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 :(