This week was the first of our new Geography-led project on Biomes. Children have explored the different biomes found all over the world and researched the climate and animal and plant life found there. If you would like to explore the websites we used, they can be found here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z849q6f/articles/zvsp92p
https://www.ducksters.com/science/ecosystems/world_biomes.php
We will be learning especially about the forest biome, and comparing temperate forests with rainforests.
Linking with our Biomes unit, we have read The Vanishing Rainforest in Guided Reading this week as an introduction to some of the themes we will be learning about. We discussed the value of rainforests and their role in preventing climate change. We also learnt a bit about the Yanomami tribe, who are an indigenous people group living in Northern Brazil.
In Maths, we have been looking at mental methods for addition using 4 digit numbers. We are really encouraging children to have some methods in their toolkit to be able to add numbers in their heads. One way is that children can re-balance an equation to make it simpler. For example:
1851 + 2999
could be changed to
1850 + 3000
which is a lot simpler to do mentally. Please do go over some examples like this with your children at home. You may wish to use the resources from this week’s teaching which are here:
Mental addition using rebalancing
Home learning
- TT Rockstars or Hit the Button – Times tables
- Reading 30 minutes daily
- Revise Year 4 spelling words
- First News comprehension – can be downloaded here: L1-Four-Stories-907
Next week
Next week is a short week, with school closed on Thursday and Friday for INSET training.
Learning conversations are taking place on Monday and Wednesday afternoons from 3.30-6.30pm. Please do book your slot for this as it is a good time to discuss your child’s learning and progress.
We hope you have a lovely weekend,
The Year 4 Team.