Christmas Production - Costume!

The Key Stage 2 Christmas production this year is called "A Very Rise Park Christmas Carol", and is our spin on the traditional Dickens tale. However, our Scrooge is a rather grumpy primary school teacher [not based on Mr. Shadbolt] who is taught the true meaning of Christmas by two visiting ghosts.

Thank you for helping your children practise the words to the two songs that year four are singing; Santa Claus is Coming to Town and The Twelve Days of Christmas. Both classes sound fantastic, and all the children are trying their very best to raise the roof with their amazing singing.

We would like all of the children to wear party clothes for the performances, and these will need to be in school for Friday 16th December, or the morning of Monday 19th December at the very latest. We think party clothes should be the same sort of outfit that you would send your child in to the school Christmas disco, or that you would send them in to a birthday party. Pretty dresses... smart shirts... but no fancy-dress, please - we don't want any Buzz Lightyears or Princesses on-stage.

Look forward to seeing you all at the performances.

Children in Need - Thank You!

On Friday, we all went topsy-turvey at Rise Park Primary in an effort to raise lots of money for Children in Need! Mr. Shadbolt and Mrs. Bell forgot to get dressed and both turned up to school in their pyjamas, and every child in 4S made a real effort to dress-up for the occasion - whether it was coming to school in a snorkel or shaving off half of their hair! We did some topsy-turvey writing, learnt about number palindromes and raised lots of money by buying Pudsey Bear biscuits. We learnt about an eight year old boy called Harrison whose life had been changed by the money that we raised last year.

An extra special mention should go to the group of year four children who made their own bookmarks and jewellery to sell at break times to raise even more money for Children in Need! With no help from any staff at all, these children were able to make and sell enough home-made bits and bobs to raise £37 for the charity! Well done, all of you! :)

Thanks once again to all the parents, carers and children who helped raise money this year. It really will change someone's life for the better!

Anti-Bullying Week - Staying Safe Online

Last week was National Anti-bullying Week, and the themes for this year were "Stop and think: words can hurt!", covered by Key Stage 1, and "Cyber bullying" covered in Key Stage 2. In year four, we talked about Facebook and other websites which are used to share personal information over the internet. Six children in 4S used Facebook themselves, and eighteen children said that there were photo's of them posted on the website!

We created our own paper copies of an online profile that showed ALL of our personal information. We then worked through an online activity together [click here to go to the virtual Cyber Cafe we visited] that showed us why it wasn't a good idea to put much of our personal information online! Once we had finished the online activity together, we each wrote out a second 'online profile' that was much safer!

IF you are asked to fill out personal information online, please think carefully:

• Use a nickname instead of your real name.
• Remember that it is better to put your real age, and if you are a boy or a girl, than it is to lie.
• Never put your full address - instead, just say which city you live in.
• DO NOT put your phone number or e-mail address online - someone could phone you, text you, or send you nasty pictures that you do not want to see.
• If you have to put a photo up, never use one that reveals personal information about yourself.
• Always check that your privacy settings are set to PRIVATE and not to PUBLIC.

Science - Using Electricity Safely!

We started our new Science topic about electricity, 'Circuits & Conductors', last week in 4S.

Mr. Shadbolt and the children talked about the difference between appliances powered by batteries [things that we need to be portable or that do not require a lot of energy], and those appliances we have at home powered by mains electricity [things that stay in one place and that require a lot of energy!]. The children were able to identify whether certain appliances were powered by batteries or mains electricity, and suggested some rather unusual examples of each from their own homes!

We also talked a lot about how to use electricity safely, played a safety game on the EDF Energy website, and designed leaflets to help other people learn some very important electrical safety tips! If you'd like to see how many electrical hazards you can spot [we found all 22!], please click here to go and play EDF Energy's 'Spot The Hazard' game.

Autumn Term - Take Two!

Well, it's been a week now since 4S started back after the October half-term, and we've already got a busy second Autumn half-term ahead. It's been good to see everyone back at school in this last week, and the children have worked really hard as we started some of our new topics; Explanation Texts in Literacy, 3D shapes in Maths; Circuits & Conductors in Science... :) Things to look forward to this half-term include:

• School dinner w/ parents and carers
• Design and Technology week: Making a Lighthouse
• Children in Need
• KS2 Christmas Performance
• Christmas Dinner
• Carol Service

As we move towards Christmas, we will probably miss a few time-tabled lessons as we start to rehearse for our parts in the Key Stage 2 performance. Details of this will be released soon... just as soon as the staff have decided exactly what it is we're going to do!

Science - Making Slime!

As you have been bugging me all half-term about making slime, I finally decided that today was the day to do it. We have been learning all about solids and liquids for the last six weeks during our Science lessons:

• That liquids can be poured, that they will take the shape of whatever container you put them in, that they will run through our fingers...
• That not ALL solids are hard, but that they do not change their shape when placed in a containers, and that MOST of them cannot be poured.
• SOME solids, like sand, sugar or salt, are made up of hundreds of tiny particles, and because of this they sometimes act like liquids.
• Solids turn in to liquids through a process called MELTING.
• Liquids turn in to solids through a process called SOLIDIFICATION.

This afternoon in Science we made slime - something that behaved like a solid and a liquid! It was dead easy to make: just take 3/4 tablespoons of cornflour or custard powder, put in a large bowl, and slowly mix in water from a jug. Mix until all of the powder has disappeared, but the mixture isn't too runny.

When you have made your slime, pick it up! Play with it... try punching it, or letting it run through your fingers (just tell Mum and Dad before you make it... it does make an awful mess)!

Homework - "Me" Bag

Just a quick reminder that our first homework project is due in this week, and I would like to start presenting them on Thursday 20th October. Everyone in year four has been asked to create a "Me" bag that they can bring in and present to the whole class. The bag should contain a selection of items that reflect your personality, and there should be enough objects inside the bag for you to talk about for 3-5minutes. You can decorate the bag if you want to, but you do not have to!

Your "Me" bag could contain:

• Photographs of friends and family
• Medals / trophies / awards / certificates
• Your favourite 'toy'
• Something from when you were a baby
• Pictures of the football team you support
• A book that you like to read
• An object that is special or important to you

If you're going to put something very precious or expensive in your bag, please don't bring it to school until Thursday, as I'd hate for anything to happen to it :(

Book Character Day 2011

Thank you so much for sending all of your children to school in such fantastic costumes. We had a great day, melting chocolate and making our own chocolate buttons, writing poems about books and making bookmarks. Thanks again for making such a fantastic effort - everyone looked great!

Whole Class!

Witches and Wizards

A pair of Wally's

Willy Wonka [and Friends]

Aww, pretty girls!

TV and Film

Parents Evening - Autumn 2011

Just a reminder that it is our first Parents Evening tomorrow [or today...], a chance for your parents and carers to come in and meet with Mr. Shadbolt to talk about how you have settled in to year four so far. Meetings will last for no more than five minutes and your wonderful teacher will try to be as quick as he can. Children, you are more than welcome to come in to the meeting as well, if you want.

Parents evening times will be displayed outside the classroom. Mr. Shadbolt will try to keep to the times that he has given your parents and carers, but be aware that some meetings will run over.

See you all tomorrow evening [or tonight, depending on when you read this... time is confusing!].

Poetry - Tempest Avenue

We started our new Literacy topic today - writing poems! We heard a fantastic poem called 'Tempest Avenue' in class that was read by the poet, Ian McMillan [if you want to listen to it again, click here]. The poem was very simple, and described what was going on in the different houses along Ian's street:


Tempest Avenue
It is 5am, and I am standing

In the half light bedroom

Holding our son. He is finally asleep

And I lay him gently in the cot,

Trying not to rattle the toy bear

Attached to the bars. Next door

Mr. Lowe is having a dream about

The glassworks at Stairfoot. Look:

All the workers have turned to glass,

What a strange dream. Across

The road, Mr. Ford is cycling

Out of his drive to the pit. He

Cycles during the week, takes the car

At weekends. Down the street

My Mam is standing at the kitchen

Window, looking at our house, thinking

‘Our Ian will be asleep. I hope

Mr. Ford’s squeaky cycle doesn’t wake him up.’

And I am being careful, so careful

With these words, laying them

Gently into this poem, turning to the door.

                                                     Ian McMillan

Please can everyone find out the name of the street where they live, as we are going to need that in school for the title of our poems. Ask your Mum and Dad where you live!

Book Day - Dressing-up Ideas

This Friday (14th October) we will be spending a whole day in school celebrating reading and children's books. We really want all of the children at school [and the teachers!] to dress-up as their favourite book character. If that sounds tricky, here are a few ideas for costumes that you and your parents could try:

Just have fun and don't spend a lot of money dressing-up! If you're still stuck for an idea, just ask Mr. Shadbolt or Mrs. Bell and they'll try and help you out with ideas. Look around the classroom, or check your bookshelves at home for inspiration!

National Poetry Day 2011!

Thursday 6th October is National Poetry Day and this years theme is Games. Games doesn't just mean things like playing football or rugby; a game can be anything that we play - on our XBox, with our dolls, make-believe and dress-up... we can make a game of everything that we do - counting how many red cars we see on the way to school, seeing how many animals we can list in a minute, singing a song...

Go to the National Poetry Day website by clicking here. They have lots of ideas for activities you could do on the theme of games, and there are a lot of 'game' poems on there - though some of them might not make a lot of sense to us in year four! If you go to the Children's Poetry Archive you can hear Allan Ahlberg [the bloke who wrote "Please Mrs. Butler!"] reading a poem all about football...

Finally, here's a poem about games that I found:

Ten One-Line Poems about Sport
Golf
That white moon in the blue sky, orbiting.
Cricket
Long late-afternoon shadows as the bowler runs.
Basketball
The clock runs down slower than the players.
Swimmers
Moment of stillness before the start: water-mirror.
Snooker
The giant's necklace broke and the beads fell on to the grass.
Football
This net's for catching slippery goalfish!
Marathon
Last metre: the best and the worst
Rugby
Flying Easter egg under the H.
High Jump
The air holds me like a hand, then lets me go.
Cycling
Here comes the fastest paper boys and girls in the world.

                                                                          Ian McMillan

Morning Work - Animal Questions

Use these questions to test your parents and carers - see how good they are at completing tasks, learning from mistakes and thinking about things in sequence!

1. How do you put a giraffe into a fridge?

2. How do you put an elephant into a fridge?

3. Lion, king of the jungle, is hosting an animal meeting, and all the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?

4. There is a river you must cross but lots of crocodiles live there. How do you manage to get to the other side?

I will give you a week to test your parents, carers, friends and relatives... and then I'll post the answers on the blog [in case you have forgotten them!] - have fun, and see how many answers they get right!

Mr. Shadbolt's ACTUAL Brother

Alright, this is what Mr. Shadbolt's brother actually looks like. I still think he has a certain horse-y quality...

Spelling - Using '-ough'

Spelling homework this week is on using the -ough letter string in words. In class we spent a whole literacy lesson talking about the different sounds that this letter string can make:

-o - as in 'though'

                                      -oo - as in 'through'

-off - as in 'cough'

-uff - as in 'enough'

-or - as in 'thought'

-ow - as in 'bough'

By Friday 7th October, the whole class should have found at least 10 different words that contain the -ough letter string. These should be written down, neatly and correctly, in your spelling logs. It would be great if you could find some words that we didn't look at in class.

You can use your reading book to look for words... or your own books, magazines, newspapers, adverts. Just make sure that if you find a word, you copy it out correctly!

If someone at home wants to help you learn more about how to use -ough in your spellings, click here to work through some activities online together.

Olympics - Fantastic Long-Jump!

I thought this was a really impressive long jump! Do you think Mr. Brady would let us park three cars on the school field so that we can practise ourselves in time for the 2012 Olympics?

Our "Coraline" Book Project

We started the Autumn term by completing a two week book project on 'Coraline' by Neil Gaiman. Mr. Shadbolt read the story to us every day, and we did loads of work in class that was linked to the text. Some of the things we did were:

• Made models of circus tents
• Decorated mice to look like members of a circus
• Practised sewing buttons on to fabric
• Drew pictures of the setting of the story
• Measured different capacities of 'limeade'.
• Went on a treasure hunt around our classroom
• Wrote poems about the horrible Other Mother
• Wrote our own comic strips about a girl whose feet turned in to sausages!

We finished the two week project by watching the film of 'Coraline', and then we compared the book and the film with one another. Mr. Shadbolt brought in chocolate biscuits, apples and limeade for us to feast on whilst we watched the film and did our work. It was a fantastic fortnight, and the whole class made a great effort to get all of the work finished.

Well done 4S - what a great start to year four!

Mr. Shadbolt's Brother

This is Mr. Shadbolt's brother. He looks like a horse.

Testing, Testing...

Okay, so this is the very first time that any class at Rise Park Primary School have had their very own class blog! It's a place where we can write about the fantastic lessons that we've had [Oh, they were fantastic!], amazing trips we might be going on [Ooh, they'll be amazing!], and the terrible jokes that Mr. Shadbolt might have told you [The jokes... the terrible, terrible jokes!]

We will update the blog whenever something new or interesting or fun happens in the classroom, and as the school year goes on, maybe Mr. Shadbolt will even let some of the children have a go at writing their own posts for the blog! Exciting times!

Watch this space...