Year 4
Welcome to Year 4. The adults in this class are:
Monday- Tuesday - Mr Arnold and Mrs Bragg
Wednesday-Friday - Mrs Noble and Mrs Bragg
Please remember:
Wednesday - Swimming - Come to school in kit
Friday - PE - Come to school in kit
Responsibilities at home:
Read 3 times per week and sign Reading Record
TTRockstars 3 times per week
Homework:
Set Monday to be completed by following Monday - Spelling shed for Year 4 spelling list or SPAG sheet/online homework
Set Friday to be completed by following Friday - Maths (Deepening Understanding or MyMaths)
Welcome message and things to remember
Summer 2 Topic
Island Life
The Big Idea
Geographers and explorers estimate that there are over one million islands on earth! In this unit, we will be learning about the islands of the world, how they are formed, what life is like on some islands, as well as some of the threats to people’s lives and their unique cultures. We will explore how islands range hugely in shape, size, location and climate but that they are all surrounded by water. We will need to be geographers and cartographers as well as artists and musicians. As almost one in ten people on earth live on an island, let’s explore what some islands are like across the globe! Can you imagine what life would be like to live on a small island?
Geography Task
We learned about the water cycle when we were looking at rivers and made our own diagrams.
Geography Task
We learned about maps and made our own maps of the classroom from a bird's eye view. It was very tricky!
Sports Day
We all tried our very best in all the different races and had lots of fun taking part.
Music Task
In music, we have been listening to rock and roll. We have begun to learn a walking bass line for Rock Around the Clock using glockenspiels.
PE task
In PE this half term our sport is Athletics. We have been learning how to sprint and how to race in a relay. We have been practicing our baton changes.
A Visit from D-side
Today we had a visit from D-side who came to talk to us about Alcohol. We learned about what alcohol is, the law around alcohol, how to drink responsibly and the effects of alcohol on the body. We persuaded Dave not to drink alcohol after thinking of some sensible reasons. We tried out some glasses which made us feel as if we had been drinking alcohol so we could see how it affects your ability to do normal things properly, including giving a high five!
Summer 1 Topic
The Nature of Life
The Big Idea
From frogspawn to frogs, from caterpillars to butterflies and from seeds to plants, all living things grow and change, feed and reproduce. But how does life begin for living things and what effect does the environment have?
Entry Point
For the start of our topic we were lucky enough to visit Lineham Farm for an amazing residential where we were able to spend lots of time in nature. We met lots of different animals and learned about the plants and animals which live around the farm.
We also took part in lots of new activities such as climbing, archery, cycling and low ropes. We faced our fears and challenged ourselves while supporting and encouraging each other as part of a team. We had the best week! Take a look at some of the fun we had!
Spring 2 Topic
Scavengers and Settlers
The Big Idea
Humans are special. Unlike other animals, we can adapt and learn new skills in order to survive, which is exactly what our ancestors did in the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages.
Entry Point
We thought about how our ancestors may have found food and compared that to how we get our food. We went outside to 'scavenge' for food (pictures on cards) in our playground. We found a variety of different foods including nuts, berries, leaves and wild animals.
We then built ourselves a fire and talked about the importance of fire in the Stone Age.
Knowledge Harvest
We discussed what a family tree is and how it would lead us back, eventually, to our very first ancestors. We drew pictures of what we thought they would have looked like and thought about questions we would like to have asked them. Take a look at some of our ideas!
Our Class Novel
This half term we're reading The Wild Way Home by Sophie Kirtley.
When Charlie's baby brother, Dara, is born with a problem in his heart, Charlie RUNS. Runs to the forest, with it's sheltering leaves that shut out trouble and hurt and fear. But in the forest is a boy, lying in the river, breathing, though only just. And when Charlie goes for help, the forest has changed. Now its's something vast and strange. Something ancient . Something WILD. And Charlie is a long, long way from home.
World Book Day
We were visited by The Book Man and had fun completing a number of different drama tasks about some popular books.
Music Task
Today we started a unit of music about body and tuned percussion. We listened to a piece of music called 'Rain Sound', listening carefully to identify the texture and structure of the music. Then in groups we worked on recreating the rain sounds with our body percussion. Finally, we put all our work together. Listen to our final piece in the video below- can you hear the sound of the rain?
History Task
Today we used our investigation skills to find out about the life of an ancient man, Otzi, who's body was found in the Alps. We looked at the weapons, tools and clothes found with his body to work out what skills he had. We used the things we found out to write about his final days.
PE
In PE this half term we are learning to improve our skills in basketball. Here we are practising our dribbling and ball handling skills.
Music
We are continuing our learning about body percussion. We made up some patterns with our partner and tried to stay in time.
History task
Spring 1 Topic
They Made a Difference
The Big Idea
Some people have made such a big difference in the world that their influence on our lives can still be felt today. From scientists to sports people, from politicians to musicians, from all backgrounds, countries, races and religions there are people whose ideas or achievements have singled them out from others.
Together, we are going to learn about significant people who have touched our lives in some way.
Our class book this half term is Race to the Frozen North by Catherine Johnson. We are enjoying finding out about the life of Matthew Henson, the first man to reach the North Pole.
When orphan Matthew Henson ran away from his violent stepmother to find a new life in the big city, no one could have predicted that he would become the first man to reach the North Pole. A little luck and a lot of hard work led to a life of adventure on the high seas and in the Arctic, but back home in America his achievements were ignored due to the colour of his skin.
In Art, we have been looking at the work of artists who have created successful and interesting portraits.
We studied the work of Kimmy Cantrell and were inspired by his wonderful faces to create our own.
Creating our faces
Our Amazing Faces!
Some of our designs and the finished product.
Exit Point
To finish our topic, we all dressed as someone we thought was an inspirational person. Then we made a zine (mini book) about them. Can you spot who we were?
Autumn 2 Topic
Bright Sparks
The Big Idea
Electricity is an energy that flows along wires in our homes, schools, offices, towns and cities to power lights, televisions, computers, cars and trains, and hundreds of other things that we use every day. Let's find out what we can do with electricity.
Entry Point
We walked around school and identified what we thought used electricity. We then decided which were mains operated and which used batteries.
Knowledge Harvest
Look at our lift the flap questions that we want to find the answers to.
Science Task:
We investigated how to prove electricity flows through wires by trying to light up a bulb. Once we had worked it out, we added in some switches and a motor.
PE
In PE this half term, the sport we are focussing on is Gymnastics. Take a look at the routines we have been working on so far.
During our RE lessons about the importance of the Nativity story to Christians, we learned about the symbolism of a Christingle and made our own.
At the end of term we enjoyed watching an online pantomime, Cinderella!
Autumn 1 Topic
Active Planet
The Big Idea: The tectonic plates that form the Earth’s crust are always moving. Even the smallest movement can cause huge earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis that devastate communities across wide areas. If we can understand what is happening underground we can learn to predict and protect ourselves in the future.
Entry point
We made a disaster relief centre in groups using equipment from the scrap shed. We had to think about what supplies and facilities that we would need. We hosted other groups in our centre in role play activities.
Geography task:
Research and present information about a specific volcano.
Geography Task:
We talked about seismographs and how they work to measure earthquakes. Then we worked together in groups to make our own and tested them out by shaking the table to create an earthquake in our classroom.
Geography task
Exploring the impact of earthquakes
Building earthquake proof structures
Science task: sorting and classifying rocks
Science Task
We observed and described the changes that happen when liquids are heated
Music task
First we explored and analysed these pieces of music inspired by nature.
Next we created our own musical pieces inspired by natural disasters.
In computing we have been developing our understanding of presenting software by exploring iMovie. Here is the winning video about our topic.
Well done Jessica and Maia.