Autumn 1 – Indian Adventure
We would like to welcome all of the children to Year 4. We look forward to a year filled with many exciting learning opportunities. Our first topic is ‘Indian Adventure’.
In maths lessons this half term we will be focusing on the place value of numbers, addition and subtraction:
- Recognise Place Value of each digit in a 4-digit number
- Order and compare numbers beyond 1000
- Round any number to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000
- Add and subtract numbers with up to four digits using formal written methods
- Estimate and use inverse operations to check answers to a calculation
- Solve addition and subtraction two-step problems in context, deciding which operation and method to use.
In English lessons this half term we will be learning about the features of and writing in the styles of:
- Diary entry
- Recount
- Persuasive letter
- Information text
We will also be reading stories from the Indian culture including traditional tales from India. Our whole class story will be ‘Asha and the Spirit Bird’ by Jasbinder Bilan.
Year 4 will have indoor P.E. on Friday afternoons. It is imperative that a full P.E kit is provided every Friday for children to get changed into for the lesson.
Your child is to attend school wear-ing a suitable P.E. kit every Thursday for their outdoor P.E. lesson.
As part of the Music curriculum Year 4 have the exciting opportunity to learn to play the guitar. This will take place every Wednesday. More information will follow.
Our Science topic this half term is ‘Sound’. You can encourage your child to research and learn more about this topic.
In History and Geography, we will be learning about the location of India in the world, the similarities and differences between life in Indian cities and villages, what life is like in the Indian village of Chembakolli and a typical day for a family living in Chembakolli.
There will be an enhanced focus on multiplication in Year 4, as the ‘Year 4 Multiplication Check Assessment’ takes place in June. To support this at home, children are expected to practise on TTRockstars and practise their times tables. (Maths Homework will also focus on this)
Homework
Spelling sessions are now taught within school therefore, we no longer send home spelling home-work. All other homework will go out on
Fridays and should be returned the following
Thursday.
New reading books will be issued this week. The expectation is that all children should read at least twice per week, with their records signed by an adult and returned to school.
Thank you for your support. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Mr Mitchell and Miss Webb
Autumn 2 – Sugar and Spice and all Things Nice
For those of you with a sweet tooth, this is the topic for you! Come with us to Cadbury World where we will discover the delights of making delicious chocolate. On our visit we learn about the history of the Cadbury family, when cocoa beans were first used to make chocolate and the manufacturing process from bean to bar. Our favourite part, of course, is tasting the mouth-watering chocolate! We enjoy reading Roald Dahl’s classic: ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. We learn to love the characters from the story and describe them and the settings using ambitious expanded noun phrases. We also develop our story writing skills when writing our own exciting stories set in Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Finally, we become chocolate makers and learn about the process ‘from bean to bar,’ and write an explanation text about how chocolate is made.
As part of our Design and Technology topic we use inspiration from our Cadbury visit to help us design our very own Wonka chocolate bar. In our Religious Education lessons, we learn about important religious celebrations such as Diwali and Christmas. In Science we learn about different types of teeth and how our bodies digest food. We consider how to look after our teeth and carry out an exciting investigation to discover which liquid does the most damage to our teeth. A highlight of this term is our fantastic Year 4 Production, which we really enjoy; the children have the opportunity to present their acting, singing and dancing skills.
| Writing Genres | Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar |
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Spring Term 1 – Walk like an Egyptian
Have you ever travelled back in time? This half term we will travel back thousands of years to a time when pyramids covered the landscape and pharaohs ruled over the lands. Let’s explore Ancient Egypt! We will learn lots of fascinating facts about the Ancient Egyptians and put these together in a useful information text for children. We turn our hand to journalism by writing a newspaper report about Howard Carter’s astonishing discovery of Tutankhamun’s Tomb and describe some of the fascinating treasures found inside. Do you know how to mummify someone? Join us as we discover the strange Ancient Egyptian process of mummification and write instructions about how to embalm and mummify. As well as this, we use the story ‘Flat Stanley’s Great Egyptian Grave Robbery’ to write our own suspense stories set in a mummy’s tomb.
In Geography we look at key features on a map of Egypt and consider how important the River Nile was to the lives of the Ancient Egyptian people. In Art we make our own papyrus and then write our names using Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Science this term is all about electricity. Did you know that the Ancient Egyptians were one of the first civilisations to discover electricity? We learn how to make electrical circuits, what happens when more bulbs are added and how to make a switch. We consider the importance of using electricity safely and learn about renewable sources of electricity.
| Writing Genres | Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar |
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Mathematics Skills for Spring Terms 1 and 2
Number: Multiplication and Division B:
Factor pairs; Using factor pairs; Multiply by 10; Multiply by 100; Divide by 10; Divide by 100; Related facts – multiplication and division; Multiply a 3-digit number by a 1-digit number; Divide a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number; Divide a 3-digit number by a 1-digit number; Correspondence problems.
Measurement: Length and Perimeter:
Measure in kilometres and metres; Equivalent lengths (kilometres and metres); Perimeter on a grid; Perimeter of a rectangle; Perimeter of rectilinear shapes; Find missing lengths in rectilinear shapes; Calculate the perimeter of rectilinear shapes; Perimeter of regular polygons; Perimeter of polygons.
Number: Fractions:
Understand the whole; Count beyond 1; Partition a mixed number; Number lines with mixed numbers; Compare and order mixed numbers; Understand improper fractions; Convert mixed numbers to improper fractions; Convert improper fractions to mixed numbers; Equivalent fractions on a number line; Equivalent fraction families.
Number: Decimals A:
Tenths as fractions; Tenths as decimals; Tenths on a place value chart; Tenths on a number line; Divide a 1-digit number by 10; Divide a 2-digit number by 10; Hundredths as fractions; Hundredths as decimals; Hundredths on a place value chart; Divide a 1- or 2-digit number by 100.
Spring Term 2 – Brilliant Birmingham
What a wonderful city Birmingham is! This half term we learn about our local area and discover many fascinating facts about brilliant Birmingham. As part of our local study we become passionate advertisers by creating a fantastic leaflet showing off all the wonderful places to visit in Birmingham. We learn about the importance of key facilities such as Brindley Place, the new Birmingham library, the Jewellery Quarter, NIA, the National Sea Life Centre and the Museum and Art Gallery. We develop our knowledge about Birmingham’s famous people, inventions and special events over time; for example, we discover key advances made by Matthew Boulton at the Birmingham Mint and the impact the building of canals had in our industrial heritage.
In English, we learn about the Lunar Society and write a play- script of a conversation between some of its prominent members. We learn about the Scott family and write a ghost story set at the impressive Great Barr Hall. We also learn about the life of the famous coin forger William Booth, who lived local to Great Barr and conduct a debate to help us write a balanced argument about whether we feel his punishment was fair.
We meet Ahmet, a Syrian refugee who arrives in England, during our reading of ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class.’ We learn about his story as we improve our reading skills.
In Geography we learn about the city of Birmingham. We use a map of the United Kingdom to locate Birmingham. We locate some of Birmingham’s boroughs and focus on Great Barr. In addition, we learn about the human and physical features of Birmingham. We learn about the range of land use, such as canals, and consider what changes have taken place. We enjoy creating a map and key showing land use. We also learn about the economic and trading activity of Birmingham and compare this to the past. We ask a range of searching questions to enhance our learning, using appropriate geographical vocabulary.
As part of our Geography and History learning we carry out field work, where we look at our local area and learn about famous people and landmarks, such as William Booth’s farm location.
For the scientists amongst us we learn about the characteristics of solid, liquids and gases; we discover how solids, liquids and gases behave differently and we carry out an exciting investigation involving evaporation.
In R.E. this half term we learn about forgiveness and how we show belonging to different groups.
In our Games lessons, we develop our football skills and take part in small matches.
In addition, we love to relax and unwind when doing Yoga in P.E.
| Writing Genres | Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar |
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Summer Term 1 – Take a walk on the Wild Side
Pack your sun cream and binoculars as we travel to the breath-taking continent: Africa. Here we will see some beautiful animals such as: white lions, tigers, elephants and giraffes. In English we read the moving story ‘The Butterfly Lion’ and use this throughout the half term to influence our writing. We learn about Bertie and his striking white lion cub. In the role of Bertie or Millie, we write informal letters to one another. We also journey to the African wilderness and write a non-chronological report about Africa or an Arican animal. We research the well-known author, Michael Morpurgo and write a biography about his career as an author and his other personal achievements.
This term we also get the chance to showcase our learning by performing a fantastic assembly for our parents to enjoy.
In Science we begin our learning about ‘Living in Environments’. Here we find out about identifying and grouping animals according to their characteristics using classification keys. We also learn about different habitats and how to look after them.
In History we study the ancient civilisation of Benin and learn how the culture of the Ancient Benin people developed.
In Geography we learn about key features in the world. We use a globe and atlas to locate the Equator, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. We also learn about the Greenwich Prime Meridian line. In addition we use an atlas, photographs, video clips and ICT to help learn about the countries, climates and topography in the different zones of the world. We continue to ask questions in order to enhance our learning, using appropriate geographical vocabulary.
We are very keen to demonstrate our Spanish language skills as we have simple conversations with each other.
In R.E. this half term, we consider how opinions and rules influence our behaviour and we learn about the life of Mahatma Gandhi.
As part of our P.E. lessons this term we enhance our throwing, catching, bat and ball skills when playing rounders. It’s also time to make a splash! During the Summer Term we are able to develop our swimming strokes and be aware of water safety.
| Writing Genres | Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar |
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Mathematics Skills for Summer Terms 1 and 2
Number: Decimals B:
Make a whole with tenths; Make a whole with hundredths; Partition decimals; Flexibly partition decimals; Compare decimals; Order decimals; Round to the nearest whole number; Halves and quarters as decimals.
Measurement: Money:
Write money using decimals; Convert between pounds and pence; Compare amounts of money; Estimate with money; Calculate with money; Solve problems with money.
Measurement: Time:
Years, months, weeks and days; Hours, minutes and seconds; Convert between analogue and digital times; Convert to the 24 hour clock; Convert from the 24 hour clock.
Geometry: Shape:
Understand angles as turns; Identify angles; Compare and order angles; Triangles; Quadrilaterals; Polygons; Lines of symmetry; Complete a symmetric figure.
Statistics:
Interpret charts; Comparison, sum and difference; Interpret line graphs; Draw line graphs.
Geometry: Position and Direction:
Describe position using coordinates; Plot coordinates; Draw 2-D shapes on a grid; Translate on a grid; Describe translation on a grid.
Summer 2 – Platform 9 and 3/4
Wands and broomsticks at the ready as we leave this muggle world and head off to Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Be ready for a magical adventure as we read ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’. We will learn about the life of J.K Rowling and design our very own enchanted items. In English, we will journey into the realm of wizards and meet many of the characters in J.K. Rowling’s much-loved book. We will delve into life as a first year at Hogwarts and become fascinated with the mysterious creatures lurking in the Forbidden Forest. Our hands will turn to advertising when we produce adverts to persuade new students to make Hogwarts their first-choice school when applying for a secondary place.
We will work our magic in Art, creating a silhouette picture of Hogwarts. We also learn about the history of the railways and how their development has impacted on tourism.
In computing we will learn about online safety; learning to spot spams and phishing emails.
In Science, we will continue our work on ‘Living in Environments’, understanding the positive and negative impacts humans have and how environments change over time. After this we will put our thinking caps on as we carry out a series of mini-investigations, further developing our scientific enquiry skills.
We further enrich our P.E. learning by enhancing our athletic skills throughout a range of activities and continue to develop our swimming strokes
As the magic draws to a close, we will practise our Quidditch skills and potion making on our Harry Potter themed day. However, no muggles allowed!
| Writing Genres | Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar |
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Please note that Parent Information Leaflets are sent out each half term with further details.
