Autumn 2 – The Northern Lights

A firm favourite of our new curriculum topics and it has transported us to Norway. We have been travelling to magical folk tale lands in our Blended Reading sessions, as we have listened to a range of Scandinavian tales, all of which have a theme of icy, magical adventure. Linking beautifully to this has been our own English writing where we have taken inspiration from the Snow Queen herself! We read several versions of the story and really pulled them apart in order to create our own stories, complete with trolls, reindeers and icy mazes. We enjoyed sharing the story with Early Years.

Our Geography allowed us to further explore the continent of Europe. We had a great session walking around our classroom looking at a range of different fact files, photos and information all about Europe. We had questions to find the answer to, linked to population, landmarks and more. We then repeated the process learning all about Norway. We have also explored compass direction, mapping travel routes and plotting countries that can see the Northern Lights. We have gained a lot of new knowledge about these locations and look forward to our next Geography topic.

Maths has definitely tested our skills this half term. An example of challenging Maths has been converting units of measure and getting stuck into decimals. The children have been fabulous when it comes to identifying resources they might use to support or enhance their learning. We have also had a HUGE push on times tables, particularly with our y4 tournament which Pine took the win on. Well done to everyone for all your hard work.

Our Art work this half term has been absolutely spectacular, using chalks and water colour to create the Northern Lights. We explored a range of skills and applied this to our final pieces. The results were wonderful and we loved having the unique pieces up in our classroom display. We also used watercolours and may even have made some top secret Christmas cards for our families.

Computing has been a real highlight for us this half term as we got to know how to use Micro:bits. They really tested our coding knowledge and allowed us to show our creativity in a brand new way.

What have our Y4s thought about this topic?

"I have really enjoyed doing Micro:Bits. It was very exciting!" Ollie

"The Science this half term has been so fun and I liked experimenting with circuits." Renee

"I enjoyed doing the Northern Lights Art with water colour and chalk because we tested different techniques." Lennon

"I enjoyed Micro:bits and electricity and art the most." Jessica

"I enjoyed the TTRS competition and everyone going Green in our tables." Angus

As we enter the final festive week of the half term and begin to draw 2024 to a close, we feel very proud of all the progress made by Y4 already. They are maturing, working hard and making good choices to support their learning across the board. Bring on 2024!

Autumn 1 - The Saxons!

We have had a brilliant first half term in Year 4, it has been a blast! The children have certainly made a great first impression and we have loved getting to know them all. As ever, we have been working on demonstrating the school values. We have seen countless examples of the children’s creativity, cooperation, aspirations and resilience, alongside moments of real honesty and respect.

In English, we have been writing battle speeches in the role of the great Beowulf. He needed a strong army of warriors to join him on his mission to slay the dragon and the children really took on this role in all it's gory and graphic detail! The speeches will be up in our classroom windows for all to enjoy! We then begun writing diaries from the perspective of Grendel (a beast that Beowulf has already encountered). These ended up having quite a humorous twist and it was great seeing the children explore this.

In Maths, we have been covering many of our key number skills - place value, addition, subtraction and multiplication. We have been working to improve our mental maths speed as it will make a huge difference when we move into further challenges. The children have had to work on their systematic thinking and logical layouts when it came to using written methods - a real challenge for us all.

History has been a guiding area for this half term as we delved deeper into the Anglo Saxons and the mark they left on the country. We recreated our own Sutton Hoo style dig, read different perspectives on the Saxons and even mapped where and when they lived. 

In Art we have enjoyed creating Anglo- saxon themed brooches.

DT was a huge hit this half term as we made our delicious granola bars. We first followed a simple recipe with taste testing at the end of course. After this, we evaluated the success of that recipe and began to suggest our own amendments to flavour, texture and quantity of ingredients. Finally, we re-made our granola bars, using our own suggestions and most of us found huge improvements in taste and texture. I wonder if anyone will be brave enough to make them at home?

We have worked hard in so many areas this half term, it would be impossible to capture all that learning here, but do have a look at the pictures to see us in action.

Welcome to Year 4!

The Year 4 children have settled brilliantly into their new classes, and we are very proud of the school values we have seen them displaying through our first few weeks of Autumn term. The children have enjoyed the start of our Saxons topic and the learning we have completed linked to this. 

Here is some key information about the year group:

In Year 4 this year we have, Miss Hanafin, Miss Heath, Mrs Goodyear, Mrs Shillito, Mr Wood and Mrs Crook.

Miss Hanafin is the class teacher for Ash class and Miss Heath is the Pine class teacher. Mrs Goodyear, Mrs Shillito, Mr Wood and Mrs Crook work across both classrooms.

Year 4 PE will be on a Tuesday (Indoor) and Friday (Outdoor) this year. The children will need to wear their PE kit into school to be worn for the duration of the day. 

Please feel free to drop us an email or call via the office if you have any queries or concerns, we are always willing to help where we can.