Year 4

Autumn Term Literacy

Year 4 have started off the year consolidating some of the learning we did when we were in Year 3. We have recapped adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs and speech marks.

We have been reading The Wild Robot by Peter Brown as our class literacy text and have been really enjoying this adventure of robot lost in the wild. We've been imagining what it would be like to be alone on an island and have written diary extracts pretending we were otters discovering Roz the Robot.

Both classes have also been loving Gangsta Granny by David Walliams as our class reading book.

Autumn Term Numeracy

Similar to our literacy, in numeracy we began our year by reflecting back and consolidating some learning from Year 3. We refreshed our memory of the place value of numbers, how to use maths resources and have really enjoyed a number of challenging problem solving lessons.

Autumn Term Science

In science our focus has been on Living Things and Their Habitats. This topic has been absolutely fascinating with some amazing learning experiences. We have been learning about the biodiversity on our planet. We now know the difference between a vertebrate and an invertebrate and also the different animal classes within each. 

We've had the opportunity to look at some real invertebrates and acted as scientists, noting the characteristics of each vertebrate class. Not only that but we were lucky enough to see some real life underwater local sea creatures including spider crabs, scallops, hermit crabs and star fish.

We have also learnt what we can do to help protect our planet and care for the habitats in which animals live.

Autumn Term Other Curriculum Areas

On top of all that wonderful learning we have also been lucky enough to experience an incredible Lihou residential. Year 4 spent the night on Lihou Island and took part in some amazing experiences. We explored the beautiful island, went on a night walk, took part in orienteering, archery, beach art, learnt about the islands history through stories and drama and lots lots more. Great fun was had by all and it was the perfect way to start the school year.

In art we have been developing our sketching, painting and sculpting skills by looking at the works of famous artists such as Giorgio Morandi and Paul Cezanne. We used sculpting tools to carve fish into bars of soap.

We have also been learning about computing in ICT, attacking and defending in games lessons, learning a street dance routine in indoor P.E. and have also been sea swimming down at Cobo. What a busy half term we've had! 

Spring Term Literacy

At the start of the Spring term, Year 4 have been using the book 'The Pebble in My Pocket' by Meredith Hooper as inspiration for some amazing creative learning. We have written some beautiful poetry, created non-chronological reports on dinosaurs and even written a persuasive letter to the prime minister of the UK to ask for aid in tackling issues surrounding climate change.

Spring Term Numeracy

In numeracy, we have been learning all about fractions. We learnt what the words numerator and denominator mean and what each part of the fraction represents. We have learnt how to order fractions, count in fraction and even add and subtract fractions.

Spring Term Science

It's been a fascinating half term in our science lessons. We began by learning all about teeth. We learnt about the function of incisors, canines and molars and how we could identify what an animal ate just by looking at it's skull.

We also learnt about what happens to food inside our bodies. The digestive system was so interesting to learn about and we even acted out the process using orange juice, water, a sandwich bag, digestive biscuits, a banana and an old pair of tights.

Finally we looked at food chains and how energy passes from one living thing to another.

Spring Term Other Curriculum Areas

One of the highlights for us this half term was our year 4 enterprise day. We hosted all the other year groups in the school hall for a day of fun and games. Children could pay to play our games, buy our amazing artwork and take part in competitions, all money going to our school charity. We raised a huge sum of money and had so much fun.

In P.E. we have been learning gymnastics and tennis skills. In art we have been learning how to use watercolour pencils to recreate a famous piece of artwork.

Summer Term Literacy

This half term we have been enjoying 'The Butterfly Lion' by Michael Morpurgo. This story gripped us right from the first page. It is set in 1914. We enjoyed learning what school would have been like over 100 years ago.

As part of our literacy, we have briefly learnt about WW1, done some drama and freeze framing, written heart felt letters as a character from the book sharing our concerns over our friend going off to war, written a newspaper article and lots more!

Summer Term Numeracy

In numeracy, as well as our usual number work, we have had a focus this half term on measuring. We have learnt how to measure length using mm, cm and m and have learnt how to measure the capacity of a container using ml and l. 

We created our own fruity drinks by carefully following a recipe and measuring out each ingredient to the nearest ml (They were delicious!)

Summer Term Science

Hey, what's the matter? This half term we have learnt about the particles that make up everything in our States of Matter topic. We learnt how matter comes in three forms: solids, liquids and gases. The particles 'behave' differently in each. We conducted some experiments to investigate whether you can change things from one state to another and found out that you can!

Summer Term Other Curriculum Areas

It has been another jam packed half term.

In P.E. we have been using the large apparatus to further develop our gymnastic skills.

In I.C.T we have learnt how to code and also that you can use code to change real websites! 

In D&T we have created slingshot cars using wood, lollipop sticks, glue and sticky fixers and tested them to see how far we could sling them.

We also had our Outdoor Learning week in which we headed outside to battel the elements and learnt a variety of den building and rope tying skills. 

We finished off this half term with an amazing open afternoon and we delighted to share our amazing learning with our parents and carers.

On top of all this we have also had P.S.H.E., spelling, handwriting, music, and R.E.