Year 4
Hello everyone and welcome to Year 4!
Our amazing team starts with the 32 fantastic children we have, Mr. Card and Miss Dyke.
It is a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful team and we are all looking forward to the year ahead!
P.E. this term in Year 4 will be on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon so please ensure that the children have the correct kit in school on these days. Kit can be brought into school on a Monday and then taken home on Friday to be washed over the weekend.
The expectations remain the same for the children and their reading – four times per week to earn stars in their reading diaries – and for their reading diaries to be brought into school each day.
Please ensure that reading diaries are signed when the children read to you at home.
There is a huge push in Year 4 for the children know and recall their times tables fluently, so please ensure that you are assisting with this at home. Times Table Rockstars is an ideal tool for this.
We also promote sustainability and would appreciate it if the children could bring reusable water bottles into school with them.
Our topic for this half term is “The Great Outdoors” and within this, we will be exploring many different aspects of the World. We will be looking at physical and human geography and what different elements affect the World that we live in, such as disasters and pollution.
Here’s to a great year in Year 4!
Autumn 1
This half term we have had a very busy return to school in Y4. We have been studying ‘The Great Outdoors’ and as part of this, the book ‘The Mountain of Adventure’ by Enid Blyton.
In English, we have used a wide range of techniques to create our own short narrative based on ‘The Mountain of Adventure’.
We used our DEAL sessions on a Friday to discuss the importance of having a ‘growth mindset’ and how this can help us in our journey through life. In Science, we discussed different states of matter, learned all about how states of matter can change, and we even got to make our own volcanoes using vinegar, bicarbonate soda, water, washing up liquid and food colouring. The results were explosive!!!
During our Topic lessons, we looked at the water cycle and how rainfall is caused. We also looked at different volcanoes and mountains, creating fact-files about each after researching in depth about them.
In our Computing lessons, we focused on e-safety and the importance of never revealing our personal details online! We took part in an online assembly to help us even more with this.
Autumn 2
We have had another very busy half-term here in Year 4!
In English, we have been reading ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ and from this, we retold the story in our own, personal way. We also looked at a range of poems later in the half term and discussed what makes a really great poem, thinking about features such as figurative language and rhyming couplets. To finish off the half-term, we entered a competition where we had to write our very own mini-saga in less than 100 words, with the chance of getting our work published. Fingers crossed!
In Science, we have been learning about electricity. We began by discussing the dangers of electricity and how circuits work. We then got ‘hands on’ by creating circuits of our own!
Our Topic lessons have been focused on extreme weather. We researched natural disasters and found out some amazing facts about disasters that have happened across the world. In computing, we created our own Avatar and learnt all about how emails work as a form of communication – all the while remembering our e-safety rules. We also used the iPads to make our own Artwork in the style of an artist we have been learning about – Kandinsky.
Finally, we created a fantastic Christmas market stall where we sold our own handmade Chocolate Reindeers and Sweet Santa’s. These were so much fun to make and they were absolutely delicious!
Spring 1
During this ‘very different’ half term in Year 4, we have been learning all about The Vikings and The Tudors.
We conducted plenty of research and learned how The Vikings raided, what they ate, what they wore, how they lived and we even got to create our very own Viking longboat!
We also researched how The Tudors lived all those years ago! Finding out about their clothing, their way of life and the difference between being a rich person in Tudor times and a pauper in Tudor times. We learned all about Henry VIII and what happened to all 6 (SIX!) of his wives!
Our English lessons have also been focused around The Vikings and we wrote an explanation text all about them. To end the half-term, we put ourselves in the shoes of a Viking and managed to write our very own diary as a Viking going to raid!
In Science, our focus has been on sound. We learned how the ear works when we hear a sound, how sound travels and we also labelled each tiny part of the ear. Did you know that our ears have a bone that is the smallest in the human body?
We can’t wait to see what the next half-term has in store for us!
Spring 2
As we welcomed the children back into Year 4 this half-term, our focus has been on World War Two.
In English, we have read two wonderful texts – the story of Anne Frank, and Rose Blanche. We used this inspiration to write our own letter from the perspective of a child evacuee during World War Two.
Our Maths focus this half term has been to learn all about fractions and decimals. We found fractions of shapes, fractions of amounts, we learned how to convert fractions to decimals and vice versa. We then challenged ourselves by using tenths and hundredths to solve problems!
In our Topic lessons, we have been researching World War Two. We learned about the events that led up to the war by creating a timeline, and we created our very own version of ‘The Blitz’, using wax crayons and a silhouette!
Our Science lessons have been focused around living things and their habitats, so we looked at where different animals live, what they need to survive, and finally, we created a classification key to decide what group an animal belongs to –such as amphibians and mammals!
We have kept very busy this half-term in Year 4 and I’m sure Summer will be just as fun!
Summer 1
Summer 1 saw Year 4 continue our wonderful World War Two topic. We started a new class text – Goodnight Mr. Tom and have enjoyed writing our own amazing narratives based around this, using some superb figurative language to really engage the reader!
In Science, we explored the human body; looking at the digestive system and our teeth. This included a fascinating experiment, finding out the impact that different liquids have on our teeth and their enamel. We know how to care for our body better, what foods are good for us, and how to look after our teeth to avoid tooth decay.
We also researched about Dr. Edward Jenner – a true pioneer in the world of medicine, who helped eradicate the outbreak of Smallpox! We re-enacted a scene in which he discovered the cure for Smallpox.
We used our D and T lessons to create some beautiful felt flowers for our corridor display!
In PE, we have been treated to some brilliant Cricket lessons from ‘Chance to Shine’ – thank you to Richard and Alice for these! We learnt the basic rules of Cricket, before learning the overarm bowling technique, followed by the drive and pull shots. Thanks to some fantastic shots, there are now a number of balls on the roof…
We cannot wait to see what Summer 2 has in store for us!
Summer 2
We have had a very busy end to our Summer term in Year 4! To begin the half-term, we began by reading the fantastic story of ‘The Lorax’ by Dr. Seuss. This linked really well with our topic of ‘Sustainability’ where we looked at how we can help the environment even more than we already do at Forsbrook!
Within our English lessons, we used our persuasive writing techniques to write a letter aiming to discourage people from over fishing, deforestation and littering. We then looked at some different poems and their features.
In Maths, we have looked at shape, symmetry and position/direction using co-ordinates on a grid. The children wowed us with their knowledge of shapes and some wonderful vocabulary!
Our topic and Science lessons have been based around ‘Sustainability’ where we have discussed different forms of pollution, what can and can’t be recycled and we looked at the Air Quality of some of the major cities across the world!
We tried to get outside as much as possible to make the most of the lovely weather. Sports Day was a highlight for us all in Year 4 – we had a fantastic day cheering everyone on!
With football yet to come home, the children have still had a super time cheering on the three lions; getting into the spirit with plenty of songs and discussions.
The children have made us so proud this year with their resilience and outlook on everything. They have faced some tough challenges but their determination has shone through yet again, well done Year 4!
Have a lovely Summer everyone!
