Year 4

Year 4 Latest News

21.03.25

We’ve had a fantastic week in Year 4, with lots of exploration, creativity and more.

In reading, we discussed a new Indian tale (Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman), working on our interpretations of the characters’ feelings. In writing, we worked on a piece of guided writing about why giants are extinct (ready to write our own explanations). Students presented their arguments in a fun and imaginative way. In maths, we finished our exploration of fractions by subtracting them from mixed numbers. The students enjoyed using visual models and real-world examples to strengthen their understanding.

In science, we investigated melting and boiling points by conducting hands-on experiments with ice and chocolate. Students observed the changes over time and discussed why different materials melt and boil at different temperatures. In geography, year 4 took part in an exciting Indian city hunt around the playground! Students used maps to locate major cities in India and learned interesting facts about each one. As part of our RE curriculum, we visited the New Life Church to learn more about different places of worship and their significance in the community. Continuing with our Indian theme, students worked on intricate Indian designs, using patterns and colours inspired by traditional artwork. Finally, we had final rehearsals for our music assemblies next week! Starlings will perform on Wednesday at 9:45 AM, and Sparrows at 10:45 AM. We are excited to showcase the children’s hard work! We look forward to seeing parents and carers then.

 

14.03.25

Year 4 have worked really hard this week and have been focusing on presenting their work neatly.

In Writing lessons, they have been continuing to look at the explanation text 'Why dragons are extinct' and have started to innovate and change some aspects of the text. 

In Maths, they have continued their work on fractions and have been working really hard to put fractions into their simplest form. 

The children loved their science learning this week and enjoyed using the thermometers to measure the temperature of different areas around the school. 

In Geography, the children learnt about some of India’s famous rivers and how Mumbai was affected by severe floods in 2005. They then had a go at writing a diary entry, imagining that they were living in Mumbai at that time. Starlings class were lucky enough to have a visit from Mrs Jana, who shared with the children her experiences of living in India. The children loved learning more about India and were eager to ask lots of questions linked to their topic.

Finally, the children are continuing to prepare for their brass band performance and can’t wait to show their adults what they have achieved. 

07.03.25

Year 4 have taken part in several practical activities this week. We started the week by exploring traditional Indian dance with a Bhangra Dance Workshop from Giant Journeys. The children enjoyed learning the traditional steps, movements and hand positions and were very excited to use silk scarves as props. To continue our geography topic work on India, we explored Indian mountains, plateaus, plains and the Thar desert by building a relief map out of playdough. In science, we carried out a liquid flow test to find out whether all liquids behave the same when tested. The children worked hard to make this a fair test, by deciding which equipment to use and how to keep all of the elements of the experiment the same.

In writing, we have built our ‘Explanation Writing Toolkit’ by practising lots of tools that appear in our model text this term (Why Dragons are Extinct). In Maths, we have been using Fraction strips to simplify and add fractions. In Music, we have practiced playing our brass instruments, ready for a performance at the end of term (Keep the morning of 26^th March free, details to follow). We ended the week with more exciting activities for World Book Day, designing and illustrating our own book characters, before writing speeches for an ‘Ultimate Character Champion Battle’.

We look forward to starting interventions again next week and several children have been invited to take part in a lunchtime multiplication club to support their practice for the Multiplication Tables Check in June. Please make sure you check the letters sent out this week for the timings of your child’s interventions. If they haven’t received a letter, they will be accessing support within the school day.

28.02.25

Year 4 had an exciting start to the term, with a writing assembly to explore a non-fiction text about dragons. Everyone joined in by acting out our new explanation text and there was lots of enthusiasm from the children. In maths this week, we have started to learn about fractions and the children discovered equivalent fractions by folding strips of paper to compare. In science, we started our new unit on the states of matter by identifying and classifying solids, liquids and gases. In our topic work, we asked lots of questions about India and then sought to answer them using an atlas and information from books. We have explored Indian art techniques and continued to practice playing our brass instruments together in music. Finally, we finished off our Spanish unit from last term with a quiz. 

14.02.25

ear 4 have worked hard this week on finishing their ‘defeat the monster’ stories. In Starlings class, we had a monstrous story battle, comparing the model text about a dragon, to our shared write on a basilisk and thinking about the tools we needed to include in our own writing. The children have learnt to carefully edit their work too. In Maths, the children have taken great care in producing their own bar and line graphs, and learning to read information from tables, pictograms and graphs. In addition this week, we have wrapped up our Industrial Revolution topic with a quiz and by reviewing our class reading text (The Railway Children). We watched a modern adaptation of the classic produced by CBBC, and compared this to the 1906 story. There have been some fantastic models of trains completed for homework and we were able to share these with the class. We finished our exciting electricity topic by creating out own electrical switches in Science and have discussed electrical safety in PSHE.

We hope that you have a lovely half term. When we return, we will be learning about:

Writing explanation texts in English

Fractions in Maths

‘Incredible India’ in Geography, Reading and Art

States of matter in Science

Rights and Responsibilities in PSHE

Spanish Café Culture in Languages

Christianity in RE

And tactical awareness and hand-eye coordination in PE.

07.02.25

This week has been assessment week, and we would like to say how proud we are of your children for showing such amazing resilience towards the assessments. 

.

Within English, we have planned our own defeat the monster stories and will be writing these very soon, making sure that we edit our own writing to improve it further . The children cannot wait to share these with you. You will be able to share these at Parents Evenings next week. This week in science, we have looked at changes in a circuit by adding bulbs and batteries to see which is better. We discovered that if we add batteries, the bulb gets brighter. Whereas, if we kept adding bulbs, they get dimmer.

In History, we looked at and answered questions about how the development of the London underground changed the lives of Londoners. 

31.01.25

Year 4 have written some fantastic stories this week in our shared writing lessons. We have had some very creative ‘defeat the monster’ stories. The children’s presentation and handwriting are improving, but we are encouraging them to use their best handwriting all the time. Starlings class used their topic knowledge to place their characters in an Industrial Revolution setting and write a story with a historic twist. In maths, we have worked on word problems with several stages and have looked at how to simplify these and work through the steps. In history, we used primary sources (maps and photographs) to learn about the development of rail travel in Britain. The children really enjoyed using transparent overlays on maps to see the different transport routes around the country. In science, we built an experiment to test which materials are conductors and insulators in an electrical circuit. In PSHE, we used an online tool (bCyberwise | Picture wise) to discuss internet safety when sharing images or personal details. The children were great at identifying anything that was unsafe. Finally, Year 4 took part in a house archery competition on Thursday afternoon in PE and practiced their Spanish, learning key questions for greeting people.

17.01.25

What an amazing week we have had! During English, we have looked at showing (not telling) an emotion and have created some amazing short burst writing about dragons and monsters. In maths, we have started to learn how to divide two-digit numbers using maths equipment to help us find the answer as well as the short method.  In science, we have explored how a simple circuit works. In history, we researched inventions that were created during the industrial revolution and found some information about the inventors and how our country was transformed. In Spanish, we have practised full conversations with at least 3 questions.

10.01.25

Year 4 have started their new topic on the Industrial Revolution by exploring mystery items, including a Victorian Loom Bobbin and a piece of coal. They explored 150 years of new ideas by ordering all the main inventions on a timeline from the mid 1700s to 1900. We have also started reading The Railway Children, which was written in 1906 and we talked about what it would have been like to live at that time. In science and design technology, the children have started to learn about light and electricity, and are designing their own torches. The children were excited to meet a new member of the class (Smok the Dragon puppet) as we have been learning a ‘defeat the monster’ story based on famous Polish folklore (The Cobbler of Krakow). In maths we have started using short multiplication with 3-digit numbers. In Spanish, we learnt how to pronounce all the major cities in Spain and have learnt how to say where we live. Please talk to the children about their new topics and stories this term so they consolidate what they have learnt. 

A reminder that PE Days are now on Thursdays and Fridays. 

20.12.24

Wow! What a week to finish the term! To round off our Extreme Earth topic, we had a visit from Myrle Roach (a local writer who moved from Monserrat to England after the volcanic eruption on the Island) to talk to the children about the affect of the volcano on the lives of the people living there. We also explored the affect of climate change on polar bears living in the Artic in an active PE lesson and took part in a virtual workshop from the Natural History Museum, London.

To conclude our reading of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe we watched the film version of the book and discussed whether our predictions about the text had been true. We have also focussed on some key writing skills this week, learning how to describe dragons before we move onto our next story about defeating a monster in our writing next term.

We appreciate that the December holiday is extremely busy but would like to ask that the children continue to read at home when possible and practice their times tables.

Wishing you a good rest and very enjoyable festive period.

Miss Brown and Miss Skelton

13.12.24

We are incredibly proud of the children for the hard work and practice they have put into their Christmas assemblies this week. We had a lovely day making cards and putting together a shared guide of our class novel too (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). We also had a great Religious Education Day, learning about Buddhism and the ways in which Buddhists around the world live. The children took part in a challenge, learning how to meditate and clear their minds.

In our other lessons, we have finished writing our newspaper articles and have been working in groups to prepare posters, showing how people can help their local environment. In Maths, we have consolidated our knowledge of multiplication and division by looking at fact families. Finally, we have finished off our Orienteering unit in PE by using the markers installed around the school grounds and focussing on our team working and map reading skills.

06.12.24

This week, we have had an in-depth look at the causes of climate change and how we can help look after the environment. In geography, we have made a tectonic plate jigsaw puzzle to help us identify tectonic plates from around the world (and found out that some countries are on more than one). 

The children have been excited to write Newspaper recounts, in which they will be reporting on a portal that a someone has been through. The children have great imaginations! In maths, we are learning at our times tables and would love the support at home with these. There will be a letter home about this on Friday.

Don’t forget, we are learning songs about Christmas traditions around the world to perform to the parents on 12th December. You will have been sent the details for these assemblies so we look forward to seeing you there!

29.11.24

Year 4 have been working hard in Maths, learning to divide by 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12. In writing, we have been working on sentence structure and writing poems to explore a mystery setting in detail (using relative clauses). The children have been creating volcanic effects in Art, exploring oil pastels. In PE, we have been practicing our orienteering skills and in Science, we have been learning about Climate Change (which we discussed in light of the flooding this week). We also had a great workshop with the Mental Health support team this week on problem solving.

22.11.24

Year 4 have worked really hard this week! In our writing lessons, we have focussed on our sentence and paragraph structure. The children have enjoyed exploring Homophones (two words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings). In maths, we have started to divide by sharing objects into groups and in science, we looked at animal adaptations such as camouflage. We started drawing volcanoes in Art by concentrating on pencil techniques to blend colours.

Continuing our Extreme Earth topic, the highlight of the week was watching a live demonstration of an exploding volcano using household items. If you want to recreate this at home, go to the Natural History Museum website: www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-to-make-a-volcano.html

15.11.24

Year 4 have had a very exciting first two weeks of term. Last week, we started our new Geography topic, Extreme Earth, by making a Lego cross-section of the layers that make up the Earth. In Science, we have discussed the positive and negative factors of changing the local environment and will be looking at the impact we have on our Environment.

This week, we marked the school’s 150th birthday by learning about what school life would have been like in 1874, writing letters to children in the future to tell them all about it. We also made board games for wet play and celebrated by singing to our parents.

In writing, we have been acting out our new text, Magical Machine Captures Child and learning how to introduce a newspaper article. In Geography, we have used biscuits and icing to understand plate tectonics (the movement of the Earth’s crust) and look at how volcanoes are formed. In Maths, we have learnt to use arrays (grids) and number lines to support our understanding of the 6, 7 and 9 times tables. In reading, we have been predicting what will happen in our class reading text, The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman.

25.10.24

We have had an action-packed week in Year 4, celebrating Black History Month with a special lesson on Mary Seacole (1805-1881). We learnt about the ingredients used in some of the remedies she used on the battlefield to cure soldiers during the Crimean War. The children were excited to touch, smell and explore the herbal ingredients.

We were very lucky to be visited by the Life Education tent, for a workshop called It’s great to be me.

To finish our Science unit on sound, we made straw pan pipes to explore pitch and summed up everything we have learnt this term about sound waves.

Everyone has written a poem on magical rooms, using imagery, metaphors and personification. There have been some very imaginative ideas.

In Maths, we have been working through two step problems including addition and subtraction. The children have used bar models to support their working out.

Finally, we have had a focus on British Values in Reading, with some good discussions about democracy in a book called ‘The Election’.

When we return to school after half term, we will be learning to:

• Multiply and divide by 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 in Maths.
• Write newspaper articles using imaginary events in English.
• Understand extreme weather, natural disasters and climate change in Geography, Science, Art and Spanish in our Extreme Earth topic.

We will be reading The Wolves in The Walls by Neil Gaiman and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.

We hope you have a fantastic half term break.

11.10.24

The children have done incredibly well at focusing on their assessments this week! This information will help us to plan the specific learning that the children need to cover for the rest of the year. All of the children have had the opportunity to express themselves in English, either in their writing as they prepare their own ‘warning’ tales or by acting out parts of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’.

We have learnt new ways of using Maths equipment to demonstrate column subtraction. In History, we have learned about Anglo Saxon language and words that still exist today. We have been testing what we know about sound in Science, by experimenting with the distance that sound can travel along a string telephone. We have also learnt a new song to help us remember the months of the year in Spanish.

Highlights of the week have been learning to work as a team when playing seated volleyball indoors for PE as it was raining heavily outside and starting a new music unit on Viking Dragonships!

04.10.24

This week in year four we learned that sound waves can travel through different materials. In English we have written our shared write (image shown), the children came up with some amazing ideas. Within history, we now know what Saxons and Vikings wore. Children cannot wait to build their Viking dragonships. Some amazing homework has come into the classroom this week, which was lovely to see, and the teachers are very impressed! We are now getting into 'How to Train your Dragon' within reading and have looked at the vocabulary that the author has used. Lastly, in maths we have been working really hard this week on addition and have now just started to get to grips with subtraction.

27.09.24

Year 4 have had an exciting week with lots of creative writing exploring setting descriptions and analysing our ‘Warning’ tale. In maths, we have moved on to explore addition and in science, we have built models of the human ear drum to explore what happens when we hear sound. We have also created our own ‘dot’ artwork to add to a whole school art project. We have started our new class novel, How to train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, and have been analysing some interesting Viking characters. In history, we are continuing our research into Anglo Saxons, finding out how they lived and what they wore. In music, we have finished our work on the famous song Mamma Mia and we are now moving on to explore rainforest sounds. A great week with lots of active learning!

20.09.24

This week in Year 4, we have been working hard on correct use of speech, we even had a special punctuation sandwich to help us. In maths, we are looking at rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. Within reading, we have looked at both Vicious Vikings and Savage Saxons as a comparison. Within science, we now know that sound travels in waves to our ear drum and can explain how this works. In history, we researched about how the Saxons lived and what it was like at that time. Homework is now up on Seesaw and the teachers cannot wait to see what the children come up with!

13.09.24

Year 4 have had a great start to the year, with some fantastic collaborative team building activities, led by the PE team, to get everyone working together well. We have started our termly topic on Anglo Saxons and Vikings and in History and Reading, we have found out about people who invaded Britain.

In Design Technology, we are exploring how these settlers arrived by designing our own Viking Longships. In English this term, we are learning to write a warning tale and we started this work by making predictions about a group of objects found by the canal. We will be posting our performance of the story shortly on Seesaw! In Maths, we have been exploring 4-digit numbers, including using a giant dice to make, order and compare numbers. Finally in Science, we have been busy observing how different objects make sound, and learning about how a sound wave reaches the ear.

Class Information