Last week our year 4's took part in the Leeds Skipping Festival Project 2017/18! We are incredibly proud of all they have achieved over the past few months. They have improved their skipping skills tremendously and even learnt some new tricks. As part of the festival the children were required to perform- in front of 5 other schools- a dance that was choreographed and memorised in only 1 week. Individual year 4's represented the school by showing off their double bounce, speed bounce, side swing, cross skip and a complicated, outrageous 'Pretzel'! Festival coordinator Chris kept everyone smiling and laughing throughout the afternoon and our children performed well enough to win a range of individual awards! The children can't wait to show them off at the end of the week.

Despite the sporadic changes in weather, LEH gardening club has managed to start its journey to green-fingered-ness. We have planted corn, onion and pumpkin in our ark greenhouse and our potatoes are ready to go into our planter once it has been moved. We would like to wish our care taker Mr Teasdale a speedy recovery with his bad shoulder- we miss his enthusiastic gardening skills. The children are raring to go, now we just need some good weather to help us photosynthesize! 

In literacy this week we are focusing on specific skills for editing our work, including; improving our proof reading, independently accessing spelling support and correcting punctuation. The children will be urged to use our 'working walls' and the B's- Be Brave, Buddy, Bits and Bobs, Be still, Backtrack. These encourage the children to be independent learners who can assess their own work and focus on elements of their work that need building on. 

In math we will be finishing the area and perimeter unit this week with a few Tour De Yorkshire related problems.

As part of our new topic 'Raiders and Traders' the children have designed viking names for themselves and have written them onto cartridge paper using Norse Runes. They have then used tea to stain the paper giving it an aged appearance. This afternoon the children have used charcoal to give definition to their runes. 

Here Comes The Sun??

This week we have been looking back on our knowledge of perimeter and area. As well as practicing our calculation and estimation skills we have been looking at practical uses for our new skills. The children have also been developing their understanding of mathematical problems in the 'real world': how much paint is needed for a wall, how many fence panels needed for a field, how many square meters to carpet a room? I wonder if you can think of some more 'real world' uses for perimeter and area skills at home?

To start our summer outside games off we have played cricket in the wonderful sunshine this week. The children have had to focus on their hand-eye co-ordination, balance and timing as well as working as a unit to field efficiently. Finally, they were challenged to catch both Miss Wadlow and Mr Riley 'out'.... they definitely need more practice with that ;)

To introduce our new topic 'Raiders and Traders' through music Miss Flynn has had the children creating their own viking chant. They have had to compose interesting lyrics taking care to include dynamics paying attention to beat.