First Learning Steps To Be Remembered!

Today was a historic day in Year 4. Gone are the days of not thinking about learning and having no time to reflect. Gone are the days of taking books home at the end of the year to be forgotten on a shelf and gather dust!

From today everyone in 4T will be able to wrap up their learning and send it to the cloud where it will dutifully follow them where ever they happen to be. They will be able access there learning wherever they are and begin to participate in an huge community of children from across the world all thinking and reflecting on their learning. Each child in 4T created their own blog and throughout the rest of the year they will be blogging all about what they have been learning. As the year progresses more and more of their own work and thoughts will be added.

What Fab First Week!

Just at the end of last year, Ms Alison told me that I would be teaching a wonderfully gifted bunch of children and - WOW! I was expecting my class to be good but,  not this good. I have had such a great first week of term and I am now eagerly looking forward to getting to know everyone even better. The work every child in 4T has done this week has been excellent and I'm really proud to be the teacher of 4T this year.

Below you can see a super example of just how good everyone is. In English this week we have been learning about fantasy settings. All the children were great at identifying different setting adjectives. They were even able to draw beautiful landscapes of Lothlorien after reading a super tricky extract from Lord  Of The Rings. (See below)

Just east of the Misty Mountains, beside the Silverlode, which flows into the Great River Anduin, lies Lothlorien - the Golden Wood - the fairest Elf-kingdom remaining in Middle-earth.


Lothlorien is the home of the Wood Elves, who are almost invisible to visitors to the wood they guard, as they move swiftly and silently through the tree canopy, camouflaged by their magical grey cloaks. Throughout the Golden Wood grow the towering mallorn trees, the tallest and most beautiful trees in Middle-earth.

In the grass of the forest floor bloom trhe golden stars of elanor and pale white flowers of the niphredil. The silver pillars of the mallorns tower up into a splendid canopy of golden leaves, in the many-levelled branches of which the Elves build their flets: their dwellings, or high houses.

At the heart of the Golden Wood lies Caras Galadhon, the city in which the Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel have their royal hall, a magificent flet, nestled high in the crown of the mightiest mallorn of all.  

Well done Jeanette!

Well done Tyler!

Above are the two pictures judged by Ms Van Anh and I to be the best. You can also see all of them in the slide show below.

Super Science

Today we started learning about solids and liquids. Everyone enjoyed trying to identify the different solids and liquids. As you can see there was plenty of interesting discussion. We discovered that lots of materials seem to have properties of both liquids and solids! I wonder if you can research to find out if toothpaste is actually a solid or a liquid? 

First Day - Fun Day

So today was the beginning of the year and I'm super pleased with how the day went. I have a really good feeling about the year and how exciting it's going to be. Although I have been at BIS now for more than five years and have taught loads of wonderful and amazing children, my instincts tell me that this could be the best year yet. All of you have made such a great start to the year. I sat down and marked all you English and Maths books and was amazed at how good they were. Even all the boys were writing as neatly as they could!

The only photo I managed to capture today was the one at the very top of the 4T blog and I will add many more as the year goes along. For now I'm just going ask you to think about the answer to a couple of questions.

In Science we will be learning about solids and liquids. What is your most favourite liquid and why?
(mine is pineapple juice because its so super yummy!)

At the moment the title of our class blog is 4T's Blog. This is quite a boring title. What do you think our class blog title should be?

Welcome Back 4T

Hi and welcome back to everyone at TX. I have had a great holiday and I can't wait to start the year and have loads of fun. It's going to be a super busy year but I'm sure it will also be super, duper, luper fun! This year we are all going to using blogs like this one to think about and explore all our learning. I will update my blog frequently so you all know exactly what has been going on and what to look forward to in the future. 

Harsh Habitats

Do you think it is easy to live here? 

We are all so lucky because we live in a city habitat that provides everything we need to survive and so much more. The people that live here in this city slum are not so lucky. These people do not all have running water or a place to use the toilet properly. Life here is very difficult for them and hopefully as countries develop more governments will be able to help them. Do you think this is the most difficult place for a human to survive? Write a blog to show what you think. Remember to include a picture and say why you think your chosen habitat is a difficult place to survive.

The Best Day Ever?!

As all the Year 4 worried parents know, I writing this post from my hotel room at Thuy Duong resort in Long Hai.

We arrived slightly earlier than planned which was welcome by the children as it meant we could get into the hotel restaurant and begin to eat a little earlier than expected. They all ate like ravenous wolves who hadn't hunted for a year and soon there was no food left on the plates. I was very proud of the children as they all ate well and even added some vegetables on their plate too!

After changing and getting ready for the beach it was off towards the golden sands to find out who might grow up to become an architect or structural engineer... that's right it was the famous Long Hai Sand Castle competition. I have taken photos of all the entries and the children will find out who was the winner later in the week.


All that was needed was a quick dip in the sea then off to the pool where the children could really swim. Everyone enjoyed the long swim and play in the pool and didn't want to get out and get ready for the next activity of Video Diaries.

Something new for Long Hai this year is the video diary. The children and their room mates will be keeping a record of how they felt and what they did in their time in at Long Hai. This is being done using the TX's new video cameras and the children have really enjoyed filming with them. The first diary entry from Sebastian, Nicholas and Dhiren can be seen below.

I'm very tired and sleepy now and so have to say good night. I will be writing another blog post tomorrow for you all to read. Until then you can see all of the photos from our fun day today using this link.