Welcome to Year 4!

We hope that you enjoy exploring what we are doing in Year 4.

Meet the Team

4J - Miss Jan is the class teacher, Mrs Newton and Mrs Ashby are the teaching assistants.  

4AS - Mrs Akhter and Mrs Symes are the class teachers,and Miss Petch is the teaching assistant. 

English

Spring Term

This term we will be reading Kensuke’s Kingdom as a class. The children will participate in class debates, research projects and a variety of written tasks.

Through the book, the children will be developing their  reading skills to improve their fluency and understanding. They will focus on their vocabulary, inference, prediction, summarising and retrieval skills.

We expect the children to spend time reading at home with an adult daily. This allows them to practice their reading, observe an adult  and practicing  different techniques. Please remember to sign your childs reading log when you listen to them read and remind them to track their reading in it too.  

Autumn Term

This term we will be focusing first on ‘The Tin Forest’ and ‘The Iron Man’. Pupils will also practice their handwriting regularly and will be expected to present their work as neatly as they can following cursive, joined up font. We will be writing diary entries, poems, character descriptions as well as engaging in drama! 

Pupils will read independently on a daily basis, and complete Accelerated Reader quizzes. Guided reading sessions will be linked to our book ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and will involve whole-class and group reading.

We will be focusing on developing fluency and comprehension skills. It is vital that  pupils read at home each day, and we ask parents to spend time reading with their child before signing their home reading diary.

Maths

Spring term

Over this term we will be focusing on multiplication and division, length and perimeter, fractions and decimals.

We will also be practicing our Times Tables on a daily basis. Year 4 are expected to be able to recall up to 12 x 12 so please help your child to learn their times tables.

Once a week the children will participate in Terrific Times Tables. This will help to recap and further practice a range of skills.

Autumn Term

Maths

This term we will be focusing on place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, length and perimeter, and  area We will also be practicing our Times Tables on a daily basis. Children in Year 4 are expected to be able to recall up to 12 x 12 so please help your child to learn their times tables. Once a week the children will participate in Terrific Times Tables. This will help to recap and further practice a range of skills.

Spring Term

Geography - Environmental Studies

The children will be learning about human and physical features in Geography this term. We will begin by learning how to use maps to locate continents, countries and cities around the world. Then we will learn how to use atlases as well as Google Earth to explore.  We will learn about the physical and human features of our environment and  about the problems that human activity can have on the natural world.

During the second half term we will be learning about rivers. We will begin by learning about different rivers and locate them on a map. Then we will learn about how water travels through a river and the different features.

Autumn Term

History - The Ancient Greeks

The children start off developing their chronology skills and create a timeline of key events related to themselves and then link this to where the Ancient Greek civilisation is placed on a historical timeline.

The children will learn about individual city states, Alexander the Great and the history of the Olympic Games. They will improve their researching skill and study who the Ancient Greeks worshipped, the creation of their God or Goddess and many more new things! 

Science 

Spring Term

States of Matter

This term we will be learning about States of Matter. The children will learn about solids, liquids and gases. They will carry out investigations to explore how particles behave in their different forms. We will begin by thinking about solids and investigate how particles are represented in this form, we will then repeat this for liquids and gases. 

Autumn Term

Sound and Electricity

In Autumn Term, the children will be studying sound. They will explore how our ears work, different pitch and volume and carryout many investigations to understand the medium of sound.

During the second half term the children will be studying Electricity. They will be learning about famous scientists, how to stay safe when using electricity as well as using equipment to complete a circuit with a lightbulb.   

PSHE

Spring Term 

Healthy Relationships

During Spring term, we will be exploring healthy relationships with others. We will think about the different relationships we have and how they are meaningful to us. We will think about how our actions affect others around us and how we can have a positive impact on each other.

Autumn Term 

Healthy Lifestyles

During Autumn term, we will be exploring healthy lifestyles, growing and how to keep safe. PSHE lessons will be discussion based and allow the children to share their own ideas about a range of topics. They will focus on developing a positive wellbeing and setting high aspirations for themselves. 

Spring Term 

Physical Education

Gymnastics/Swimming

Our focus in Year 4 during the Spring term, is to develop our gymnastic skills. The children will refine their balancing skills and learn a range of different movements and actions. They will combine these to create short sequences and perform them to each other.

We will continue with our weekly swimming lessons. The children will be taught by instructors in small groups, focusing on building their confidence in the water and teaching them swimming skills.

Autumn Term 

Ball Skills

Our focus in Year 4 during the Autumn term, is to develop our skills in a range of different ball based games such as: football, netball, basketball and hockey. The children will also begin their journey in becoming confident with orienteering and navigating themselves around the Brushwood site. 

Art & DT

Spring Term 

Art - Charcoal/Impressionism

During the first half term, the children will continue exploring with charcoal. They will think about perception and structures of buildings. They will work towards using charcoal to sketch a Greek building.

In the second half term, the children will be learning about impressionism. They will be study the works of different impressionist artists and find similarities between them. They will use these as inspiration to create their own watercolour pieces. 

Autumn Term 

D&T and Art - Greek Recipes/Charcoal

To explore our History topic in more detail the children will get the chance to research, cook and try a range of different Greek recipes. They will begin by researching what the Greek's ate and then discover recipes they can try to recreate. We hope to have a Greek feast at the end! 

During the second half term, the children will be exploring with charcoal. They will be learning about artists who used charcoal in their creative pieces, experiment mark making with charcoal and learn about the effects which can come from one medium. 

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Other learning throughout the year

Religious Education

Each term, the children explore a new question related to the topic that they are learning about.

These are the topics and questions that will be covered each term:

Autumn term - Natural World: Why does it matter how we treat the world?

Spring term - Sacred Texts: Why are sacred texts and Holy books so important?

Summer term - Worship: Is there any point to worship?

Computing

In Computing, throughout the year, the children will develop their Word processing, PowerPoint and Publisher skills. They will learn how to insert and resize images, copy and paste, screenshot and print in various formats. They will also learn how to use email. The children will continue to develop their coding skills, using the program 'CodeforLife'. As a class, we will also be continuing to discuss E-safety issues and the importance of keeping our personal information safe online.

How you can help your child at home

• Practise times tables (up to 12 x 12)
• Practise number sentences for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division (see method attached)
• Practise spelling patterns and Year 3-4 spelling list (see attachment from National Curriculum)
• Practise high frequency words (see attached)