Year 4 Porpoises and Dolphins
Year 4
Porpoises and Dolphins
Residential Information
Welcome to the Year 4 page!
Here, you can find out all the latest information and some home learning tasks.
Parent/ carers: If you have any questions, queries or comments about Year 4, please catch us on the playground, or email the school office at: admin@southmead.devon.sch.uk and we will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible, within normal working hours.
A reminder to parents, please check that items are named - we have had a few jumpers mixed up recently. If you find a jumper at home for someone else, please send it in to school so it can be returned. Many thanks!
A message to wonderful students and their families:
Thank you all for such a fantastic year. You have all worked so incredibly hard and we are so proud of you.
Thank you also to your families, for all the support they have given you this year, for their kind words and for any gifts they may have given us (they are never expected and it is so generous for you to think of us).
We hope you enjoy the last few days of Year 4 and we wish you all the best for the Summer holidays!
Homework
Welcome to Year 4 - Parent Meeting and Information for 2023-2024
Calling all Cricket fans!
Essex Dance Company - 8th July 2024
Today, we were delighted to work with the Essex Dance Company at Braunton Academy. We loved taking part in dancing and learning some new moves, before seeing their amazing dancers perform.
"I really liked how they expressed themselves through dance." - Maggie
"I liked the swiftness of the movements." - Zach
Thank you so much for inspiring us, Essex Dance Company, Mrs Smith for organising this and Braunton Academy for hosting us.
Sports Day - 5th July 2024
We had such an amazing time celebrating Dolphins and Porpoises' sporting achievements today. In the morning, we were able to take part in a range of activities, followed by races in the afternoon. We loved having our Olympic countries in the afternoon and were so proud to represent Fiji and India!
Thank you so much to Mrs Priddis and Dr Corney for all of their hard work organising this and also a big thank you to the Braunton Academy students that came and helped us. A few of our students called Sports Day, "THE BEST DAY THIS YEAR!"
Thank you also to all of the parents who came to stand in the rain to support the children!
We are so proud of all of our children's efforts in sports, perseverance and sportsmanship; cheering each other on. In our books, everyone was a winner today!
STEM Workshops - 1st May 2024
We were excited to welcome Fayon and Ruth to our school today. First, they gave us an assembly, then later, they moved to different classrooms to work with different year groups. In the afternoon, we learnt about water and about protecting the planet. We loved our sessions with Fayon and Ruth; we made predictions and using pipettes to find out how much water would stay on a penny; learnt about surface tension using soap to disperse pepper in water; and built wind turbines. Thank you so much for visiting us Fayon and Ruth. Thank you so much Dr Corney for organising this wonderful experience!
Explorer Dome Visit - 23rd April 2024
We had such an amazing time with the Explorer Dome. Our visit was tailored for the enviornment which linked to our Science, Geography and English lessons. We loved sharing what we knew about sustainability and about the animals. Thank you so much Explorer dome team and thank you Doctor Corney for organising this for us!
Year 4 Football Friendly vs Woolacombe
The first day of the summer term started with a bang as the Southmead football teams hosted Woolacombe for a friendly game. The sun was shining, the pitches were bustling with spectators and Southmead demonstrated utter resilience.
It didn’t go their way, for either U9s or U11s, yet their perseverance and teamwork are to be commended. Well done boys, a fantastic afternoon of football and fun. We will get them next time!
Year 4 Badminton Festival
On Thursday a select few from Yr4 were chosen to attend the ‘Badminton Festival’, a morning of new skills for many and introduction to the fantastic sport, which ended with some truly amazing rallies. The children were outstanding, demonstrating respect and kindness to each other, and whomever they played with and against. A group of truly brilliant ambassadors. Well done.
Year 5 Visit - 28th March 2024
We were lucky to be visited by our friends in Year 5 today to hear some of the writing they have been working on. Well done, Year 5!
Windfarm Trip - 27th March 2024
We had an amazing time learning about sustainability in Geography this term. To finish our unit, we visited a windfarm in our area. Check out the images below.
World Book Day 2024
We have had such a whale of a time, this world book day. Our students have come in with wonderful costumes; whether it be as their favourite characters, or even as book readers from this world. We know Southmead students have a passion for reading all year around and it was wonderful to celebrate that fact today.
Southmead v Kingsacre - Girls Football Friendly
As match day approached, the Southmead football girls were feeling excited and confident and this did not alter one bit throughout the games on Thursday night. Their faces were full of enjoyment and determination which was witnessed by a supportive parental crowd. The sun was shining and the atmosphere was buzzing. As it was a friendly, the teams were all mixed up, needless to say Southmead looked strong!
Thank you to the additional Year 3, 4 and 5 students who have been coming along to training to support our Year 3 and 4 qualifying team. The team are off to Kingsley for the next round on Wednesday 7th Feb. I am sure you’ll join me in wishing them all the best, if they win they could get to the county finals!
A special thanks, for supporting the qualifying team, goes out to -
Maicie A
Sophie T
Esme J
Homaria
Charlotte Y
They would not be as challenged at training if it wasn’t for you all. Thank you.
A fantastic display of school values, girls. Well done!
Year 4 - Shared Reading - February 2024
We were delighted to meet up with our Year 2s to share some of our final pieces of writing about monsters. We had based our writing on Mimi and the Mountain Dragon and they were thrilled to share their writing on dragons as well.
Year 4 - Exmoor Zoo Visit - February 2024
In preparation for our next unit of writing, we were absolutely delighted to welcome Exmoor Zoo for a visit today. The amazing zoo keeper taught us all kinds of facts about intriguing animals and we were even able to handle some of the animals.
Check out some of the fun facts we learnt:
- The longest snake found was 11 metres (check out the photo of the snake skins lined up to see how long this is!)
- Spiders cannot breathe when they move! If you see a spider scuttling across your floor and it stops - it's taking a breather!
- Praying mantis are able to sense bats' echo location and use this to escape being eaten.
Year 4 Carol Service at St Brannock's
We had a wonderful time with Years 5 and 6, singing traditional carols at St Brannock's church. Our Year 4 students sang
beautifully, told us information about Christmas and polished off the event with We Wish You a Merry Christmas as a round. We are so proud of the hard work they put into their performance and would like to thank St Brannock's for hosting us and thank everyone who came to support our students on the day.
Year 4 Basketball Festival - November 2023
We had a wonderful time at Braunton Academy, learning all about basketball. We practised shooting hoops, passing to other players, dribbling and even had a few games together! Thank you, Braunton Academy!
Year 4 - Ancient Egypt Day - November 2023
We have had an amazing time as pharoahs, mummies, ancient deities and modern day egyptologists, taking part in a range of activities. We have completed code-breaking some hieroglyphs with "Howard Carter", made ancient egyptian sweets, decorated our own pectoral collars and built pyramids - and that was just the morning! In the afternoon, we mummified tomatoes!
Year 4 Trip to Exeter Museum - November 2023
We are so proud of our Year 4s. This week, we visited Exeter Museum to further develop our knowledge on Ancient Egypt. They were very well behaved and polite to members of the museum team and they shared an incredible amount of knowledge that they had learnt with us in school. We were bowled over by how much they remembered!
One student said, "Seeing the actual mummy they found really made me feel excited" and another has already expressed an interest in taking up Egyptology at university when they grow up.
Our hands-on learning included; mummifying a body (removing organs and preparing it for the afterlife), exploring the museum, having a guided tour of the artefacts relating to Ancient Egypt, handling artefacts with our archaeologist minds engaged and even playing an Ancient Egyptian game - Sennet!
Times Table Meeting
The slides from our meeting are attached below. If you have any further questions, please get in touch with us. Click the link below to access some resources to support your child with learning their times tables.
Residential Information
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Home learning in case you need to isolate at home
Please find 1 day's worth of home learning if you are well enough.
Maths - Times tables revision
English - tricky homophones
Reading Comprehension - Summer Term
The English Civil War Timeline
SPELLING AT HOME
Spelling practise at home can often be challenging. Why not try using a multi-sensory approach! Try making the spellings using play dough, using coloured pens, using toys to make the shape of the letters or even during baking with flour! Rap, sing or link spellings to stories and shapes.
Supporting spelling practice
READING AT HOME
Our whole expectation is that children will read at home at least 3 times per week, this can be to an adult or independently. Below are some ideas to help support you at home with reading and questioning your child.