otes: R eading We continuously encourage parents to read at home with their children for their enjoyment and importantly to support and further their abilities. Books from the school reading scheme will be given to the children and changed every week on a Wednesday. Whilst the library remains out of action children are encouraged to sign books out of our class book corner. Our class novel is Skellig by David Almond which is about a relationship with a boy and a strange creature that he finds in his garage. H omework Homework will be given out on Thursday and due back the following Tuesday. Homework will include maths and literacy tasks, timetables and spellings each week. The majority of the maths homework will be set on Education City.com. If you do not have internet access at home, please let us know so that we can set your child alternative homework. Please support your child in completing the set homework each week. !

PE Indoor P.E The children will continue to going swimming on Tuesdays. Please remember to bring swimming kits and towels. It is also very important that the children wear a coat (with a hood or hat) for the journey. O utdoor P .E The children will have outdoor P.E on Fridays. We will be doing Outdoor and Adventurous Activities, which involves team work games and challenges. Please remember to bring: Navy blue shorts or tracksuit bottoms Pale blue T-shirt As the weather gets wetter please include trainers in their PE kit, if possible, thank you. Shorts and T-shirts can be bought from the school office along with Immanuel and St. Andrew sweatshirts on Tuesdays. We will allow children to wear their sweatshirts outside on cold days.

RE Children will continue to learn about The Muslim way of life as well as Christmas Journeys. Science This terms topic is Solids, Liquids and how they can be separated. Children will learn the key properties of solids and liquids and take part in simulated and practical experiments to test melting and freezing points. We will make paper using a liquid pulp and hope to make ice lollies as an end of term treat (we mean experiment!) Spellings Children are following the national strategy for spelling. They are taught the rule or pattern they are practising each week and the spellings allow them to practise what we have learnt. There will be a minimum of 10 spellings to learn each week and the test will take place on Thursdays. Please support the children with learning their spellings.
Important Dates: w/c 14th Nov Anti Bullying Week Sat 26th Nov pm Christmas Fair Thurs 8th Dec, 6pm Immanuels Got Talent Charity event (for adults & families) Mon 12 Dec, 6pm Christmas Concert at Lewin church (NB change of date) This is an evening event for all families & friends of Immanuel. Thurs 15th Dec, 9:15am: Christmas Service at Immanuel Church (all members of the school community are warmly invited) Fri 16th Dec Last day of school normal finish time Tues 3rd Jan First day of Term 3

IC T This term we will learn about email and hope to begin an email link with a school in Bangalore, India. The school is called BGNPS and was visited by Mrs McCraw some years ago. It is an excellent school that is well resourced and should prove an exciting link for our pupils. We will be using the London Grid for Learning email system to send and receive mail and children will participate in an internet safety lesson before being given their email addresses. Further information about this project, along with a permission slip, will be sent to you very soon. We will continue to use the London MLE: Fronter in class and we encourage you to ask your child to demonstrate this site to you at home. We have posted their documentary on line so this is a good reason to have a look if you havent done so already! Fronter can be accessed via our school website (www.immanuelschoollambeth.org) by clicking on the London Grid for Learning icon on the home page and logging on with your childs USO. These details were sent to you last term, please let Mrs McCraw know if you need a new copy.

U seful websites http://www.ownresources.co.uk/keyskills/index_timestabl es.html (Times table practise) www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/ http://www.mad4maths.com/ http://nrich.maths.org/public/ http://bgsnps.com/ (Our link school in India)