Nansledan School

Brunel Class Y4

Welcome to Brunel class!

Our class is a team - we are innovators, educators, leaders and learners of the 21st century!

Our class is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Brunel is remembered his pioneering work in the design and construction of the Thames Tunnel. From a young age, Isambard had a talent for engineering and mathematics. Encouraged by his father, he learnt how to depict model drawings of buildings. He was a STEAM innovator and we continue to learn more about his achievements during year 4.

Miss Whitehouse

Class Teacher - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

All about me! Miss Whitehouse

Hello, I’m Miss Whitehouse and I will be teaching year 4 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays from September. Our class will be Nansledan school’s first ever Brunel class, and I think we can show just the same resilience and excellence as Brunel himself.

I am really looking forward to the year ahead and we have got lots of exciting trips, visitors, projects and WOW moments lined up for you all. And we can’t forget about the much anticipated year 4 residential! Brunel class and Trevithick class will work closely together with our projects and there will be lots of opportunities for collaborative learning linking to our STEAM curriculum.

Here are a few facts about me:

Favourite colour: Green
Favourite animal: Gorilla
Favourite beach: Little Fistral
Favourite book: Kensuke’s Kingdom
Favourite subjects: Maths and DT

Fun Fact: When I was in primary school I HATED Maths. I then had a great teacher and now it is my favourite subject to teach. I like to make every lesson fun and engaging so that the children I teach will never dislike Maths like I once did.

Mrs Sowden

Class Teacher - Thursday and Friday

All About Me! Mrs Sowden

Let me introduce myself, I am Mrs Sowden and I will be one of your teachers in Brunel class.

I am really looking forward to teaching you and seeing you soar in your learning. We will all do our best to ensure Brunel Class have a fabulous year!

If you are new to the school, or new to my class, I can reassure you Brunel class are a friendly bunch and will make you feel more than welcome.

Throughout the year ahead, Brunel Class will work closely with our partner class in Year 4, Trevithick class. We have such an inspiring curriculum as well as outside activities, clubs and trips in store for you all!

Meanwhile, here are a few facts about me:

I am Northern Irish although I used to live in Edinburgh and people often think I am Scottish! I have a son (Fin) and a daughter (Betsy) and a sweet cat (Belinda). I love yoga, jogging (slowly) and I am currently learning to swim.

Mrs Howard

Class Teaching Assistant - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Mrs Mills-Macqueen

Class Teaching Assistant - Thursday and Friday

Spring Term 2

Our new project is focussing on rainforests and our enquiry question is 'Why should the rainforest be important to us?'

Here is an overview of our planned learning for this term:

Key Information

English

In English, children will study ‘The Boy who Biked the World’, innovating the text to create their own recount from a different country. The children will also create a non-fiction text linked to their Geography learning on the rainforest

 Vipers

We use VIPERS to cover the reading content domains across KS1 and KS2. In VIPERS, we will be exploring ‘The Boy who Biked the World’ by Alastair Humphreys.

Maths

Within maths, we will be continuing to learn about Decimals, before moving on to units about money, time and shape. We will also continue to practice our multiplication tables, ready for the MTC in Summer Term 2. Mental arithmetic will continue to be a focus within our maths sessions, having a daily arithmetic session to build on our fluency skills.

Our PE days will be on a Monday and Friday and we would like children to bring their PE kit in, ready to change at school.

 Reading and Handwriting

We devote time daily to independent reading and handwriting, as these are vitally important skills which help us across all curriculum areas. Watch this space for examples of high quality reading and writing, coming soon!

Homework

Each week, there will be spellings to learn using Spelling Shed. Daily reading and regular practise of times tables using Times Table Rockstars is also part of our homework expectation.  Optional homework activities can be found in the grid below.