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Year 4

Welcome to Year 4

Spring Term 2024

Areas of study for Year 4*

Literacy


During the first half of this term, the children will be developing their story writing skills by writing a story with a dilemma, inspired by the book ‘The Rainbow Bear’ by Michael Morpurgo. They will also learn about persuasive writing when they prepare a letter to persuade the zoo to release Rainbow Bear from captivity. We will go on to study the poem ‘Storm Dragon’, exploring the powerful verbs, adjectives and adverbs used to create a stormy atmosphere for the reader. Children will then create their own diamante poem on the theme of storms. Continuing with the storm theme, the children will study the short film ‘The Lighthouse’ and create a diary entry from the point of view of the lighthouse keeper.

In the second half of the term, our focus will be on the works of Roald Dahl.  We will begin by looking at ‘The BFG’. The children will use the internet to research information about one of the locations from the book - Buckingham Palace. They will use this to create a leaflet to explain what one might expect from a visit to the palace. Next, we will move on to study ‘James and the Giant Peach’ and the children will create a persuasive poster to encourage people to pay to come and visit the giant peach. To help with this, we will explore features found in successful advertisements and apply those features in our own posters. Finally, we will enjoy extracts from Roald Dahl’s autobiographical work, ‘Boy’.  Using these extracts and further research, the children will create a biography of Roald Dahl’s life.

Numeracy


At the start of the term, children will be continuing their work on multiplication and division. They will explore a range of mental and written strategies to multiply and divide. Children will then learn to find the perimeter of shapes using different methods and work on converting measurements between millimetres, centimetres, metres and kilometres. Later in the term, children will work on recognising and showing families of common equivalent fractions. They will also count up and down in fractions and learn how to add and subtract fractions with the same denominator. Children will then apply their knowledge of fractions to solve problems involving increasingly harder fractions. They will then move onto finding the effect of dividing a one or two digit number by 10 and 100. Children will then practise placing tenths and hundredths on a number line in decimal form and dividing 1 and 2-digit numbers by 10 to produce an answer in decimal form.

Reading


This term’s Guided Reading lessons will focus on the book ‘Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo. The children will practise using the ‘VIPERS’ technique to answer questions.  Alongside this, they will answer questions where they will be required to answer questions by retrieving information from the text, by interpreting and inferring things from what they have read and by considering the author’s choice of words, phrases and style of writing. In addition to the Guided Reading sessions, the children will regularly come across a wide range of different genres of text through their English lessons, including non-fiction, poetry, advertisements, newspaper articles and more.  Each class will also enjoy a class book, which they will read together across the term, and throughout all lessons, pupils will be encouraged to read aloud in class.

MFL


In French this term, the children will be learning the vocabulary for different types of fruit and vegetables. They will practise using this vocabulary in the four key skill areas – listening, reading, speaking and writing. They will also recap the use of ‘un’ and ‘une’ to say ‘a/an’ depending on whether the fruit or vegetable is a masculine or feminine word in French and they will take this further by learning how to use the partitive article ‘de’ to say ‘some’. They will learn how to politely ask for different quantities of items of fruit and vegetables using the phrases ‘Je voudrais’ (I would like) and ‘s’il vous plaît’ (please) and by the end of the term, they will be able to role play buying fruit and vegetables from a market stall.

PSHE/RSHE


The children will continue developing their growth mindset this term and learn about compassion and community. In PSHE they will identify which community groups they belong to and how they can contribute to the community overall. They will also look what a digital footprint is and understand that computers analyse their internet use. Children will understand that computers analyse their internet use and that this information can influence what they then see online. Children will explore the difference between factual information and advertising online. 


RE


During this term, the children will be investigating the question ‘To what extent does participating in prayer and worship generate a sense of belonging?’ They will firstly learn about what it is to ‘belong’ and think about what groups and communities they belong to. They will also look at what worship is and how different religions worship, including different ways of praying and the use of religious items. As well as this, they will be looking at “worth” and how we decide which things are valuable and which things are worthy to an individual. By the end of the term, the children should have an understanding of how the six main religions perform the act of worship and prayer and be able to give an opinion on how important worship is in generating a sense of belonging to religious people.

PE


This term during our outdoor PE sessions, Year 4 will be using fundamental movement skills to solve a range of physical challenges involving agility, balance and coordination. There will also be a focus on net and wall games such as tennis and badminton so the children will have the opportunity to use bats and rackets to manipulate and send a ball or another object. They will try the underarm serve technique, as well as hitting a static and moving ball, and putting these skills into context within adapted games. During their indoor PE sessions, the children will enjoy one half term of Dance, where they will develop and practise a range of different moves with ever improving control and consistency. The second half term will focus on Gymnastics, where the children will work on improving their balance and develop different methods of rotation, flight and travel, becoming more adventurous as their core strength improves.

Geography


This term children will explore the range of maps available to geographers and develop their understanding of the key features. They will study a range of maps and atlases including digital maps and compare their features. Children will learn to use the eight compass points to give directions and give grid references to locate places on a map. By comparing maps of the same place, the children will learn how places have changed over time. 

History


As part of history this term, we will be researching Rosa Parks and the impact she made on civil rights and how society is today. The children will firstly research the story of Rosa Parks and her timeline. This will be followed by them putting themselves in the place of the different people involved in the Bus Boycott giving them a sense of different perspectives of the same event. After that, as a class they will look at how Rosa Parks inspired people and how influential her story was in the abolition of segregation in America. Finally, the children will make a judgement on whether Rosa Parks did the right thing in breaking the law and consider whether it is ever right to break the law, especially if you think the law is unjust.  

Science


During the first half of this term, we will be covering the topic of electricity. The children will begin by looking at how and where we use electricity in our everyday lives and learning about the work of Thomas Edison. We will then explore static electricity and look at the key components required to make an electrical circuit. During the second part of the term, the children will be investigating different states of matter. They will look at the properties of solids, liquids and gases and explore their similarities and differences. They will then investigate what happens when you heat or cool the different states of matter, looking specifically at melting and boiling points of a variety of substances.

Music


This terms unit is about film themes and how they set the mood for the telling of the film’s story. The theme tune to The Pink Panther by Henry Mancini provides the foundation for exploring musical storytelling through listening and composing activities. The focus to our lessons will include timbre, tempo, rhythm, dynamics, atmosphere, music from a film.

Computing


Children will explore how podcasts are used and discuss their purpose. They will then learn to record sound and insert audio files from the internet. They will use this knowledge to script and record a podcast, edit and enhance their podcasts and finally evaluate their podcasts for its effectiveness. 
During the second half term, children will create a graphic score for a piece music. They will explore how to create music using various programmes such as Garage Band and Isle of Tune on the iPads. Children will then compose a piece of music that will be shared with their peers. Finally, they will take time to evaluate their work.  

Art, Design and Technology


In Design and Technology this term, we will be studying lighthouses. Linking to their work on electricity in Science, children will look at how the light in a lighthouse works. They will then go on to draw and label a detailed diagram of a lighthouse, showing all the key features. Children will aim to design and make their own lighthouse with a working lightbulb. 
In Art, we will be exploring the works of British artist J. M. W. Turner. The children will practise different pencil sketching and shading techniques that could be used to create a stormy effect similar to Turner’s style. They will learn more about his early life and his journey as an artist and will have the opportunity to take on the role of an art critic and critique some of his paintings, before having their own attempts at creating a stormy sea picture in a similar style to that of Turner.

*If you require additional information relating to our school curriculum, please ask at the school office or the class teacher.