LKS2 – Newsletter – 06.01.23

LKS2 have had a fantastic first week back at school! 

In maths this week, Year 4 have been consolidating their times tables knowledge, ready to start learning short multiplication next week! This week has been all about the 7 times tables. We have played games, answered worded problems and practised strategies which will help us to calculate a times table if we are stuck. Please encourage your child to continue using Times Tables Rockstars as much as possible at home, and thank you for your continued support. 

This week, we have begun learning about pronouns in English, to help us with our coming write, a diary entry. To start with, we sorted lots of different pronouns into two groups –  possessive and personal. Then, we worked together to create sentences which used the pronouns in replace of nouns. 

In Science this week, we begun our new topic: Animals including Humans. For our first lesson, we discussed what an animal needs to survive, and talked specifically about food. We looked at the eatwell guide, and talked about how to have a balanced, varied diet and why this is so important. For example, carbohydrates give us energy, whereas protein helps our muscles to grow. Then, we created our own meals, ensuring that we had the correct amount of all of the food types. 

This week in history, we started our new topic – the Romans! In our first lesson we learned the story of how the Roman Empire began, including the tale of Romulus and Remus, the successes of the Roman army and finally the rise of the first Emperor. The children acted out each stage of the story, before creating their own comic strip to describe the events. 

Today we practised using algorithms on 2Code on Purple Mash and using Blue Bots. On 2Code, we input commands such as ‘fd 2’ and ‘rt 90’ to instruct our character to move around the screen. We tried creating patterns and navigating around a maze. We used the Blue Bots to challenge our partner to travel from one country to another, thinking carefully about the algorithm we must input before pressing go! 

In Forest Schools, Class 6 and 7 spent time den-building. The children were put into tribes, and had to trade their tarp and rope for sticks, rocks and other resources to build the best den they could!

This week, we also spent time with our reading buddies, which are either children from KS1 or UKS2. We spent time reading with them, or being read to. Children in Class 6 and 7 chose picture books which they enjoyed when they were younger, and read these to children in reception and year 1. It is great to see the children being so supportive of others, and they are already excited to see their buddies again! 

The children have settled in brilliantly and it has been fantastic to see them come back to school with such a positive attitude! 

Important notices: 

• Swimming starts again for Y4 next week – please send them with their swimming kit on Wednesday. 

Have a great weekend, 

LKS2 Team