Year 4 - Blwyddyn 4

Welcome to Year 4

 Croeso i Flwyddyn 4 

Teacher: Mr Nicholas   

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Jones

Support/PPA: Mrs Anderson

Welsh reading & Edible Playground: Mr Evans

Fruit snack-20p per day

Please bring your PE kit on Mondays & Wednesdays

Reading books & spelling homework will go home each Monday and should be returned on the Friday.

Spelling tests are every Friday

Big Maths ‘Beat That’ and a ‘Learn Its’ tests

 are taken at the end of the week.

This term our topic is BRIGHT SPARKS

English

We will be looking at some genres including Brochure writing, and how to write a story using our imaginative language skills. As a link to our theme of BRIGHT SPARKS, we shall be reading 'The Great Inventors' 

We will be looking at a adverbs, creative writing,  and using our imagination to describe a scene.

Maths

We will be looking at positive and negative numbers and how we used them in the 'real world'.

We shall also be looking at bar graphs and learning all about how they help us with understanding how data can be used. 

We will be looking at how we can use capacity in our day-to-day life and how important understanding measurements can be. 

We will be carrying out investigations in our ‘Missions’ when the children are encouraged to be independent learners researching all things science.

We will also get a chance to use the VR goggles to help us explore the Sun without the sunburn!

Context

This term the learners will be looking at what makes a 'bright spark', from the geniuses and inventors, to how we have used the scientific world around us for the benefit of us humans! We will be looking at the Sun and how it impacts us on Earth including what makes night and day.

We will also be looking at the work of Claude Monet and specifically his Sunsets and Sunrises art work. 

We will be looking at how the light from the sun reaches the Earth and the effects that has, such as, the Northern Lights! 

We will be looking at the festival of light called Diwali!

This term our topic is ANCIENT TIMES

English

We will be looking at some genres . As a link to our theme of the Egyptians, we shall be reading 'The Ancient Egypt Sleepover' 

We will be looking at a play script writing, diary writing, sending an email and rhyming poetry.

Maths

We shall remind ourselves about:

The 4 Rules (adding & subtracting using money/ dividing using the bus stop method & multiplication)

Co ordinates-using a map

We will be looking at positive and negative numbers and how we used them in the 'real world'.

We shall also be looking at coordinates and learning all about how they help us with understanding how the Romans got around the UK. 

We will be looking at how we can use fractions in our day-to-day life and how important they are. 

We shall be doing lots of reasoning activities to make us think and to try out new methods.

Science

We will be carrying out investigations in our ‘Missions’ when the children are encouraged to be independent learners.

Hopefully, we will also get a chance to use the VR goggles  to help us take a trip back in time to the Ancient Egyptians.

This term our topic is

'What a Wonderful World'

The children have written down everything that they would like to learn about it in our ‘Pupil Voice’ session at the start of the term-we'll do our best to cover it all!

Here are some of the ideas which can inform planning:

• go to Barry Island
• visit a church
• visit an aquarium
• go to a beach
• go to a museum
• learn about Spain
• learn about Africa
• do more science experiments
• learn about lakes and forests and go to the Forest
• learn about volcanoes and mountains
• make slime
• learn about the world's biggest plants
•  go to a carrot farm or factory

English

We will be looking at some wonderful stories. As a link to Cardiff and Welsh literature, we shall be reading 'The Dragon Ring' which was written by Liz Haigh

Did you know she used to be a teacher in Greenway!

We will be looking at a book review, an autobiography, poetry, creative story writing and recipes.

Maths

We shall remind ourselves about:

The 4 Rules (adding & subtracting using money/ dividing using the bus stop method & multiplication)

Co ordinates-using a map

Measuring-the school, the playground and the distance between our school and local amenities using m and cm.

We shall also be measuring liquids using ml and L.

2D & 3D shape plus looking at symmetry

We shall be doing lots of reasoning activities to make us think and to try out new methods.

Science

We will be carrying out investigations in our ‘Missions’ when the children are encouraged to be independent learners.

Hopefully, we will also get a chance to use the VR goggles.

Lots planned and lots to look forward to!

Year 4 completed their first afternoon 'Missions'. These were based on the story 'The day the crayons quit' by Drew Daywalt. It is all about a rebellious packet of crayons. Each crayon is fed up of being given the same jobs to do (things to colour) time and time again!

We dug up our potatoes in the Edible Playground and stored them correctly, ready to make potato wedges. Then we thought about the life cycle of a potato and arranged the stages in chronological order.

Children cut the tops off root vegetables - turnips, carrots, parsnips, radishes, swedes and beetroot - and put them on wet tissue paper to see what would happen. They made predictions - would they grow, or would something else happen? To everyone's surprise they ALL grew. They are now growing in proper compost and we will see if they grow into proper plants and maybe produce flowers.

Children produced this display based on wonderful Wales. They wrote descriptions of locations around Wales, based on the lyrics of the song 'What a wonderful world'.

Children have an input into their learning by making suggestions based on our topic.

Children are building up their bank of knowledge and sentence structure based on colour. They are brilliant learners of Welsh. Bendigedig, Blwyddyn 4, 'dych chi'n sêr!