Year 4 – 25.1.23

27th January 2023Amanda Feagan

Reading and writing

We have been creating our own magical creature poems based on the poem ‘Dragons’ Wood’ by Brian Moses. The children used a range of mythical creatures in their poems, with suggestions that they may really exist!

The children have been using the book ‘The Tunnel’ by Anthony Browne to understand how grammar features can help to make a good opening and build up to a story. The children are looking at the use personification, alliteration and similes to improve their openings and build up.

This half term, we have been reading the book ‘The Wolf’s Footprint’ by Susan Price. The children have been developing their inference skills, linking experiences to a text, making predictions about the text, and focusing on fluency skills to improve their reading.

Maths

Children have continued to work on multiplication and division. They have been understanding how to multiply efficiently, divide 2-digits and 3-digits by 1-digit and understand what happens when we have remainders.

Please continue to work with your child on learning their times-tables.

The children will be starting their new topic of area and measurement, they will be measuring the area of different shapes using squares and comparing the different areas of shapes.

 

Science

Children have been learning about the properties of solids, liquids and gas. They have looked at a range of objects to sort according to their state. To explore the properties of gas, the children completed an experiment with balloons, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.

Computing

Children have been exploring data in spreadsheets and making tables.

 

 

Thanks everyone for you continued support.

Mr Pateman, Mrs Feagan and Miss Shah

 

Merry Christmas from Year 4

15th December 2022Daniel Pateman

What a term!

Wow! What a term! From trips, to sculpting, to learning about climate change. Below are a few pictures of what we have been up to this term!

 

Thank you to the children for being so great this term and thank you to the parents for your support at home.

 

Happy holidays,

Mr Pateman, Mrs Feagan, Miss Shah & Miss Jenkins.

Year 4 18/11/22

18th November 2022Daniel Pateman

Maths

Year 4 have started learning about multiplication and division in maths. This is a really important unit in Year 4 as we have our times table check in June. Below you can see how hard the children are working! Please make sure that you are helping your child practice their times tables on a regular basis.

Computing

We have been continuing to learn how to code! This week, the children have been learning coding a lamp to become a genie once it has been clicked three times. See if your child can explain the code below…

Anti-bullying week

As part of the Reach Out! Campaign, Year 4 have been hard at work creating an anti-bullying village! The children worked in pairs to design a house that contained messages of positivity for anyone going through bullying. Take a look at some of our houses!

 

 

 

 

This half term we are reading…

 

Thanks everyone!

Mr Pateman, Mrs Feagan and Miss Shah.

Year 4 September / October

13th October 2022Daniel Pateman

Year 4!

The Year 4 teachers would like to say a big hello to everyone viewing our first blog of the year!

 

Elm, Maple and Willow class have all had a fantastic start to the year. We have been learning about Romans, sound, coding, poetry and much, much more! Here are just a few things that we are really proud of…

 

Music

The Year 4 classes have been really enjoying the music lessons this term. We have been learning the song ‘Mamma Mia’ by ABBA. We started by learning the lyrics and rhythms and then transitioned to using glockenspiels. Here’s a video of Katie and her very own rendition of Mamma Mia:

 

 

Black History Month

Year 4 have been learning about Marcus Rashford for Black History Month. We have learnt about how, as a child, he used to go hungry and his family could not afford food. During the COVID pandemic, he dedicated himself to helping children around the country by raising £20,000,000. We used laptops to create a piece of digital media all about Marcus. Here is the work from a child in Elm class:

 

 

Reading

Every morning, we start our day off with a reading lesson. We have already flown through one book and we are on to the next! Krindlekrax was our first book. It’s a story about a boy called Ruskin, who dreams of becoming a hero one day. In the spirit of Black History Month, our new text is a book called ‘Fly Eagle, Fly!’ (an African tale). All three classes have thoroughly enjoyed reading these two books. Why not ask your child what they can remember about the stories?

 

 

Reminders:

  • We have a school trip to Verulamium Museum in December (check your school payments).
  • Times tables are incredibly important in Year 4. Please ensure that your child is practicing these on a daily basis.
  • Reading at home is one of the most beneficial things that you can do for your child’s education. Remind them to hand in their orange reading record to their class teacher each morning.

 

All the best,

Mr Pateman, Mrs Feagan & Miss Shah.

 

 

Year 4 Summer 2

16th June 2022Amanda Feagan

We are pleased to welcome the children back after the half term break, for their final term in Year 4.

Reading and Writing

The children have begun to learn our new model text for our discussion piece of writing. We have been learning about the language to use when writing a discussion piece. We had an interesting debate on whether children were lazy or not. Most of the year group surprisingly agreed with the question ‘Are children lazy?’

Maths

We are completing our unit on money and have been looking at ordering, rounding and solving money problems using multiplication and division.

Science

We have started to learn about humans including animals in our science topic. We have enjoyed creating an  experiment to find out what effect different liquids have on our teeth using eggshells and coke, milk, orange juice and water. The children were surprised to see the effect of some of the liquids on the egg shells, and have vowed not to drink these liquids again!

ICT – This term we have continued to use our ICT sessions to allow the children the opportunity to learn the times tables that they are not confident with and prepare for the multiplication tables check.

RE – The children have made a start on understanding the Jewish community and important symbols and artefacts to the Jewish religion.

 

In the next three weeks:

English – We will be continuing our work on discussion and debate regarding fantasy creatures and will be learning how to structure and organise a written discussion text.

Maths – The children will be learning about time, looking at units of time and converting time from digital to analogue. Please practise telling the time from a clock face with your child at home. After this, the children will be learning about statistics.

Science – The children will begin to understand the digestive system and the process food takes through our body, and understanding food chains.

ICT – The children will be learning how to create their own animations, using Purple Mash.

RE – The children will learn about Passover and the Ten Commandments and how this relates to how the Jewish community live.

Year 4 end of summer 1

19th May 2022Almas Anwar

Reading and Writing

The children wrote their own versions of a fantasy finding story. We have now started the  whole school writing unit based on Little Red Riding Hood.

Maths

We are completing our unit on decimals and have been looking at ordering, comparing and rounding decimals to the nearest whole number.

Science

We have enjoyed exploring our school grounds, looking at the different living organisms that live there.  We took pictures of the different organisms we found and created a classification key to identify these.

ICT – This term we have used our ICT sessions to get children familiarised with the multiplication test format and allow them the opportunity to learn the times tables that they are not confident with.  Please continue to encourage your child to practise these at home.  We appreciate your support with this.

RE – The children have enjoyed creating their own festival aswell as making Wesak lanterns this term.

 

In the next three weeks:

English – We will be looking at discussion and debate regarding fantasy creatures. This will link to the Spiderwick Chronicles books that we continue to read to the class. When  choosing reading books this half term, please encourage your child to choose with a fantasy setting to support them with their ideas for this unit.

 

The Field Guide (SPIDERWICK CHRONICLE Book 1) eBook : DiTerlizzi, Tony, Black, Holly: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Maths –  The next unit of work is money, which will allow children to practise what they have been learning in the current decimals unit.

Science – We will be starting our unit on Humans including animals.  We will be looking at teeth, digestion and food chains.

Topic – On Monday 23rd we will be having an exciting Anglo Saxon day as a ‘WOW’ start to our next history topic.

ICT – We will continue to use these sessions to practise times tables ahead of the times tables test but during the next half term the children will be excited to learn how top create their own animations using the computers.

RE – The children will be looking at Judaism, with particular attention to the festival of Passover and understanding the importance of festivals and family life to Jewish.

 

Summer 1

27th April 2022Almas Anwar

Reading and Writing

We have started to learn our model text for our fantasy finding tale and have been doing some work on making our writing more engaging for our reader.

Maths

We will continue to look at decimals for the first few weeks of this term which will then lead nicely onto a unit on money.  We will continue to practise our times tables in readiness for the multiplication test in the beginning of June.  Please encourage your child to learn those times tables that they are unsure of.

Science

For the first three days of term we zapped through the unit of Electricity, which the children thoroughly enjoyed.  Using the components to build their own circuits discovering that it will light a bulb, make a buzzer ‘scream’ and cause a motor to turn switched on their interest!

ICT – This term we have used our first session using the timestables.co.uk website to allow children to practise having a go using the test format.

RE – We have begun our topic on festivals and have been looking at which festivals are religious, which are non religious and those which have elements of both.

 

In the next three weeks:

English – The children will continue to look at a fantasy finding tale, leading to them writing their own.  Ideas for their story could come from one of the story books we are currently reading in class – The Spiderwick Chronicles.

 

The Field Guide (SPIDERWICK CHRONICLE Book 1) eBook : DiTerlizzi, Tony, Black, Holly: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Maths –  We will be continuing work on decimals looking at hundredths, dividing by 10 and 100, rounding, comparing and ordering decimals.

Science – We will be starting our unit on Living Things and their Habitats.  This unit looks at the different ways in which living things can be grouped, using classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment.  As well as this we will be looking at how environments can change and the impact of this on living things.

ICT – This term we will continue to use these sessions to practise times tables ahead of the times tables test.

RE – Using their knowledge of festivals children will be designing their own festivals.

End of Spring Term

25th March 2022Almas Anwar

Reading and Writing

We have been looking at a diary recount linked to the book The Tunnel by Anthony Browne.  We have looked at the features of a diary and identified the features in some children’s books (Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney and Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell.

We have done some reading comprehension assessments this week based on a Greek Myth and an Information Text on Kites.

Maths

In maths, we have been looking at fractions, equivalence, simplifying, and adding and subtracting.  We continue to practise the four operations and applying these to problem solving.

Science

In science we have looked at the different states of matter and the particle arrangements of these.  The children had lots of fun finding the weight of carbon dioxide in a fizzy drink and investigating the melting point of chocolate and amazingly they were not tempted to eat any but that’s only because the teachers ate it all!

 

Easter Production

We have been extremely busy learning our words and songs for the performance and the children and staff are very much looking forward to sharing the finished article with you next week.  There are still plenty of tickets available for the Tuesday am performance and limited numbers available for Wednesday’s pm performance.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

 

At the beginning of the next term:

English – We will be developing setting and character within a story focused on a fantasy character.  The children will then be writing their own fantasy tale at the end of this unit.

Reading – Each class will be looking at a new book this term, our three texts are Krindlekrax, One Plastic Bag, UG, Boy Genius of the Stone Age. Using these texts, we will teach comprehension skills such as prediction, inference, retrieval and vocabulary in context.

Maths – We will be looking at decimals for the first few weeks which links well to the fractions work we are currently completing.

Science – After half term we will be looking at Electricity in the first week back, where children will be looking at which appliances use electricity, renewable and non-renewable energy sources and creating circuits.

ICT – This term we will be using some sessions to practise times tables ahead of the times tables test later this term.

RE – We will be starting our new topic on festivals.

 

Children showing the particle arrangement in different states of matter

Fraction work

Wow, we believe we may have had a visit from some aliens.  The children were very excited to recount their thoughts and ideas on what may have gone on.

Spring 2 (1)

2nd March 2022Almas Anwar

Reading and Writing

At the beginning of this half term in writing we did some work on grammar expectations for year 4.  This included using inverted commas, plural and possessive S and paragraphing.

We have begun a new writing unit based on a diary recount linked to the book The Tunnel by Anthony Browne.  We will be creating our own diary recounts, writing as a character from the book.

In our reading sessions we continue to focus on reading comprehension skills using our three texts (Krindlekrax, One Plastic Bag, UG, Boy Genius of the Stone Age). In addition to this we have our own class reader that we are reading throughout the week.

Maths

In maths, we have finished off our unit on area and have begun a new unit on fractions.  This unit includes, equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions, improper fractions and mixed numbers (fractions greater than 1).

Topic

We have completed our topic on rivers and mountains having looked at significant world rivers and the features of rivers.

RE – In RE the children have been continuing to study Sikhism, they have been looking at what it means to be a Sikh.  Particularly how they work in the community and serve food to those who need it, regardless of their religion.

 

Over the next few weeks we will focus on :

English – Writing a diary account of a character, from a story we have already looked at.

Maths – We will be completing our first unit on fractions.

Science – We will be starting a new science unit on States of Matter looking at properties of solids, liquids and gases.  The children will be able to learn through practical activities in class, which they are very excited about.

ICT – This term we will be using some sessions to practise times tables ahead of the times tables test next term.  We may also give the children the opportunity to complete Reading Eggs and Mathletics tasks.

RE – We will be completing our unit on Sikhism focusing on the 5 Ks and their leadership.

 

Easter Production

In the final week of term week beginning 28th March, year 3 and 4 will be performing to parents and carers.  All children will be participating through acting and singing.  We will be busy learning our songs, script and making props.

The performances will be as follows:

Tuesday 29th March – 9:30 am

Wednesday 30th March – 2 pm

Unfortunately, there will be no evening performance due to parents’ evenings being held this week.  Information about tickets to this extravaganza will be sent out shortly.  we look forward to seeing you on those dates.

 

Thank you to those children who brought in work for the optional homework on the water cycle.  Here are some pictures of the fabulous work our wonderful year 4 pupils have done.

Below is an example of the ‘Role on the Wall’ activity, ask your children to tell you more about this.  Also here is part of our text map for our diary recount.  See if your child can read it to you.

Year 4 Spring 1 Blog (2)

9th February 2022Almas Anwar

 

Reading and Writing

We have been working on creating our own opening and build up to an adventure story.  Within this unit we have been looking at features of writing such as; alliteration, similes and personification.

We are continuing our daily reading sessions to improve their comprehension and discussion skills.

Maths

In maths, we have been looking at division. Children have been learning how to divide a 2 digit and 3 digit number by a 1 digit number, including remainders.

Your children will be bringing home with them a pamphlet for parents explaining more about the times tables check in June 2022.  Children need to continue working on learning times tables at home.  Below there are some very useful websites to help them with their learning and understanding.

www.timestables.co.uk – This website shows the exact format of the test children will complete

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/times-table-collection/z4vv6v4

Mathletics

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

Topic

We have been continuing with our topic on rivers and mountains and have been looking at mountain environments in terms of climate and safety.  We have also done some art work focusing on mountain landscapes.

RE – In RE the children have been continuing to study Sikhism, they have looked at the holy book of the Sikh religion and also found out about where Sikhs worship.

 

At the beginning of the next half term the sequence of learning will focus on:

English – Writing a diary account of a character, from a story we have already looked at.

Maths – We are completing a unit on area before moving onto a unit on fractions including; tenths and hundredths, equivalent fractions and fractions greater than 1.

Topic – We will be finishing off our rivers and mountains topic by looking at the features of a river and an optional homework task will be set on The Water Cycle.

ICT – We will be continuing to look at spreadsheets.

RE – We will continue to study Sikhism, finding out about the values a Sikh will live by.