Morpurgo (Year 4 and Year 5)
Welcome to Morpurgo Class!
Miss Pearson is our Year 4/5 teacher and Mr Muringathery is our excellent teaching assistant.
On a Friday afternoon, Mrs Organ teaches us RE and SMSC.
Homework
Maths and English homework will alternate each week; it is set on a Monday and due in on the following Monday. It will be sent home in work books. Each week, we will bring home spellings to practise once we have learnt a new spelling rule in school. Our spelling tests will also be on Fridays.
Please help your child with their practise at home. We use spelling shed in school and all Class 4 pupils have log in details glued into their reading record. You can log in here: https://www.edshed.com/en-gb/login
Some pupils will also have a login for Nessy, which provides lots of spelling activities and challenges. Pupils use this within school so are familiar with how to log on: https://learn.nessy.com/account/login#/accountLogin
We greatly encourage regular reading and ask that children read every night and make an entry in their reading record. If this is done independently, it should also be signed by a parent/guardian - this will also ensure that the pupil gets entered into our new whole school reading raffle, with prizes to be won every week! You can also take reading quizzes at home once a book has been finished: https://ukhosted49.renlearn.co.uk/2250969/default.aspx
There will also be one piece of homework for each topic, every 8-10 weeks, which can be found on the topic fact sheet (in the topic section below). We look forward to seeing your creations!
English
Our first English topic was based on the text, The Secrets of Stonehenge by Mick Manning, helping us to learn to write our own explanation texts about the Stone Age. We then used Stig of the Dump, to help us write dialogues. Over the next few weeks, we will look at writing biographies about famous Scientists.
Maths
In maths, looked at the place value of different numbers (ordering, comparing and rounding them). Year 4 will look at 4-digit numbers whilst Year 5 will look at numbers up to 1,000,000. We have recapped the use of formal written methods in addition and subtraction, to calculate using larger numbers. We are currently looking at using formal written methods of multiplication and division.
We are also practising our times tables regularly, ready for the statutory Year 4 times tables test; please practise them at home as well. Year 4 pupils should know all of their times tables (up to 12 x 12). There are lots of games and challenges that can be found on www.timestables.co.uk to help get quicker at answering questions. All of KS2 have a login for this website which will record their progress as they complete medals and trophies.
Topic
Our first topic was called 'Hunter Gatherers'. During this topic, we learned about the Stone Age, specifically answering the enquiry questions, 'How did people live in Skara Brae during the Stone Age?' and 'Why was Stonehenge built?'
We then started a Geography based topic called, 'The Land of Hope and Glory', where we learned about different countries and cities within the UK. We conducted field work to ascertain how our local area has changed and why, before using our knowledge of maps and atlases to plan a route from one area in the UK to another.
Our current topic is called, 'Tomb Raiders'. We will be learning about the Ancient Egyptian.
For more information, see out topic fact sheets attached below:
Science
Our first science unit this year was Animals Including Humans. During this topic, we explored the importance of important, balanced diets for all animals, as well as the different muscular and skeletal systems of animals, including humans. We then moved on to learn about Light, where we identified the difference between natural and artifical light, as well as how shadows are formed. We are currently learning about Animals Including Humans again, this time, exploring the digestive system and function of teeth.
PE
We are very lucky to have a specialist PE coach working with us each Wednesday, Miss Jones. All pupils will need a PE kit (suitable for all weather conditions) in school every Monday and Wednesday.