Welcome to Ash Class!

My name is Mrs Dowler, and I will be teaching year 4 this year, with the support of our amazing teaching assistant, Mrs Hall. You will know me as Miss Hallam, however over the summer holidays I got married so my name has changed to Mrs Dowler.

I am really looking forward to this year and am excited about getting to know you all, having fun and teaching you different exciting topics. In Ash Class, we are kind and caring, we respect each other and our possessions. This ensures everyone can achieve their potential and support each other, even when things are tricky. I believe the most important part of learning is to have a go and not be afraid to make a mistake! Making mistakes is part of learning and helps us develop our understanding. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes and this is okay.

With our comfortable and supportive classroom atmosphere, our aim will be to ensure every child is happy and smiles and laughs at least once a day – but hopefully all day, every day!

A named PE kit should be in school every day and daily reading at home is strongly encouraged. In the classroom, we have a display which shows the progression the children are making with their home reading and rewards are presented at regular milestones. Please listen to your child reading regularly and ensure this is recorded in the back of their journal (orange homework book).

Spellings and Maths homework will be set weekly and due in on a Friday.

Please check back on this page throughout the year as there will be updates of our memorable school year. Ash Class is a friendly, happy, and caring place to be and I am thrilled to be the class teacher.

Mrs Dowler

The Romans

In Ash class we have had an exciting term so far, learning about the Romans. On Monday 20^th September, we welcomed a visitor into our school. Our visitor, Tom, spoke to the children about different aspects of Roman life and some of the jobs they used to have.

Some children were able to try on the outfits that used to be worn by different groups of people. We learnt that the slaves wore an old, scratchy tunic which would have previous belonged to their leader. Wealthy, important people such as emperors wore togas, which were long dresses. These were made by wrapping layers and layers of fabric around the person’s body to create the dress. The slaves would need to do this. A toga was made from a long piece of fabric to show that the person could afford lots of fabric and clothes. Did you know most Roman soldiers were only given two tunics and one pair of sandals?

Ash class found it particularly interesting to learn about Roman doctors and how they performed operations and their treatments for illnesses. For example, if someone had a headache, they might cut a hole in the top of the patient’s head, take out some of the fluid in their brain to release the pressure (with a straw) and then stick the flap of skin back down! YUCK!! How disgusting!

Also, we were able to hold many Roman artefacts and discuss their names and uses. Some of these names were taught to us in Latin as this was the language spoken by Ancient Romans. The children practised getting into Roman formations and marching as a group, like the soldiers would have done. When turning, we were following Latin instructions.

The next day, the children wrote some lovely recounts to remember the day and all of their favourite parts. What a wonderful part of our topic and an exciting start to year 4!