I would just like to start this weeks blog by congratulating Stingrays on their attendance this week, showing determination and enthusiasm to be in school everyday! Well done Stingrays!!!
Writing
In Grammar this week we have focused on the skill of using verb inflections. We learnt how to use 'was' and 'were' in sentences, distinguishing between the difference to ensure we are grammatically correct in our writing using the correct Standard English.
We learnt that 'was' is a singular verb used in sentences with a singular subject and that 'were' is a plural verb used in sentences with a plural subject. In Writing this week, we have started a new genre of writing, which is a biography to inform, all about the life and achievements of Nelson Mandela. On Wednesday, we learnt what a biography is and why people write them, conducting research
into the life of Nelson Mandela. We focused on four main categories 'Early Life', 'Apartheid and Segregation', 'Jail' and 'Presidency'.
On Thursday, we practised using the skill of past tense to write about the Early Life of Rosa Parks who fought for the rights of Black people in America. On Friday, we then used high-level context specific vocabulary to describe the racial segregation in America.
Maths
In Arithmetic this week we have consolidated our learning on converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and mixed numbers to improper fractions. This is something Stingrays struggled with last week, but they have shown resilience and determination to persist with this challenge this week. It was lovely to see the children applying the skills they have learnt in arithmetic into their Maths lessons to explain their answers. These can be quite tricky skills, however we have built our fluency throughout the week. In Maths this week, we have continued with our Y4 Maths topic of 'Fractions'. We began the week with a very difficult lesson, learning all about equivalent fraction families using fraction walls to support our learning. The following day we learnt how to find equivalent fractions by multiplying the denominator and numerator by the same number. I was very impressed with how quickly Stingrays picked up this technique and were able to articulate their understanding beautifully. On Wednesday, we learnt how to add fractions with the same denominator this is a relatively easy skill, however we also approached some tricky problem solving questions to help deepen our understanding of adding fractions.
Geography
In Geography this week we continued with our topic entitled 'The Rhine and the Mediterranean'. This week we learnt all about the Rotterdam port which is located at the mouth of the River Rhine. We learnt that the Rotterdam port is the largest and busiest port in Europe and this is why it is sometimes called 'The Gateway to Europe'. We learnt that every day, thousands of goods are imported and exported from around the world into Rotterdam port and why this makes it such an important place. Y4 Stingrays engaged really well with this lesson and they developed a good understanding of how goods travel around the world to get to Europe.
Art
This week in Art Stingrays have really enjoyed creating their own insect shadow puppets, we were amazed at how well they worked and were able to try them out around the classroom. Take a look at some of our insect shadow puppets below!
Stingray 23/01/23
