In their first French lesson of 2011, Middle IV celebrated ‘La Fete des Rois’, the Festival of the Kings.  French families traditionally share a crown-shaped cake on 6^th January, in which is hidden a bean.  The person who finds the bean becomes ‘le roi’ (the king) and issues orders for the day.

Mrs Berry baked two beans in her cake, and Middle IV ended up with two queens!

Middle IV children have recycled all of their ‘waste’ Christmas boxes to create an animal or a creature.

This year’s successful pupils were chosen by our last year’s winner! Here they are with their models.

Please click here to see all the entries!

The pupils in Middle IV( who hadn’t had to go home early because of the snow!) enjoyed a very interesting R.E. lesson when their Muslim classmates showed them lots of special items which help them to practise their faith. 

These included special clothes and beads, prayer mats, books in Arabic and a stand crafted in wood on which to carefully rest the Qu’ran.

 All the children value the opportunity to learn more about the beliefs of others.

Modelling the special clothes worn at the mosque or for prayer at home.

This is a special prayer mat which Muslims use when saying prayers.

The children demonstrate a selection of the special items which help them to practise their faith.

On Friday November 20^th, a dank and foggy day, the children in Middle IV stepped back in time to visit the Victorian classroom at Bradford Industrial Museum.  Dressed as poor Victorian children, they spent the morning chanting their lessons and learning, amongst other things, about pounds, shillings and pence; and inches, feet, yards, chains, furlongs and miles!  They wrote on slates and produced copy writing with dip pens. Their Victorian teacher impressed upon them that they should never be discontented with their miserable lot nor make any effort to better themselves!

In the afternoon, they had a brief look at some of the textile machinery in the mill where, as poor Victorian children, they would have worked, before exploring the labourers’ cottages and the grand home of the mill owner.

The children in Middle IV have recently written to Djenabu Balde, a fifteen year old girl from Guinea Bissau in north west Africa, who is sponsored by The Gleddings through the work of the charity, Plan.

Plan works with local communities throughout the world, aiming to improve the health, education and life chances of disadvantaged children.

Djenabu no longer attends school, as she has to help her family at home, but she loves to receive a bundle of letters from The Gleddings and always writes back to the children. Thankfully, Plan employs translators who help us to communicate across the continents.

Children in Middle IV worked in groups, conducting research into the working conditions of poor children in the Victorian period.  They searched through books and articles, photographs, paintings, cartoons and copies of original documents before presenting their findings to the class.

Children in Middle IV discovered that two heads are better than one when trying to solve tricky maths problems.  All agreed that it was reassuring on occasion to have someone with whom to discuss  thought processes and check answers.

On Wednesday 7^th July, Middle IV  were invited to The Crossley Heath School, along with the Year 5 pupils from several other local schools, for a morning of fun with languages.

They enjoyed playing games in German, learning to talk about their spare time activities.  This was followed by a session of international dancing which was great fun and got everyone on their feet, and the morning ended in one of the ICT suites, playing language games on the computers.

During ‘My money week’, Middle IV pupils considered their attitudes to money through drama activities and interactive videos.  They recognised the difference between needs and wants and discussed the pros and cons of spending and saving.  They helped two children, through the medium of an interactive video, to make wise decisions regarding their finances.

A Bank of England video taught them about the history of our currency and introduced, in simple terms, the effects of changing interest rates on borrowers and savers. 

A humorous playscript gave the children the opportunity to showcase their blossoming acting skills.  Their portrayals of parents and children squabbling over money matters were highly entertaining! Whilst having fun, they explored the importance of prioritising spending and considered the consequences of different financial choices.

Congratulations to two bright sparks in Middle IV who have reached the regional semi-finals of the Junior Language Challenge, a national competition open to all primary school children.  Having spent the last few weeks busily practising Italian through computer games, they now have the task of getting to grips with Japanese words and phrases during their summer holiday, ready for the next stage of the competition.  Good luck to both of them!