Budbrooke Primary SchoolYear 4 - Chestnut 2024 - 2025
Mr Brereton
Welcome to Chestnut Class home page
My name is Mr Brereton and I am the class teacher for Chestnut and the PE and PSHE lead.
I enjoy seeing the children working together as a team and learning to develop their skills and grow in confidence.
I have a passion for sport and enjoy supporting Wolverhampton Wanderers and playing cricket for Great Alne CC.
Autumn Topic- Invasion
In this term's Invasion topic, children will explore the effects of the Roman withdrawal and the chronology and geography of subsequent invasions. They will study the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings in detail, examining their reasons for invading, their settlements and their everyday life. Your child will also look at monasteries and the Anglo-Saxon legacy. They will consider how we know about life in this period and investigate the Sutton Hoo ship burial. They will learn about Athelstan, an Anglo-Saxon king, and what happened after his death, before ending the project by learning about the Norman invasion of 1066.
Click the link and sign in to practise your times tables .Can you work yourself up to become a rock legend? Do you think you have what it takes to challege Mr Brereton?
Enjoy learning your times tables in a fun and enjoyble head banging way!
Chestnut Class Spotlight- December 2024
It has been a very exciting time in Chestnut class. To further enhance our Invasion topic, we visited St John’s House to participate in an Anglo-Saxon Day. The children were very curious and asked lots of thoughtful questions as well as taking part in a history debate and finding out about ancient Anglo-Saxon artefacts and clothes.
In English, we have been reading the fascinating tale of Arthur and the Golden Rope. We have written persuasive letters to Professor Brownstone including reasons why we should be chosen to see his unique collections of ancient artefacts. We have also created an information guide about Iceland and have produced playscripts for a travel advert to encourage tourists to visit the country.
In maths, we have been practising our 6,7,8,9,11 and 12 times tables and have challenged ourselves on www.ttrockstars.com to become rock legends!
In science, we have learnt about sound. We have found out that sound is measured in decibels and we have investigated what happens to sound when the sound source is further away and for safety what material is best for muffling sound using sound meters to record the sound levels.
In PE, we have been developing our ball control skills and have challenged ourselves to complete catching and dribbling challenges.
In RE, we learnt about Diwali and made diva lamps out of clay, painting them and decorating them to make them eye-catching.
As well as all the exciting curriculum learning, members of the class performed a variety of Christmas songs using Makaton at the Hampton Magna Lantern Walk.
Year 4 Class trip
Chestnut Class visited St John’s House this week to take part in an Anglo-Saxon day as part of their ‘Invasion’ topic.
The class’ imagination was hooked by a story box that included the key words of significance, Anglo-Saxon facts, treasure and a planning application.
The themed day then saw Chestnut Class taking part in a council meeting, splitting into 5 groups – Farmers, Residents, Environmentalists, Builders and Shopkeepers - to debate whether Super Superstores should build a new supermarket on farm land that contained Anglo-Saxon artefacts and relics.
Each group used their super debating skills to put forward a series of well thought out points and respectfully listened to others arguments and views.
The children then looked at all the equipment that would be needed for an archaeological dig before viewing a selection of artefacts that had been found where the Anglo-Saxon settlement had been discovered, including a brooch, knives, spear heads, belts, necklaces and crystal stones. They then discussed what the items told us about the lives of Anglo-Saxon people and sorted the items into those that would have been owned by a cunning woman, a rich woman or a warrior.
Ancient pottery was then unearthed and the children were able to use their brushing and sketching skills to record what the items looked like and explained their significance.
In the end, the children in the role of archaeologists wrote acrostic poems to talk about the importance of history and then came back together to debate whether building a supermarket on Anglo-Saxon land would be beneficial to the local area.
“I enjoyed finding out about what Anglo-Saxon people wore and what was found in the grave site.”
“I liked sorting the artefacts and finding out about the lives of Anglo-Saxon people.”
“I liked the archaeological dig where we found pottery and looked at the patterns.”
“I enjoyed the debating in the council meeting. I was able to give my thoughts and I grew in confidence.”
Mr Brereton said: “Thank you to Warwickshire Heritage Learning for an excellent Anglo-Saxon Day. It was a great hands on experience and the children were able to showcase all their knowledge of the topic and use their excellent debating skills. Thank you to all the parent helpers for your help.”
Year 3/4 Harvest Festival Performance
Holly and Chestnut class performed their harvest production of The Little Red Hen at St Michael’s Church.
The Year 4 children were the narrators and acted out the tale while the Year 3 joined in with the singing and the actions for the catchy tunes.
The PAIS team then led an interesting quiz involving Penelope Pineapple and questions about where in the world different fruit and vegetables come from and Rev’d David Brown promoted the meaning of harvest.
Thank you to Rev’d David Brown and the PAIS team for hosting us at St Michael’s Church and for the parent helpers who walked with us to church.
Chestnut Class Spotlight- October 2024
It has been a very exciting time in Chestnut class. As part of our ‘Invasion’ topic, we have been very curious to learn interesting facts about the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain and how the language and culture changed after the Romans left.
In English, we have acted out the story of ‘Beowulf’ and have written Anglo-Saxon narrative poems using noun phrases, alliteration, kennings and powerful verbs to create adventurous and arm-gripping poetry about the warrior defeating a monster.
In maths, we have ordered, partitioned and compared four-digit numbers on number lines, rounded numbers to 10, 100 and 1000 as well as showing great confidence when using column addition and subtraction to solve word problems.
In science, we have researched the functions of the parts of digestive system and have found out about the different types of teeth and how to look after them.
In PE, we have been developing our fundamental skills such as running, jumping and have challenged ourselves to complete skipping challenges.
As well as all the exciting curriculum learning, Chestnut Class have welcomed Councillor Matecki to find out about the local council and have also practised the singing and acting ready for the Harvest assembly performance at St Michaels Church on 25th October.
Rotary Club Presentation
Dick Dixon, the president of the Warwick Rotary Club, visited Budbrooke this week to present Year 4 children from Chestnut with their dictionaries.
The Warwick Rotary Club organises events such as the Warwick Thai Festival, the Warwick Castle carols and Warwick racecourse bonfire night. The money raised then goes to help with local projects as well as supporting with overseas aid such as providing toilets for schools in West Africa and sending shelter boxes to Libya and Morocco.
The Year 4 children said: “The dictionaries are superb. They have lots of fantastic diagrams with a lot of information about many topics. The dictionaries will be really helpful because we can use them to help spell exciting words in our writing. We have already found information about Beowulf and Anglo-Saxons that we have been learning about in our history topic as well as teeth and the digestive system from our science topic.”
Year 4 Local Councillor Visit
This week, as part of Parliament Week, Chestnut Class welcomed Jan Matecki to Budbrooke Primary School to find out about his role as a local councillor.
Councillor Matecki of the local Budbrooke Ward gave an interesting talk about the role and responsibilities of councillors in the County Council, District Council and the Parish Council including how councillors are chosen and the services each council provides.
The children, who listened superbly all the way through, then asked curious questions to find out more information about the role including what inspired Jan to become a councillor, what makes a good councillor and what he enjoys about his role. They would make very good journalists. It appears that councillors share many values with Budbrooke- confidence, challenge, curiosity, consideration and most importantly collaboration.
Many thanks to Councillor Matecki for taking the time to visit Budbrooke Primary School and sharing his knowledge with Chestnut Class.
Mr Brereton & Chestnut Class
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Chestnut Class Reminders:
Chestnut class PE days are Monday and Friday. PE kit should stay in school and will be sent home at the end of every half term.
Children should have a water bottle and a coat in school.
Home Learning:
Home learning will be uploaded each week in the 'files' section at the bottom of this page. There will be three colours to choose from. Your child will be given a colour every Thursday. The colour will be found in the margin of their home learning book. Select and complete the colour your child has been set.
Homework will be handed out on Thursday to be completed and returned by the following Tuesday.
Spellings- to be handed out on 12.12.24
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Statutory Spelling Challenge Words interest experiment potatoes favourite imagine material promise opposite minute increase |
Spellings- handed out on 05.12.24
Words with
‘ough’ to make
a long /o/, /
oo/ or /or/
sound
though
although
dough
through
breakthrough
thought
bought
brought
fought
ought
Spellings (Mrs Jackson)- handed out on 21.11.24
business
calendar
caught
centre
century
Ways to support your child:
-Practise your child's spellings with them.
-Read (preferably daily) with your child. Try and encourage them to read a range of genre of books and authors. Here are a couple of useful lists of recommended books for year 4 children:
https://www.thereaderteacher.com/year4
-Practise times tables with your child. Little and often is often the best way with times tables. Purple Mash is an excellent resource which has lots of times table activities on. Here are a few good websites with games that your child can play whilst also practising their times tables:
Each child has login details for www.timestables.co.uk where they can explore and practise the timestables ready for the Multiplication Check towards the end of the school year.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/times-tables/coconut-multiples
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/arithmetic
-Support your child in completing their weekly maths and English/topic homework which (starting from wk beg 9th September) will be handed out on a Thursday to be completed and handed in by Tuesday. .
Reading:
Any bit of reading you can do with your child will be hugely benficial. The following link will take you to a list of great books that are recommended for year 4 children: https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/products/Pie-Corbetts-Reading-Spine-Year-4-Pack-x-7-9789951118682
This link will take you to a website that will suggest alternative options if your child enjoys one particular author or genre of book: https://www.booksfortopics.com/booklists/branching-out/
Whilst it is great when a child finds an author or genre that they love, it is also important that they branch out and try alternative authors or genres. The guide above will help you make suggestions for your child to try, based on what they know they already love.