4D's Marvellous Assembly!

I just had to post my comments about your WONDERFUL assembly today! I was so impressed by your confidence and enthusiasm - it made watching you all an absolute joy!
I also thought you made excellent role models for your younger (and older!) peers at school - what great organisation skills you have now 4D!
You should all be very proud of yourselves - I cannot wait for the next one :)
Well done!
A very happy, and proud, Miss Bodfish

UoI homework this week.

Because miss Lamb was sick year 4 does not have homework for unit of inquiry.
We hope miss Lamb feels better soon so we can get our homework. We LOVE homework!

by
INES 4LB

Language Homework

This week in Language Arts we are focusing on making notes into paragraphs (what we have been doing for our Peacemaker reports). The students have been given a list of 7 notes on Princess Diana. It is their job to number the order of the notes (1 would be the note they would use first in the paragraph and 7 would be the note used last) and then put them into full sentences, creating a paragraph. They must remember to indent their paragraph and double space their writing (write a line, skip a line, etc). This exercise will lend itself well to the stories that we will soon be writing in class.

Due Friday January 29

4D's Assembly!!!

This Friday Fantastic 4D has their assembly! We are going to be talking about our current unit 'Peace Begins with Me', so please come on out and learn what we have been studying and how to be a good problem solver! 4D must practice their lyrics for our song. The lyrics are below!

Problem Solving Song


We will we will solve it!
You can you can do it!

Sometimes we have conflicts on the yard
But you can fix the problem
It’s not hard.

You need respect for me
Respect for you
Solving our conflicts
It’s easy to do.

Because
We are mediators!
You are mediators!

This child wants the ball, but so does she
They need a mediator
To help, you see

One person speaks first,
The other goes next,
Taking turns speaking is always the best.

Because we will we will solve it!
You can you can do it!

If you’re a mediator, what should you do?
Promise not to take sides
Or gossip too.

Always respect
Never place blame
Focus on the problem
Our goal is the same.

Because we will we will solve it!
You can you can do it!

Because
WE ARE MEDIATORS!!!
YOU ARE MEDIATORS!!!

Maths for the week beginning Monday 25th January

This week we will continue working with 2D shapes. We are so happy with the knowledge the classes have demonstrated about different shapes now - lots of children will be able to tell you facts about shapes from the quadrilateral family. You will also notice some super shape vocabulary being used - look out for words such as parallel, vertices and polygon!

We will continue by looking at the different shapes that are made when you combine different 2D shapes and we will also be exploring tesselation - watch out for some exciting artwork soon!

In number we will continue to look at division and will focus on the use of halving when dividing by 4 and 8. We will also see how multiplication is used to check answers.

As you can see we will be working hard on lots of maths this week!

Maths Homework - due Friday 29th January
Complete pages 18 and 19 in your new textbooks to help you revise your times tables. Please remember to bring your maths textbook everyday in case we use it in class. Thank you.

Maths Practice
Monday and Wednesday - use doubling to x4 and x8.
Tuesday and Thursday - use halving to divide by 4 and 8.

Welcome Goncalo!

Hello Everyone,

Today we have a new boy in our class. His name is Goncalo.He comes from Portugal.

Goncalo has aready started fitting in with the other children and has made some friends. Goncalo has aready started working hard. We really like him.

We hope he has a lovely time in 4LB.

From Carla 4LB

UoI homework due in Tuesday 26th January

The Unit of Inquiry homework this week is to find a picture or photograph of the peacemaker you have been researching and draw a realistic, full size A5 ‘sketch’ of your Peacemaker’s bust (their head and shoulders). It does not have to be PERFECT (we know you are not all famous artists) but no stick people with dots for eyes and bananas for mouths please! It must resemble your peacemaker as much as possible. You may sketch it in pencil and leave it in black and white or colour it in once you have sketched using coloured PENCILS – no felt tips. Please put your name on the back and do not include any text (writing) on your picture.

So for example – if your peacemaker is Nelson Mandela and you found this photograph...

You might draw something that looks a little like this...

Or like this...

As I said, we are not looking for PERFECTION – all we want to see is that you have tried your best! Make sure you colour all the same way and stay inside the lines of your sketches if you are colouring it in.

This is supposed to be a fun exercise which will help to improve fine motor skills (co-ordination of small muscle movements). It will also give you some practice for the illustrations for a book we will be making in our third line of inquiry about conflict resolution strategies.

Happy drawing!

Miss Lamb

URGENT appeal to all St Dominic's families...

Hi everyone,

We would like to recommend an URGENT appeal to all our St Dominic's families to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Three million people in Haiti (that's practically everyone in Lisbon) need emergency aid. Each and every one of us could make a difference by making a contribution, large or small.

It's really simple - donations can be made on-line to big organisations such as the International Red Cross and the United Nations (see below for details) to name a few.

Follow the links below:
United Nations - (click on the word 'donate' next to Haiti)
International Red Cross - (click on 'make a donation').

Thank you.

If the money we donate helps one child or can ease the pain of one parent, those funds are well spent.

Updated After School Activities registration sheet!

Hello!

An updated version of the after school activities registration sheet in now available on the school's website. Hard copies are also available from Fiona, in the school office, and once they are filled in and signed they should also be returned to Fiona please. Please remember that your child cannot attend an after school activity without having filled in one of these forms.

After school activities registration sheet link.

Thank you!

Homework Help Miss. D!!

On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:10-12:25 Miss. D will be in room 4D to help with any homework questions that students may have. So if you are confused or just need a little helping hand, come on in and have a chat about it!!!

Language Homework

In our new unit 'Peace Begins with Me' we are focusing on writing descriptions on Peacemakers. The descriptions will be written in class time and seperate language homework will be sent home. We are starting to look at the skill of writing paragraphs and using adjectives and adverbs to make our writing more interesting. This week's language homework will go home on Tuesday and be due back on Friday. Students will be given a text and are required to 'make things more interesting' by rewriting the sentence and inserting adjectives and adverbs (ex: 'The man ran to the store' can be changed to 'The giant man sprinted quickly to the grocery store').

Maths Homework - week beginning18th January

Maths Activity
This week's homework is all about 2D shapes as we are working hard at the moment to learn some of the vocabulary necessary for this area of maths. The due date is Friday 22nd January.

The children need to divide their homework activity page into 6 equal rectangles. They then write one of the following headings in each box: square, rectangle, circle, semi-circle, triangle - the final box can have the heading of either pentagon, hexagon, heptagon or octagon.

The children then draw each of the shapes as accurately as possible. Underneath each shape they write its facts/properties in bullet form. We will be looking for words such as opposite, parallel, equal, angle, length.

Help at Home
There are many websites to help with 2D shape but here are a few that we have found particularly good and will help you to support your child this week:

http://gammarlessonsinmath.blogspot.com/2009/10/bbc-shapes-2d.html - this is a blog that has some very good examples of shape facts.

http://www.familylearning.org.uk/shapes.html - this website is particularly good for helping parents to support their child in maths.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/triangle.html - all you need to know about triangles!

http://www.mathsisfun.com/quadrilaterals.html - all you need to know about quadrilaterals!

Maths Practise
Please remember that the aim of this weekly practice is to revise key skills and facts already covered in class. It should only take 5-10 mins each evening.
Monday - 2, 4 and 8 x tables (linking to our work on doubling)
Tuesday - 3 and 6 x tables.
Wednesday - Number bonds upto 20 e.g. number bonds to 17 = 17 + 0, 16 + 1, 15 + 2 etc.
Thursday - Halving numbers upto 100!

After school activities and End of Unit reports

Hello again! Here is another update for you...

After School Activities

After School Activities registration form
Above is the link which takes you to the After School Activites registration page from the school website. (Links on these blogs are always in pink.) If you would like your child to attend any after school activities please print off this page, fill it out and send it in to school with your child, even if you already filled one out last term. All children need to re-register for all activties including homework club and tutoring, even if they attended the activity last term.

For those children who stay in after school care until late, an after school activity is a great way for them to break up the afternoon, a lot of them are free of charge.

End of Unit reports

The End of Unit reports for our 'Water for Life' Unit of Inquiry will be sent out on Monday. Please ensure that you discuss these reports with your children for their benefit and set their new goals with them on the sheet provided. These should then be sent back into school as soon as possible. The first page, the actual report, is yours to keep.

Please note that we will be using the new format of reporting and that there are no longer number grades from 1 - 4 given and that the vocabulary used (beginning, developing, consolidating and extending/taking action) does not correspond to the numbers in previous unit reports. The second page of the report defines the new words we are using. There is also a link to a slide show, below, which was presented to parents in December and fully explains the reporting process at St. Dominics. I hope you find this helpful. However, if you have any queries whatsoever or would like to discuss your child's progress - please make an appointment with your child's teacher.

Reporting to parents slideshow

Parent helpers for Year 4LB

We are still looking for more parents to help listen to readers in Year 4LB on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday morning from 8:30 to 9:10. If you would be willing to help us out with this please see me (Miss Lamb) or write a note in your child's diary.

Thank you SO much and have a great weekend!

Miss Lamb

'We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.' ~William Ewart Gladstone

After school activities.

Please see this information sent out via school comms regarding after school activities:

Dear Parents,

There have been a number of questions raised regarding the After Schools Activities programme for Term 2. We hope this communication helps to clarify the situation.

1. If your child(ren) is interested in joining any of the activities, you need to complete a registration form which you can collect from Fiona in Reception. It is important to register your child so that the School Co-ordinators know where students are suppose to be, and in the case of an emergency, we must be able to account for all students.

2. There are certain activities that require a minimum number of children to register to make the activity viable. These activities are:

Kindermusik requires a minimum of 4 children to register before classes can start.

Arts & Crafts, Painting & Drawing, Ballet, Tap, Modern Dance, and Hip Hop all require a minimum of 3 children to register before these classes can start. Nathalie Hervé is the After School Activities Co-ordinator, she will contact parents when the minimum number of children have registered and let you know the date that classes will begin.

3. Please note that Yogakids classes will take place on Mondays NOT Wednesday as previously stated.

If you have any other questions please email Nathalie directly via n.herve@domincs-int.org or respond to this email (from Kate Bliss) and I will come back to you.

Update - various info

1. Haiti earthquake

A massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The death toll is expected to rise to 500 000 people and over 3 million people are believed to have been affected in total.

In light of our Unit of Inquiry - Peace begins with me - I wonder what peace would mean to the Haitian people at this difficult time and who could/would play the role of 'peacemaker' amongst all this devastation? Aid workers? The UN? America? Perhaps this would be a good point of discussion with your children. Visit the links below to look at a site which explain eathquakes for children.

Earthquakes for kids

If you would like to make a difference to the people of Hiati at this time, please visit whitehouse.gov to donate or find out more information.

The picture below is of a school in Haiti which collapsed as a result of the quake today.

2. Year 4, 5 and 6 Disco

On a lighter note there will be a School Disco held this Friday (15 January 2010) in the Old Gym from 6pm - 8pm for children in Years 4 to 6. The entrance cost is 2 euros per child/person and there will be snacks on sale too. The funds raised will be put towards a trip for secondary school children who will be going to do some charity work overseas. Childen can bring friends or family to the disco if they are in Years 4 to 6 or equivalent and of cours parents are welcome too! Please ensure that if your children attend that they are fetched by 8pm sharp.

3. Headlice in Year 4

Unfortunately, we have had various infestations of headlice in Year 4 this term. We would like to request that you check your child's hair carefully and regularly for lice. (See link below) If your child does have headlice please do not send them back to school until this has been properly treated. All children whose hair is shoulder length or longer will now be required to tie up their hair to avoid catching or passing on lice. I am sure you understand why we have to enforce this rule! See link below for how to check a child's hair for lice. Please see Rosarinho, the school nurse, if you have any questions.

How to check a child's hair for lice

4. Commenting on and subscribing to blogs

It's much easier than you think to subscribe to our blogs and to comment on posts. All you need is an email address to create a google account. You do not need to get a new 'Google' email address - just use the one you already have. It's quick and easy - try it! That way you can ask any questions about posts or make comments. It would be great to get feedback.

5. Thank you Miss Bodfish

We would like to thank our lovely Miss Bodfish for the fantastic presentation she gave to parents on the Maths happening at St. Dominics this morning. Mr Thompson has already posted the powerpoint that was used in this morning's presentation on his blog for those of you who weren't able to attend.

Junior School Blog - Mr Thompson's blog.

That's all for now!

Miss Lamb

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
                                                   Martin Luther King, Jr.

Language Homework

This week's Language Art's Homework is simply a continuation from class. We are learning how to create descriptive reports (for our Peacemaker Projects). We are starting by drawing a picture of ourselves and then writing adjectives that describe our personality traits. Since we have a picture in the middle we don't need to use adjectives to describe physical appearances. Students need to colour in the pictures with coloured pencils. This is due Friday.

Math Homework will be sent home on TUESDAY rather than the usual MONDAY.

Researching Peacemakers!

Researching a Peacemaker
Due: Thursday January 14th

Task:
In our current unit “Peace Begins with Me” Year 4 is doing an exciting project where they must research a famous peacemaker from history. Students have chosen at random a peacemaker in class. Students (with parental help) are required to bring in 1-2 pages of age-appropriate information on their peacemaker. The information may be from print sources as well as from the internet. During Thursday’s classes the students will be given time to read their material and write notes. They will begin writing their papers Friday.

Tips for searching the internet for age-appropriate material:
1- Avoid using Wikipedia as a main source
2- Sites ending in “.edu” or “.pt” are more reliable than “.com”
3- Read the material carefully and “cut and paste” appropriate information (always copying URL and title) into a word document to avoid printing unnecessary information

The report must contain the following information:
1- A basic personal history of the peacemaker.
2- The conflict that was occurring during the time the peacemaker was active.
3- The strategies that the peacemaker used to promote peace.

You may find these search engines useful (you may use other reliable sites that you are familiar with):

gardenofpraise.com/leaders.htm

BBC - Schools Ages 4-11 - History Sites
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/history.shtml

resources.kaboose.com/kidslinks/.../people/People_links.html

http://www.biography.com/bio4kids/index.jsp

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/biography.htm

kids.yahoo.com/

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1983/index.html

Homework due Tuesday 12/01/10

A reminder that the 'peace symbol' homework is due in tomorrow or Friday.

This term we will be teaching the children how to 'join' their handwriting in the cursive style font so if they found this a little tricky - please do not worry. We will be focusing on joining during this term and we look forward to awarding 'pen licences' to those children who we feel have mastered the technique.

I will take this opportunity to mention the Unit of Inquiry homework due Tuesday 12th January.


Children should choose 5 words which they do not understand from the vocabulary list for our unit which can be found on the left hand side of the blog. They should write the word neatly and underline it. Then they should write the meaning of the word from a dictionary, below the word. Below this they should write a sentence which includes this word to show that they fully understand the meaning of the word. Remember capital letters and full stops for sentences.

Please feel free, children and parents, to ask any questions you my have or comment on any of our posts!

I look forward to seeing you all at school tomorrow.

Miss Lamb

Peace begins with me!

Happy new year to everyone! I hope you have all had a very restful and joyful holiday. I look forward to keeping you up-to-date concerning the Units of Inquiry that Year 4 will be covering for the rest of this academic year.

I will provide you with a weekly update, which will include a brief summary of what we have done in class plus the homework for the week. The UoI (Unit of Inquiry) homework is set on a Wednesday and we expect it in the following Tuesday.

During the last few days of last term, before Christmas, we started our new Unit of Inquiry which is called ‘Peace begins with me’. Here is some more info about it:

Unit title: Peace begins with me

Central Idea: There are many ways to resolve conflict peacefully

An Inquiry into:

1. What peace means to me

2. Peacemakers throughout history

3. Conflict resolution strategies

The children have already written some beautiful ‘Peace is...’ poems inspired by a book entitled 'The Peace Book', written by Todd Parr.

Over the holidays the children were asked to design their own ‘Peace symbol’ and write a paragraph as to why this symbol represents peace to them.

After the holiday we will be discussing and sharing our peace symbols and then we will move on to inquire into famous peacemakers throughout history. Some particular figures we will be learning about will include Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela, amongst others.

You can support your child through their inquiry by:

• regularly visiting our blog and reading the posts together with your children

• asking probing questions about the meanings of certain words or phrases

• sharing with your child what peace means to you

• helping your children to research famous peacemakers for interest at home

We are all very excited about this new unit as we have lots of fun and exciting activities planned for the next 5 weeks!

I look forward to seeing you at school on Thursday.

Until next week,

Miss Lamb

Something to think about:

"If we are going to bring about peace in the world,
we have to begin with the children."
Mahatma Gandhi