Welcome to Kestrel Class
Welcome to Kestrel Class
In Kestrels class, we endeavour to make learning rich and enjoyable! We are made up of 29 children and 2 adults. Miss Plaskitt is joined by Mrs Heal in the mornings.
Key news and updates:
Please look in your child's bag for a letter regarding an upcoming trip to the Roman Baths in June
Term 5 ends on Friday 24th May.
PE days for Term 5 will be Monday (swimming) and Thursday.
Swimming will be on a Monday afternoon in Term 5. Children will leave school with Miss Plaskitt at roughly 1pm and are back at school by 2:30ish. Any parent helpers that could walk down with us for this would be greatly appreciated. Please let Miss Plaskitt know if you have any concerns/queries about swimming.
Swimming dates for term 5 are:
Monday 15th April
Monday 22nd April
Monday 29th April
Monday 13th May
Monday 20th May
Please see our long term plan below to see what learning we have coming up throughout the year.
What we are learning Term 5.docxHOMEWORK
26/04/2024
This week children have spellings and a maths arithmetic to complete. We have homework club on a Thursday lunchtime if children would prefer to do their homework then. We also ask that children read 3 times a week with an adult.
If you feel your child is struggling with their homework please let Miss Plaskitt know!
What vibrates to make sound?
TERM 5
Week 2
26/04/2024
What a busy week! It was lovely to see so many parents at parents evening and catch up about how well Year 4 children are getting on with their learning!
We have had swimming and library visit this week and I was SO impressed by how well behaved the children are on our walks. They step aside for people on the high street and say thank you to those who have stopped for us. They are a true testament to the school!
We have continued our work on decimals this week, comparing and ordering decimals as well as partioning them. Next week, our knowledge of decimals will support us as we move on to work about money.
We also started our new Science topic on Sound and learnt that sound travels through vibrations. We used some different musical instruments to try and identify what it is that vibrates and to create the sound.
Week 1-
I can't believe we're already in our summer terms! It has been a busy and tiring week! Y4 did really well in their first PE swimming session this week and I was impressed by how efficiently they got changed and how sensibly they walked to the pool.
Our trip on Wednesday at Field to Food was a jam-packed day! Children got to see a variety of different animals and learn about different areas of farming. It was so interesting to talk to all of the different volunteers who come to Field to Food and talk about what they do for work.
We have dived straight back into learning, with a focus on prepositions, adverbials and cause and effectt conjunctions in English. These grammatical features will feed into our informative piece of writing that we are going to be carrying out next week. Our stimulus for this is a book called 'Until I met Dudley...'
In Maths we have continued to focus on decimals, particularly developing a greater understanding of hundredths. We had fun this week drawing on the tables and using manipulatives to divide numbers by 100.
WORLD BOOK DAY 2024!
Term 4
Week 5
I can't believe we're so close to the end of the spring term! Time is whizzing by. Children have done lots of learning this week, focusing on what society was like in Ancient Rome and the social structure during that time. As well as this, we have started to look at decimals! This is Year 4's first experienced of understanding tenths and hundredths. I have been so impressed with how well they have been getting on with it. Additionally, we have continued building up to writing a newspaper article in English about the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Children have been fascinated by the eruption and the effect it had on Pompeii.
I have also been impressed by children's French knowledge and the way in which they have began forming sentence about body parts, how many of them there are and their different colours. Children were able to read a small passage and identify the different body parts and colours of an alien and draw it.
One more week to go until Easter holidays. On Wednesday this week, children have an ultimate Frisbee session, so PE days will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Week 4
Weeks seem to be absolutely flying by and we always seem to have something exciting on the go! This week was STEM week and on Tuesday afternoon, the whole school got to take part in a STEM challenge within their house groups. This was a lovely way for children over different year groups to work together and it was great to see children getting stuck in! As well as this, we also undertook an experiment to test our reaction times, as the STEM theme this year is all about 'time'. Children worked in pairs to catch a ruler as quickly as possible, before introducing distractions to see how these affected reaction times.
Aside from STEM week, we have carried on with our 'fractions' topic, and we will soon be moving on to looking at decimals. Where you can, please introduce these to your children at home by using money and working out change.
Week 3+ World Book Day!
Thank you to all parents with their help and support with World Book Day! Children dressed as different adjectives and looked fantastic! We had a real range of outfits, varying from unlucky, lucky, sporty, sleepy, comfy, confused, magical and heroic!
Please find pictures of this on this class home page.
We have had a super busy week this week doing assessments. I am consistently impressed by how well the children take these in their stride and aspire to do their best with these. In the afternoons, we enjoyed some lovely sunshine during PE on Tuesday, continuing our OAA topic. Children worked in pairs to be 'locks and keys' and worked to crack their partner's codes. We have also had a go at doing some yoga in French! Using commands such as 'touchez' and 'bougez' to move different body parts. The children are loving this and many of them should be able to sing 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' to you in French!
Week 2
Another busy week and the days are flying by!
We have continued our work on The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore and have begun to write our own versions of the story. We also had the chance to go to the library this week and all children got out a book. Whilst these must stay at school, it is nice to see children so enthused about finding a book they enjoy reading! Please continue to read with your children at home, ideally 3 times a week. This can include reading everyday texts such as recipes, magazine articles etc.
We have continued our work on fractions and expanded our vocabulary with mathematical terminology. Children should be able to tell you what an: improper fraction, mixed number and integer are. Fractions can be a tricky concept to get your head around but I am so impressed by how Year 4 are getting on with it!
We have continued our work on states of matter in Science and have begun to conduct an experiment on whether all liquids evaporate. Currently in the classroom, we have many petri dishes set up with different liquids in them and we are continuing to observe and measure them to identify whether they are evaporating.
Don't forget: next week is World Book Day and we are encouraging children to come in dressed up as an adjective. We will also be hosting a book swap, where children can bring in a book they have read and no longer want which will then be put in the hall with other donations and children can choose a book to take home.
Finally, an idea for home. Instructions for a 'multiplication duel' can be found on the site. We played this in Maths on Friday and it is a nice, fun way to improve fluency in times tables and all you need is a pack of playing cards!
Week 1
It's been a lovely week (aside from the weather!) back at school and all the children have come in with such a positive attitude to their learning.
We have been focusing on a lovely short film as our stimulus for English, called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. For any children or adults who would like to watch it at home, the link to watch it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad3CMri3hOs. We have had really thoughtful discussions about the meaning of the film and we are going to be writing our own narratives based off of the story in the coming weeks. So far, we have analysed the features that we would want to see in a narrative, as well as write character descriptions for our main characters.
In maths we have started looking at fractions and this will be our focus for the next few weeks. I have sent home fractions homework today in order for children to consolidate their learning as I appreciate fractions can be quite tricky!
In science we have looked at the water cycle and have discussed key vocabulary including: evaporation, condensation and precipitation. Please discuss these with your children at home and see if they can remember what the words mean!
In history we have started to look at Ancient Rome and where this time period fits into the greater picture of History. We are going to be focusing on Ancinet Rome for the next 2 terms.
On Tuesday afternoon, boys had chance to have sessions with the Bath Rugby coaches and some came back muddy but smiley! Whilst they were doing that, the rest of us began our "OAA" PE topic (Outdoor adventurous activities). This saw children working in pairs and problem solving. Below are some pictures of children working beautifully together to solve the given problem.
Please keep your eyes peeled for dates regarding camp as we will be organising a meeting in the coming weeks :)
Working as scientists.
Working as geographers during Geography week 2024.
Term 3
09/02/2024
Happy half term! This term has absolutely flown by. This week we have worked on some poems to enter into the 'Once Upon a Dream' competition. If children's poems win they will be published! It has been so nice to see children be so imaginative with their ideas.
We have now finished our topic on length and measurement, and we have worked well on calculating the perimeter of different shapes. Children have showed really good understanding of perimeter and when to use appropriate multiplication facts to help us.
In Science we identified how materials change states by heating chocolate and watching it transform into a liquid. We did this in different ways and identified the most effective way of melting it.
We also had Wellbeing Wednesday and have discussed the importance of mental health throughout the week!
Wishing everyone a lovely half term break and I look forward to seeing all the children back and refreshed in Term 4!
02/02/2024
The weeks are flying by at the minute- we have been so busy in Year 4! We have had 2 Art lessons this week, exploring 3D effects using tints and shades and how to create different techniques with paint tools. Additionally, we have been writing biographies about Ernest Shackleton, and started a new topic in maths around measurement. Specifically focusing on metres, kilometres and perimeter. We will continue with this learning up until half term.
It is the girls' final session with Bath Rugby next week and I know they have been loving it! After half term, PE days will go back to Tuesday and Thursdays.
Many thanks for continued support with homework, TTRS, Doodle and reading. :)
26/01/2024- Geography week!
We have had a busy week, with afternoons full of Geography. We have been focusing specifically on Antarctica, looking at it's location, climate, wildlife and even how glaciers are formed. The children have been so engaged and have put so much into their learning! It has been lovely see them take responsibility and enjoyment in their work. Alongside this, we have worked as geographers to measure the temperature everyday and make notes about the weather, as researchers do in Antarctica!
As well as Geography, we have started looking at Ernest Shackleton as our stimulus for English. He links to our Geography as he explored Antarctica in 1914. We are working towards writing a biography about Ernest Shackleton.
In Maths, we have finished off our Multiplication and Division topic and we will be moving on to Length and Perimeter.
Next week will be back to a normal timetable, with PE days still on Thursdays and Fridays.
Thank you for your continued support with spellings, homework, reading and Doodle/TTRS :)
19/01/2024- A jam packed week full of writing, multiplication and sticky liquids!
In English, children finished off writing and editting their recounts based on our story 'The Whale'. I was so impressed to see the effort children were putting in to their writing and upleveling their work.
We have done so much multiplication work this week, focusing on using the formal written method for 2 and 3-digit multiplication. Children have got on really well with this and have some additional practise of this for homework. Naturally, one of the common errors is exchanging ones for tens, or tens for hundreds. If you are helping your child with their homework, please look out for these errors and support them.
We had great fun in Science, experimenting with the different viscosity of liquids and identifying how they behave. We tested ketchup, syrup, honey, oil and water and worked as scientists to find the similarities and differences with these. It was quite a messy lesson but children had great fun! Pictures can be found above.
Next week is Geography week, where we are going to have a heavy focus on Antarctica and carrying out some fieldwork!
12/01/2024- A great start to Term 3! It has been so lovely to have all of the children back after Christmas and to see them so keen to be getting on with their learning. Our value this week has been ambition and we have really seen it in Kestrels class! Children have been showing ambition with their work and with their independence.
This week, we have had some fun in art creating tints and shades by adding white and adding black to a colour. In PE, our new topic has been fitness. However, we did have to abandon a PE lesson midway through on Tuesday because of the bitter cold! Instead, we came inside and learnt the names for some different French shops that you would find on the high street and created our own high streets. Ask your children if they can remember any of the vocabulary for these!
In Maths, we have been multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100, and children have shown fantastic knowledge of place value and making numbers 10 or 100 times smaller or larger.
In English, we are building up to write a diary entry based on a book we have been reading called "The Whale".
Lastly, in Science, we have started a new topic called "States of matter" and we began to categorise solids, liquids and gases. When at home or out and about, it would be nice to discuss with children whether things are solids, liquids or gases. Particularly things like; petrol, honey and flour.
Term 2 writing- Take a look at our instructions about How to Steal Christmas! It was lovely to see children take such pride and care in their work.
Ice Skating at Ice Volt- 06/12/2023
Updates- Term 2
08/12/2023- It's certainly been a busy week in Kestrels class! Whilst we are trying to keep routine the same as much as possible, we have started to feel Christmas-y! We have our daily advent calendar, we've been practising Christmas songs and have read "How the Grinch stole Christmas" as a stimulus for our own writing. And of course we have been ice skating this week! For many children, this was their first time ice skating and I was SO impressed by the resilience of all the children! Many children fell down and picked themselves straight back up and carried on. It was a great way to get into the festive spirit. Please see some photographs above. We hope adults can join us for our carols and crafts afternoon on Thursday!
01/12/2023- Kestrels class have worked extremely hard this week! We have all written letters to Mr Snell and Mr Lyle, as well as carried on with our Maths work on multiplication and Science work on Living Things. We have some lovely things coming up in the next few weeks. Ice Skating is coming up on Wednesday 6th- please can children come to school in their school jumper, as normal, but they can wear comfortable and warm trousers. This may be joggers or leggings, preferably not jeans. It has been really lovely to see children take such care over their learning- Mr Snell popped in to the classroom during a maths lesson this week and was wow-ed by how well presented children's books were, and how much care they were taking over their work! Next week, we are going to have a new writing focus and we are going to be building up to writing a set of instructions about How to Steal Christmas, with the Grinch as our stimuli!
24/11/2023- There's been a lot going on at school this week, with sports events, building up to Christmas and general learning! Next week is the Christmas Fayre- please see above for our sign up sheet. If you are able to help with our Elf Hunt stall, please let Miss Plaskitt or Mrs Heal know! Many thanks for parents' continued support with reading at home and completing homework. We have introduced a homework club on Thursdays for children who find it tricky to find the time to complete homework at home!
10/11/2023- It has been a busy couple of weeks in Kestrels class. First of all, it was lovely to see so many parents at parents' evening this week and have such positive discussions. If you did not have chance to attend parents' evening, I will be happy to catch up with you another time!
Children have been hard at work this week, writing short stories based on a film we have watched called 'Marshmallows'. Within their stories, children tried really hard to incorporate lots of new grammatical features that we have been learning in lessons. These include; fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and subordinate clauses. I was so impressed by their writing!
In maths, we have moved away from a short unit we did based on area, and have now moved to a greater focus on times tables and division facts. In order to support our teaching of this, it would be greatly appreciated if adults at home could encourage children to go on TTRS as much as possible! TTRS recommend 21 minutes of practice a week to build up children's fluency.
We have now finished our unit on Ancient Greece, with our final lesson focusing on conflict in Ancient Greece and the Peloponnesian war. Our topic will now shift to Geography, where we will focus on the Mediterranean region.
Many thanks for all of the work that you continue to do at home with your children!
Poetry- 20/10/2023
Weekly updates- Term 1
20/10/2023
Wow- I can't believe we're already at the end of term 1! I have been so impressed with children's learning this term and have already been able to see progress since the beginning of the term, 7 weeks ago. We have had a lovely week writing poems about our made up mythical creatures, which incorporate rhyming words. See above for some examples of some lovely poetry produced! We have also been progressing and building on our learning of subtraction and using column subtraction in maths. Next term, there will be a big focus on multiplication, so please do keep practising times tables on TTRS at home! Children are doing really well with this and are enjoying it- we appreciate your help with this at home!
Many thanks for your continued support. Please do keep a look out on the newsletter for information regarding upcoming parents evenings. Have a great half term!
13/10/2023
What a busy week we have had in Kestrels class! We have had school photos, our Root Connections trip and our French cafe. It was lovely to see so many parents come in and join us on Thursday afternoon, thanks to all who could make it!
On Wednesday, Kestrels class had the wonderful opportunity to visit Root Connections farm. We travelled up on the minibus and when we arrived we were greeted by our lovely hosts Cathy and David. They had prepared some great activities for the children to take part in, including drawing of squashes which had been grown on the farm, a chance to walk around the vegetable patches and discuss what was growing, preparing, cooking and eating butternut squash soup and conker picking! Lots of children went home with as many as 60 conkers each! It was a wonderful opportunity for children to do some learning outside of the classroom and a fun day was had by all! A big thank you to the parents who volunteered to come with us and helped out on the day!
06/10/2023
Kestrels have been working hard this week and have had some lovely opportunities to try new things! On Wednesday, we had a visitor in to teach us how to play Tchoukball! The children had never heard of it before and had a great time practising their ball skills and having a go at playing the game.
Children have also had a lovely opportunity to perform to some of the parents who came in for our Macmillan coffee afternoon on Thursday. They sang 'Mamma Mia!' which they have been learning in their music lessons with Miss Moon. They will have the chance to perform again at our parents workshops on Thursday. Please join us on Thursday 12th for a chance to attend our 'French cafe', in which children will be able to show off some of their French skills and have a drink and French pastry with the class!
29/09/2023
Another busy week in Kestrels class! This week we have been reading and analysing the myth 'Daedalus and Icarus', which we have used as a stimulus to begin writing a newspaper article! We have been practising our rounding to 10, 100 and 1000 in maths and have even been able to play whole class competitions on TTRS. We also had great fun on Wednesday, when we made our own switches to incorporate into electrical circuits! I have been so impressed by some really hard working this week- well done Kestrels! Keep up the good work!
20/09/2023
Week 3
All children now have Times table rockstars accounts! Children stuck these in the back of their reading records.
Please head to the website or download the app to have a go! Whilst we aim to fit this into our daily school schedule, we encourage children to play at home as well. TTRS recommends just 21 minutes of practice a week for times table success! Please help us in encouraging children to play at home too.
In school, we will ask children to have a go on 'Garage' mode daily, which is 60 seconds of random multiplication facts. TTRS have an algorithm that identifies children's strengths and weaknesses and tailors the game to individuals.
Should children want to play at home, I would recommend 'Jamming' mode, which is not timed and children can play at their leisure, or 'Studio' mode. 'Studio' mode allows children to build up their 'rockstar status', which will help them earn coins and buy new items for their avatar!
Over time, we will build up towards playing on 'Soundcheck' mode, which is a replica of the national multiplication check which takes place in June 2024.
15/09/2023
Week 2
A busy week in Kestrels class this week! We have started having a look at some Greek myths, specifically 'Theseus and the Minotaur'. Writing setting descriptions and character descriptions earlier in the week, children have now moved on to creating their own mythical creature and describing it. We have carried on looking at place value in Maths, progressing to looking at 4 digit numbers up to 10,000.
In Science, we have been building electrical circuits and experimenting with the equipment. We also had a wonderful opportunity to link up with the Year 5s and practise speaking French, asking each others names and how they are!
For parents unable to make the parents meeting on Monday 11th, please do come and catch me at any point if you have any questions, or contact the school office.
08/09/2023
Week 1
All the children have settled back in really well to school routine! This week, we have been recapping some of the grammar learnt in Year 3, as well as recapping key skills used within guided reading, such as inferring, summarising and predicting. In maths, we have started to look at place value, specifically of 4 digit numbers. We had lots of opportunities to get hands on, using base 10! Children have also begun to delve into a range of foundation subjects, testing out our ball skills in PE, and thinking about where our electricity comes from in science. All children now have a school reading book which they take home every day. Aside from the learning, children have also had a great time enjoying the sunshine and lovely weather! It has been extremely hot this week and the children have dealt with it really well- hope everyone can enjoy a sunny weekend!
Meet our wonderful team.
Miss Plaskitt
This is my second year of teaching here at Welton and I am looking forward to continue working with Year 4! I have a passion for reading, particularly reading for pleasure and think there are so many wonderful stories for us to explore! This term, I am particularly excited to be teaching our Ancient Greece history topic. I find their Gods and Goddesses fascinating and hope you all will too!
Mrs Heal
Mrs Heal has worked at Welton for 29 years! She joins us in Year 4 in the mornings.
Mrs Keevil
Mrs Keevil joins us in Year 4 every afternoon. She also runs our Owls club after school!
Useful web links
If you would like some extra support with your child's learning, take a look at these links below which could help your child.
English Links