BBC Super Movers - Help to learn your times tables through singing and dance
Today we travelled through Italy, visiting some of the major landmarks and amazing cities.
Exhausted by the amazing sites, we finished the day by sending a postcard home. Enjoy the read...
My Family Coat of Arms Homework
This week we have been celebrating Unique Week! As every family is unique, we would like you to think about how your family unit is special and we have asked the children to design and create their own coat of arms which reflects their family. We would like to create a display outside the Year 3 and 4 classrooms to showcase what makes each of our families different.
Think about:
Do you have links around the world?
Do you have a favourite place you go as a family?
Do you have a favourite activity you do as a family?
Do you have a favourite family meal?
Do you have an interesting family history?
Feel free to include family members, including pets!
Enjoy showcasing everything that makes your family unique!
To be handed in: Friday 6th March 2020
Please find linked below, the Green Park PowerPoint presentation which Mrs Wickens delivered to parents and pupils yesterday afternoon (10 February)
Green Park 2020
Bronze Age Posters
Following some fabulous work on the Stone Age, Year 4 are now working hard to create posters on the Bronze age. They have carefully researched information online - changing search terms for greater accuracy. Making comparisons between the two periods in history has been extremely interesting. The challenge was to also make comparisons to life today and this has certainly provided food for thought!
Stonehenge Day!
As part of our Stone Age topic, we have taken part in a Stonehenge mini-project. We started off the day by mixing up our Year 3 and 4 classes and split them into small groups. As a group, they worked together to research Stonehenge using lots of different sources. They then created a PicCollage aimed at Year 5/6 pupils to teach them about Stonehenge. It was great seeing our year groups sharing their learning with each other!
Then we set them their final STEM challenge of 2019. They were set the task to create their own Stonehenge structure out of biscuits.
It was not an easy task and every group really had to work on their teamwork and perseverance.
A fabulous way to start Friday 13th December
We have got to mention our AMAZING year 4 Irish Dancers who blew us away on Friday morning with their talent. Such focus and dedication was shown by all of our crew - we were very proud of you!
The Expert Learners keep coming......
We've enjoyed another fabulous week of learning; with particular mention to our excellent Instruction Writing Activity 'How to wash a Woolly Mammoth', super explanations in maths around our perimeter activities and our Bible detectives who searched high and low in the Old Testament to find the stories linked to the Jesse Tree task.
We would also like to thank Daisy for writing an instruction WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) for 'How to wash a Woolly Mammoth' which inspired both the Year 3 and Year 4 writing task this week.
Thank you to Gabe for teaching us about the Jewish faith as we learn how Jesus was brought up as a Jew. The children have really enjoyed finding out about Jewish faith and had lots of questions to ask.
Year 4 and Year 2 at Parish Mass on Thursday 12th December
Our children were extremely well behaved at Mass last Thursday and supported our friends in Year 2 in following the Mass cards brilliantly! It was also lovely to receive a special message from one of our Parishioners to say how well prepared our readers were (the best of the term) and how eloquent our children are. A special well done to our readers.
Year 4 have been active in our community this term
We are very proud of our class members who represented us at the turning on of the Christmas Lights in Thame (can you guess which instrument they are playing?) and our choir members who sang at the Christmas lunch on Wednesday afternoon.
Sparkles and Pom Pom in Year 4
In the season of good cheer, our Expert Learner Hats have changed into sparkly ties - we are SO excited!!!!
'I was wearing our Expert Tie because I was following our Charter and I was ready to learn. I felt very proud wearing it for the lesson' (Beth)
'I think it is good to hand out the ties so we know when we have done something good. I also feel proud that the year 4 team have noticed my hard work!'
Watch out for more photographs of us as we all earn our Expert Ties over the next two weeks....
How to build a Woolly Mammoth
Today we began our lesson by reading a story called 'How to wash a Woolly Mammoth' with Mrs Wickens. After that she gave us a terrible set of instructions to follow but then she gave us a much better set of instructions. In the end I made a mammoth and this activity has helped me to get better at reading and following instructions. (Summary of learning by Gabe)
'First to write a set of instructions you need to understand what instructions are - this activity really helped me understand how clear you need to be when writing instructions' (Summary of learning by Emma)
Our Stone Age topic is well under way…
This week we stepped back in time to re-create the famous Stone Age cave paintings of Lascaux in southwest France. They are around 18,000 years old! Many of the scenes are of animals –they tell us a lot about life during that period.
Did you know that they painted with yellow ochre and red oxide rocks that were ground up, as well as charcoal? To help the paint stick they used spit or animal fat – whilst we didn’t do that, we did get to draw with real charcoal.
Come and explore our recreation. How many animals can you spot?
Take 2 - Matt Brown
Last week Year 3 and 4 were visited by local author - Matt Brown. As we are sure you are aware, we read his book 'Compton Valance' earlier in the term! The children thoroughly enjoyed sharing his books and finding about top tips to becoming an expert writer! It has certainly inspired our children to read more of his books.
Never seen before at St Joseph's - Gold badges for EVERYONE!
The team were extremely proud of the whole class on Friday 8th November as they all earned a gold badge from Ms Tweedie for their brilliant writing progress.
On the first day back after half term, we discussed the 'journey of learning' we would take that week starting with a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like - the information posters and booklets the children had written eight weeks previously), writing our own success criteria, choosing an area of Stone Age Life they were interested in, researching this area, making notes and finally writing an information posters and booklet to share with our parents. We were so proud of the children's achievements and the clear progress they have made in writing over the past eight weeks we had to share with both Miss Sugrue (our Literacy Coordinator) and Ms Tweedie. Look at all the proud faces in our classroom!
Thank you to all the families in my class for all the cards, presents and good wishes you have sent to my husband and I. It made the build up to my wedding very special.
A Massive Thank you!
A massive thank you from Miss Dyer to all the parents and families of her Year 4 class!
Harvest Poetry Slam
To build on our Harvest Mass celebrations, our Year 3,4, 5 and 6 classes got together to have an inter-house poetry slam. The children grouped together in their houses and worked in teams to write a harvest themed poem. We then got together and performed our poems. It was great to have Year 2 join us for our performances and we got to hear some great poems that they had been reading!
ART attack!
We are getting ready for our upcoming trip to the Sheldonian theatre - working with pencil, pastels and ink...take a closer look.
Exciting Times in Year 4 - We are heading out and about!
We have really enjoyed making Maths fun!
Miss Dyer saw an idea on Twitter and decided it would be a great way of helping us learn about partitioning. As a class, we loved exploring and creating lots of different numbers. Miss Dyer was extremely proud of the discussions we had and our great use of mathematical vocabulary!
Building Bonanza
Over this term, all of our KS2 classes will be taking part in a series of building challenges. They will be split into mixed teams and sent off on a construction mission. Have a look at the photos to see how they got on!
Father David is off to Malawi with our letters!
We wrote letters to the children in Chisoyo School telling them about our school and asked them some questions about theirs. We can't wait to hear back from them to see what life in like in Africa.
Welcome back and welcome to construction!
Year 4 absolutely smashed the Marshmallow Challenge - we are SO proud!
The teachers attempted to build a tower out of spaghetti, string and tape which would hold a large marshmallow on top but failed miserably. Then Year 5 had a go and again failed! We were up the STEM challenge and can successfully say we built the tallest tower to date! We also inspired Year 2 to have a go and for Year 5 to have another go (so they could learn from their mistakes!)
