Welcome to Primary 4 

Check out our page each week to see the wonderful learning that is happening in our class!

Class Teacher: Miss Tumilty

Teaching Assistant: Maggie

Measuring Weight

In numeracy this week we were learning how to measure weight using kilograms as a standard unit. We compared different weights in relation to 1 kilogram using weighing scales. We tried to find different things around our classroom which weighed 1 kilogram. We also learned that we can measure lighter weights using grams as a standard unit. We learned that there are 1000 grams in 1 kilogram which means 500grams is half of a kilogram and 250grams is a quarter of a kilogram. We had fun measuring the comparing different weights, working together with our friends.

GAA Day

On Wednesday we took part in GAA day to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of Atticall football club. We had fun participating in football training sessions, before attending an awards ceremony for the winners of the GAA project competition. Some special guests also attended GAA day to talk to us about their experiences in playing Gaelic sports. On Wednesday we took part in GAA day to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of Atticall football club. We had fun participating in football training sessions, before attending an awards ceremony for the winners of the GAA project competition. Some special guests also attended GAA day to talk to us about their experiences in playing Gaelic sports.

School Trip

We had lots of fun on our school trip to Infinity Adventure Park in Banbridge. We also

enjoyed some free time in the park before we returned to school. Everybody had a great time!

Ancient Egypt

In WAU this week, we have continued learning about our topic of ‘Ancient Egypt’. We looked at lots of pictures of different artefacts that have survived and we discussed what we thought they were and what they might have been used for. Mr Hardy also brought in some Ancient Egyptian fact books, statues, pictures and papyrus paper for us to look at and explore.

Sports Day Awards 

On Friday we attended a presentation of medals and certificates for everyone who participated in all the different races held on sports day. Well done to all the winners and participants who made it such a brilliant day.

Persuasive Writing

We have been learning about persuasive writing this week. We explored different ways in which its used and presented. We found out that the word 'persuade' means to convince somebody to believe or agree with you. We explored posters, advertisements, letters and speeches, to identify persuasive vocabulary. We also worked with a partner to read a persuasive text and identify all the key features.

Division with Remainders

We learned how to record remainders when we can’t divide a number into equal groups. We used practical resources such as counters and cubes to work out simple division sums with remainders. We then recorded our division sums and answers on our whiteboards. We enjoyed working together with a friend to calculate division sums and record remainders.

Multiplication

In numeracy this week we learned how to complete vertical multiplication calculations using appropriate exchanges. We know how to apply our knowledge of place value and ourtimes tables to a vertical multiplication calculation. We know that we always multiply the units first, followed by the tens and then the hundreds. We enjoyed taking turns to complete calculations on the interactive whiteboard as well as independently at our tables.

Fitness Freddie

In PE this week we took part in a very fun session with Fitness Freddie, who visited our school on Wednesday. We learned lots of different ways to move our body and dance with our friends.

Gaelic Football Training

We also had the opportunity to participate in Gaelic football training provided by the staff of St Louis’. We enjoyed practicing different football and teamwork skills with our friends.

Ancient Egypt

In world around us this week, we learned about the discovery of the tomb of the Ancient Egyptian pharaoh,Tutankhamun.  We created our own Ancient Egyptian headdresses usually worn by pharaohs, using shiny paper and jewels.

Assessment Week 

It was assessment week in p4 this week! We focused on completing a series of assessments in numeracy and literacy, to find out what things we know really well and what areas that we need to practice and improve upon. We completed written assessments as well as online assessments using the computers and chrome books, in both subjects. We all worked very hard to make sure that we answered all the questions to the best of our ability. Well done everyone!

Holy Communion Practice

This week we have been continuing to practice our prayers, hymns and responses for our first Holy communion, which takes place next week. We have been visiting the chapel to practice the different parts of the mass. We are very much looking forward to celebrating next week with our family and friends.  

Daily Mile 10th Anniversary! 

On Thursday we celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the Daily mile. We discussed the importance of exercise and how it can improve our physical and mental health. We completed 10 laps of our school! We enjoyed walking and chatting with our friends 

The Value of Money

We have been learning all about the value of money! We discussed different ways that money can be spent and saved, as well as the importance of keeping it safe. We learned about the relationship and difference in value between a range of coins and notes.

We then worked together with a friend to explore all the different ways that we could make up the value of a given coin such as 10p, 20p, 50, £1 and £2, using a range of coins. We also explored different ways in creating an exact amount such as 47p or £1.55. We soon realised that there were lots of different ways that created the same value. We had fun working with our friends to find out how many ways we could create.

Making posters using ICT

In ICT this week we worked together in small groups to create an informative poster relating to our world around us topic of ‘Space and Travel’.

We were able to use Microsoft word to create and apply a range of different fonts, styles and colours to our poster. We were able to use the internet to search for information and pictures to complete our poster. We enjoyed using our creative skills to design an original, eye-catching poster to inform the reader of our knowledge and understanding of space and travel.

Suffix Board Game 

We were learning how to apply an appropriate suffix to a given word this week. We played a game with a partner to practice this skill. Each person took their turn to roll the dice, identify a word and apply the correct suffix to create a new word. We soon realised that we could apply more than one suffix to a given word to create even more words. The person who was able to create the most words by applying the correct suffix was the winner! We enjoyed playing against our friends. 

Narrative Writing Genres

In literacy this week we have been learning about the key features of a range of story genres. We learned all about key words, problems and settings used in specific story genres such as adventure, mystery and traditional fairy tales. We were able to work as part of a team to match these key features to the correct story genre and create a poster.

Happy Mother's day!

We created Mother’s day cards this week to give to someone special on Sunday. We enjoyed using different creative resources such as glitter, markers and stickers to decorate our cards.

Space and Travel

This week we worked in groups to create an information booklet for each planet of our solar system, which contained interesting facts that we have learned. We also learned about the different theories of the solar system and how these theories have changed over time. We learned that years ago it was thought that the earth was the centre of our solar system. However, over time with the invention of the telescope and advancements in technology, scientists soon realised that the sun was the centre of the solar system.

Blue and Yellow Day!

Today we showed solidarity with the people of Ukraine by wearing ukrainian colours of blue and yellow into school. We raised over £100 in our class alone. Well done to all the boys and girls!

SPACE FACTS

We spent some time this week working in small groups to research some interesting facts about our topic of space and travel. We read a selection of non-fiction books about space and recorded our favourite facts to share with the class!

Searching for Synonyms

In literacy this week we were learning all about antonyms and synonyms. We learned that an antonym is a word with an opposite meaning of a given word and a synonym is a word which has a similar meaning to a given word. We worked in groups using a thesaurus to search for and identify synonyms of different words. We enjoyed working as part of a group to record a list of different synonyms!

Fractions

In numeracy this week we were learning all about fractions. We learned how to divide different shapes into halves, quarters and thirds. We know that we can create different fractions when we divide a shape into a number of equal parts. We learned how to record fractions by writing the selected part over the whole number of parts. We enjoyed working together to create a range of different fractions!

Fantastic Mr Fox

This week we rehearsed and performed a role play of an event in a chapter of our class novel of ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’. We were each given a character to play. We rehearsed a dialogue through listening and responding appropriately to others, while remembering to speak clearly and confidently throughout the performance. We enjoyed performing together in front of an audience.

Sound waves

We were learning how sound is made and how it travels. We learned that sound waves travel through vibrations in the air. We also learned that sound waves can look different, depending on how loud or quiet a sound is, as well as if it is high pitched or low pitched. We then created sound waves through art, using string and card.

St Brigid’s day

Today we celebrated St Brigid’s day. We listened to the story of St Brigid and created colourful crosses.  

Position and Direction

In numeracy this week, we were learning about position, movement and direction using beebots. We worked in small groups, giving the beebot accurate directions to ensure that it reached its destination safely. We were able to use our compass points to help us (North, South, East and West). We described the different ways in which the beebot turned around and counted the amount of spaces that it needed to move. We enjoyed working together as a group.

Catholic schools week 

Thursday 27th January 

Today we celebrated 'Living Life in Wonder and Awe', as part of Catholic schools week. We learned about the different things that we can do to keep our world clean and healthy, such as reduce reuse and recycle. We worked together to create posters, to remind people of the importance of looking after our world. 

Catholic Schools Week

Wednesday 26th January

Today we celebrated 'Grandparents' Day', as part of Catholic schools week. We learned that God's love for us is eternal, even when we make mistakes or silly choices. We know that our parents and grandparents love us very much and will always be there for us when we need them. We listened to 'The Parable of the Prodical son' which showed the love that parents have for their children. We discussed how much we love spending time with our grandparents and how we missed them when we didn't get to see them. We made colourful cards to celebrate Grandparents day!

Catholic Schools Week

Tuesday 25th January

Today we celebrated 'Living Life to the Full together', as part of Catholic schools week. We discussed the importance of making others feel welcomed, included and cared for. We should always support each other in our thoughts, words and actions. We learned about the importance of kindness through telling our friends what we liked about them. We enjoyed giving our friends compliments as it made them feel loved and valued. 

Catholic Schools Week

Monday 24th January

Today we celebrated 'Living life to the full with God' as part of Catholic schools week. We discussed different gifts and talents that God has given us, which make us unique and special. We shared each of our talents and interests with each other. We soon realised that kindness was the most important talent we could have, as we learned about the importance of showing love and kindness to others, through being the best person that we can be. We recorded some of our talents and hobbies in our workbooks and created pictures showing how each of us are unique and special. 

Colour Wheels

Today we were learning about how the white light from the sun creates all the colours of the rainbow. We can see this if we shine a white light through a prism.  We learned that if we mix two primary colours together, we can make a new secondary colour. Some of us even mixed 2 secondary colours to make a new tertiary colour. We really enjoyed working together, creating colour wheels with different colours.

Our P4 boys and girls have settled in well and are having lots of fun being ‘big P4s’ ☺️

Visual and diagram problems

We had great fun exploring patterns and problem solving using the face of the clock through our ‘clock journeys’ problem today. 
By following the steps we revealed some very interesting patterns... and even some of our 2D shapes from our previous learning. We were amazed that even with a different value, the end result was 

the same for the number 5 and 7!

Handling Data

In numeracy this week, we looked at handling data for the first time in P4. We talked about the different ways and reasons we can collect data (information). We looked at tally marks as a way of recording and did some class surveys. We linked our numeracy to our WAU topic on how to keep healthy and did a survey on the ways P4 keep healthy and fit. We then used the information to create a block chart. We noticed that it was much easier to make statements about our findings when looking at a chart.

World Mental Health Day 2021

On Sunday, 10th October, it was World mental health day. We reflected on what this is and how it affects us in class throughout the week. We know that sometimes we can feel sad, angry and worried and that it ok. We also learned we should tell someone and get help when we have these feelings. We thought about our favourite things and people... the things that make us happy and how they can help us deal with our feelings. 

We danced along to a great song (see the link) and learned that getting out and being active can instantly imporve our mood. 

We then did a wonderful mindful relaxation... we all felt totally calm (and a little sleepy) afterwards. 

Number Pass 

We had great fun playing number pass when we were learning how to count in 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 50s and 100s. We found it quite easy to count in these amounts when the start number was 0... we discovered it gets harder with a different start number. We used a number generator to pick a 3digit number to start with and counted forwards AND backwards, passing the ball to our friend for them to say the next number... we were really good! 

Learning the features of recounts 😊

We enjoyed practising our oracy skills, recounting an event to our peers. We talked about the language we used. We could find lots of examples in our sample text. 

We are followers of Jesus

In our grow in love this week we were learning what it means to be a leader and a follower. We learned about the example Jesus gives us and what he calls us, as followers, to do in our lives. We learned how Jesus chose his first Apostles. We loved singing along to the apostle's song, which can be found on the link below the picture of our beautiful grow in love display. We worked hard to create pictures of us as apostles. 

2D shape hunt

We are learning all about 2D shapes and their properties. We learned that properties are simply how you describe the shapes. We were introduced to pentagons, hexagons, octagons and trapeziums. We learned lots of useful information about these shapes to help us describe and locate them. We then went into our groups, armed with a tablet to go on a shape hunt around the school. We were so impressed to find some of our new shapes lurking in the playground... particularly the trapezium! A great way to learn how to spot our 2D shapes!! 

Describing 2D shapes... guess the shape!!

2D shape.... can they tessellate?

We did a shape investigation to find out which 2D shapes can tesselate. We discovered tesselate is another word for ‘tile’ which simply means fit together without any gaps. We worked hard creating tiling patterns and were able to predict which 2D shapes would tesselate and those that wouldn’t! 

What is a recount text?

This week we were looking at our focus text type for the half term which is recount texts. We discovered that  to recount means to recall or think of something that has already taken place... something in the past. We learned that one of the biggest features of a recount text, that helps us discover them, is action words written in the past tense. We looked at lots of examples in our text sample, then had some fun changing our own sentences into the past tense. We then played a board game with our partners to try and change so,e action words into past tense, using them in a sentence as an example. We are looking forward to learning more about recount texts! 

Fun supporting a great cause!

We had our sponsored walk today in aid of the Mourne First Responders and what a great day we had taking part in our first charity event of the year. We loved walking around the valley and had an extra treat of seeing the ducks and playing in the play park before it was time to return! Thank you to everyone for supporting the boys and girls in their sponsored walk 😊

Learning to read and write numbers up to one thousand 

we are learning to recognise numbers written in lots of different ways... including in words! We played ‘number squatter’ to match the numbers with their written form and snap in our groups which was great fun! 

Our bodies are mighty!

As part of our topic ‘Superheroes... might me’ we are learning about all the amazing things are bodies can do. This week we were learning about the very special role of our skeletal system... we discovered lots of interesting facts about the bones that make up our skeleton... and can name and place them! We had great fun working in teams to create a skeleton, putting the bones in the correct place. We enjoyed using newsdesk on our computer day to learn even more facts and were able to label and place the bones in a compute game to test our knowledge! 

Grow in Love... Being a good Friend

We are thinking about what it means to have a good friend, the qualities our friends have and how we can be a good friend. The boys and girls shared some lovely ideas such as: being kind, sharing, never feeling lonely, being fun, smiling and being trusting. We learned a lovely song all about the great qualities of our friends, it is called 'Circle of Friends'. We will be learning this song over the coming weeks as we reflect on the importance of our friends. 

Be the teacher...Making 3 digit numbers using HTU 

We used dice to roll 3 digit numbers and practiced saying the numbers to our partner and finding the number before/number after. Some volunteers got to come up and ‘be the teacher’ rolling the dice on our interactive whiteboard and telling the others what number they wanted them to write. It was great fun 😊

☺️PE fun ☺️

Today in PE after having some fun playing ‘beans’ for our warm up we had a go at some relays. We talked about the importance of being a part of a team and being kind and supportive when taking part. We had lots of fun trying to beat the other teams... everyone needed a rest afterwards! 

Using a dictionary

We are learning about the dictionary, what it is used for and how to use it. To help us we needed to revise the alphabet and how to put things in alphabetical order. We are using a lovely song in class to remind us of the order of the alphabet if we get stuck. You can find it on the link below ☺️☺️

What is a syllable?? 
We were learning about syllables and how they are chunks of sound that make up words. We learned that by placing our hand under our chin, we could count the syllables as we say the word by how many times our jaw moves. After some practice at this we had lots of fun playing the syllables moving game... we stomped out the syllables, clapped them, jumped and swayed.... it was great fun! 😊😊