Hello, my Fabulous Fours! It’s time for another home learning blog. I hope you are well and have been keeping busy. It has been lovely to receive messages from some of you letting me know what you have been up to. It really makes me smile when I see that you have been in touch. Please keep sending in your messages by clicking the following link - send Miss Whitley a message :)

This weeks gallery

We would like to say a special thank you to everyone for sending photographs of the wonderful activities they have been doing at home. Remember if you have a drawing or a photograph of something you have been doing, feel free to send it via the Home Learning Showcase. We love to see your creations.

Reading:

For the second half of the summer term, we will be moving on to the topic of Europe, focusing on geography. This week reading comprehension will concentrate on European Landmarks. They will help teach your class about three European Landmarks – the Eiffel Tower, St Basil’s Cathedral and Stonehenge.

English:

For your writing challenge this week, I would like you to use these story settings writing frames as inspiration to write your own fiction story. Use the suggestions below to help you write the perfect short story. As an extra challenge can you link your story to one of the European destinations from the reading task?

What is the setting? A setting is where a story takes place. What European destination are you going to choose?
Characters- Two or three characters are usually enough for a short story. Give them suitable names.
For example, Pirates: Captain Peg-Leg, Scar-faced Bill, Sly Sam, One-eyed Pete. Astronauts: Commander Ben Lewis, Assistant Commander Buzz Owens, Captain Tilly Jones. Don't just use your friend's names in a story!
Describe what they look like and how they move. For example: A wizened old man shuffling about the house in slippers. A giant, hairy, orange caterpillar creeping slowly along. A ten-year-old girl, rather small for her age, skipped merrily along the street, her long fair hair flying in the wind.
Try to show how they feel using adjectives and adverbs, for example: tired, excitedly, grateful, angrily, happy, sadly, curious, worriedly, relieved, nervously.
How to start a good story?
Dialogue: "Sharks!" shouted the ship's look out, "hundreds of them!" "They seem to be heading our way," cried the Captain.
Action: An ear-splitting whistle made all the pirates leap to attention. At once they ran in different directions, bumping into one another, scrambling over untidy piles of ropes and tarpaulin, sliding down rickety ladders, all trying to be the first in the queue for lunch.
Description: The sea glistened like a sparkling, silver mirror. Waves lapped gently at the sides of the Saucy Sue as she sailed silently along in the cool, refreshing breeze, her Jolly Roger flag fluttering limply. Seagulls circled overhead, calling to each other. No-one would guess what terrible adventure lay ahead for Captain Peg-Leg and his crew of daring pirates.
Writing a good story-
These question words are important when writing stories: who, what, how, where, when, and why -The tiny bird hopped quickly across the garden, picked up the bread, and immediately flew off to a safe place to eat it.
Use these ways to improve your writing-
Alliteration (words starting with the same letter) - e.g. dark, dank, dreary forest; crowded, cobbled streets
Rhyme - e.g. hustle and bustle; a rumbling and a tumbling
Patterning - e.g. in the highest branches of the furthest tree; travelling faster and faster
Onomatopoeia- (words that sound like the thing they describe)- e.g. jingling, jangling, tinkling coins.
Similes- compare one thing to another and are introduced by the words 'like' or 'as', e.g. The wet mud was sticky like fudge cake.
Metaphors- compare one thing with another, but are not introduced by 'like' or 'as', e.g. The wet mud was sticky fudge cake.
Similes - The moon hung in the sky like it was on an invisible thread. The storm was as violent as a ranting bull. The wind was like a roaring lion shaking its mane. To change the similes to metaphors, take out the words as and like: The moon hung in the sky on an invisible thread. The storm was a ranting bull. The wind was a roaring lion shaking its mane.
What should I include in a good story?
An interesting story will contain several events.
A strong exciting plot has an unexpected event, a crisis, or a problem, which needs to be sorted out by the end of a story.
Stories can contain more than one problem.
Plans could go wrong: There could be an accident. Someone or something could get lost. A machine could break down. Something important could get stolen.
Story endings-Explain the result of the events or show how the problem was solved. (But don't end with everyone going home for tea or someone waking up to find it was all a dream - that's boring!)
Endings usually bring the story round 'full circle'. For example,
Start: Three scruffy pirates sat gloomily around a table in the Lord Nelson pub, staring down in to their empty beer glasses. One by one they emptied out their pockets. It seemed they had all run out of money.
Ending: The pirate gang made their way down the quay to their favourite pub to celebrate their success. They had earned enough money now to buy a year's worth of beer - and have change.
The final sentence is as important as the opening sentence. It usually sums up the story's theme or message: It had been the best day of my life.
I'll never forget her. If only he hadn't been so selfish. She realised taking part is much more important than winning. It just goes to show, crime really doesn't pay. They were richer than they could ever have dreamed.
Storyboards-Story boards help you to plan a story without writing it all out.
Opening? ____________
Setting? _____________
Characters? __________
Problem…. ___________
How it is solved… _________
Ending…. _______
Now you are going to plan a great story. Checklist:
Title- think of a great title for your story.
Setting- where will the story take place?
Characters- who will be in the story?
What problem will they have?
How will they solve the problem?
How will the story end?

Spelling:

The spelling mistakes in these sentences have been circled. Can you write the correct spelling for each circled word?

For extra spelling practice this week, use Spelling Frame Rule 23 to continue learning your homophones.

Maths:

For maths this week we will be learning all about Geometry- properties of shape. We will identify acute and obtuse angles and compare and order angles up to two right angles by size. We will also compare and classify geometric shapes, including quadrilaterals and triangles, based on their properties and sizes. As well as identifying lines of symmetry in 2-D shapes presented in different orientations. Then you can complete a simple symmetric figure with respect to a specific line of symmetry.

Identify Angles- questions, answers

Compare and Order Angles- questions, answers

Triangles- questions, answers

Quadrilaterals- questions, answers

Lines of Symmetry- questions, answers

Complete a Symmetric Figure- questions, answers

You can also use MyMiniMaths to practice your arithmetic and key maths skills. This week try number 37 - Calculate the perimeter of squares and rectangles or number 40 - Identify lines of symmetry in 2D shapes. Can you complete the challenge for each day of the week? There are extra challenges in the home learning section too!

Topic:

Can you locate and label the countries of Europe? Countries of Europe
Look at the map of Europe, try and write down all the capital cities of these European countries.
Geology.com Check out this interactive map to assist you with this week’s topic tasks.

Happy home learning everyone!

We are so very proud of you!

Stay safe and we will hopefully see you all back at school soon.

Miss Whitley

Year 4 Home Learning - Week beginning 08.06.20 and 15.06.20