Welcome to Year 4
Welcome to our Year 4 Class! Our expedition this Autumn term, focuses on the question, ‘Why remember the Victorians?’ The children are looking forward to engaging with all the exciting activities that have been planned. There will be many opportunities to research areas of interest, work independently, with a partner and in groups. Children will be encouraged to be independent learners, develop thinking skills and be able to self-assess.
Literacy
This term, our class book will be ‘The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. The children will be developing their writing skills and ability to write up leveled sentences that contain powerful descriptions, similes, metaphors and alliteration. Written work will reflect life in the Victorian times and will include letter writing, newspaper reports, persuasive writing, creative writing and presentations. The children will have lots of opportunities to develop their oracy skills through individual and group tasks.
Numeracy
In Numeracy this term, the children will be engaged in tasks that centre around place value up to 4 digits. They will be using their skills to round to the nearest, 10,100 or 1000. They will also be learning to add and subtract 4 digit numbers using exchange and carrying. These skills will be transferred into practical problem solving tasks. The change in weather temperatures will be a catalyst to work on negative numbers and practical investigative enquiries. Using their ability to measure length in centimetres, metres , millimetres and kilometres, the children will investigate problems involving the calculation of perimeters.
Humanities
During the term we will be learning about the Victorian era 1837-1901 including the lives of the rich and poor and the social and moral changes of the 19th century. We will be looking at the important people of the day who influenced and made changes and investigating and then comparing, childhood now and childhood in the Victorian times. The children will also be researching what education was like in Victorian times, as well as looking at toys from the Victorian era compared to toys today.
Along with Year 3, we will be going on a trip to St Fagans Museum to experience Victorian style lessons in the old school.
Science
The term begins with a physics strand. We will be exploring the Changing States of Matter (Solids, liquids and gases) in conjunction with the World of Water (The water cycle, evaporation and importance of water in relation to the health of our planet). There will be lots of hands on investigations. The children will develop their understanding of how to set up an investigation with variables, awareness of a fair test and how results can be recorded such as via a table, graph etc.
R.E
In R.E, the children will be looking at the whole frieze from the ‘Understanding Christianity’ Scheme and looking at how it tells the story of the Bible, the Christian story. The children will then focus on the Panel depicting ‘The Fall’, looking at the story of Adam and Eve. We will also be studying ‘The People of God’ unit of work looking at what it is like to follow God through the story of Abraham. In the second half of the term, the children will focus on ‘The Incarnation’ and Special times in the church year, such as Harvest, Advent, Remembrance and the Christmas story.
D.C.F / I.C.T
In our ICT lessons, we will also be looking at online behaviour and cyber bullying. During the term, the class will be exchanging online communication with other learners. The children will learn how to manage an online file, adding and responding to comments, e.g. create, share and edit an online file. They will also find relevant information using different keywords and search techniques and select an appropriate website from search results and begin to consider if the content is reliable. Other elements of the curriculum this term include, modifying and presenting a range of text, image, sound, animation and video for selected purposes.
Welsh
As well as reinforcing vocabulary already embedded, new vocabulary relating to ‘Gwersylla (Camping) and ‘Salwch’ (Illness) will be introduced throughout the term. Pupils will have lots of opportunity to practise sentence patterns through conversation work, role play, games and songs and through the writing of sentences and simple dialogues. The role of weekly ‘Helpwr Heddiw’ is further developed in Year 4, a role for which, everyone eagerly awaits!
Expressive Arts
Music
Lessons this term will centre on the children developing their performances of continuing poems, using their voices to speak expressively and rhythmically. The seasons and the environment provide the stimuli for compositions and the children will make descriptive accompaniments and discover how the environment has inspired composers throughout history.
In the second half of the term, the children will be exploring how sounds are produced and classified. They will have fun using their voices to make beatbox sounds, sing four-part songs, and perform a jazzy round. They will also make their own recycled instruments from junk and use them to improvise, compose and play junk jazz music in a variety of different musical styles.
Art and D.T
In Art the children will be having lots of opportunities to experiment with different media, creating silhouettes, self-portraits and developing skills of drawing and print making. They will study the work of significant artists in Victorian times such as William Morris and T.S Lowry. The children will also put their creative skills to work making Victorian style Christmas cards and decorations. Other work will include collage work – Chimney Sweeps.
Looking forward to an action packed term ahead!
