Happy Half Term!

Its the end of the children's first half term in year 4 and they've made an excellent start! At the beginning of this week, the children completed their dragon stories. We were really impressed by the quality of the children's vocabulary. Have a read of Tom J's build-up below...
 
It was in the dead of night. Ripjaw heard distant voices coming closer and closer up the misty mountain side, closer to Nomansland Wood. Ripjaw stole a glance at hundred of lights running up the mountain in all directions. Were those these the humans coming to get him? Ripjaw looked around again, the running lights were still coming into view. There were hundreds of them, thousands probably. Ripjaw spread his majestic wings and quickly swooped down, closer to the lights. He wished he hadn't. There were thousands of Vikings coming right at him. They had fire torches, crossbows, swords, catapults and loads more...

Then it all went black. Slowly, Ripjaw began to stir. He didn't move though. He wasn't able to...

Sensing the children's enthusiasm, at the end of the week we let their imaginations run wild and gave them the opportunity to come up with their own plot for a story set in an imaginary world. The children did well, most managing to include the 5 key parts of a story: opening,  build-up, climax, resolution and ending. A copy of their stories have been sent home today so that the children are able to complete their homework. Please encourage children to proof-read their work carefully and then edit and improve using dictionaries and thesaurus if you have them at home. We will be looking for excellent presentation as well as well as editing skills.

Next term we will be spending the first week back focussing on revision of sentence structure and punctuation before assessments in the second week. Perhaps you could focus on this when reading at home over half term.

We hope you have a lovely break. The children have worked really hard and deserve a rest!

The year 4 team.

Imaginary worlds, Roald Dahl day and more!

This week, Year 4 began their latest English topic based on stories set in imaginary worlds. A great link to our Narnia topic! We started with a bang, bringing fantasy settings to life by reading the children a story all about 'Crabtreesia' where the children of Year 4 are teleported to a fantasy land on their way to swimming. Perhaps your child could tell you their own version of the story! Using the ideas they gained at the start of the week, they then wrote their own descriptions of the imaginary world of Narnia and practised proof-reading and editing their work. The children are getting very good at finding their mistakes and it would be great to reinforce this when completing homework!

Next week in English, the children will be inventing their own imaginary characters. Something we know a lot of our dragon enthusiasts will enjoy! To help your child prepare at home, you could think about the main characters in the stories they are reading and discuss how the author describes their personality and appearance. You could even use these as wow words in your reading record! At the end of the week, the children will begin to write their stories based on the character they have created.

Roald Dahl day was a great success and were were extremely impressed by the children's costumes. Thank you all for your fantastic efforts, we were really tested trying to work out was underneath some of the masks and wigs! If you would like to spend some more time learning about Roald Dahl, why not visit the link below and see what weird and wonderful facts you uncover!

http://www.roalddahl.com/create-and-learn

We hope you have an enjoyable weekend.

The Year 4 team.