Year 4
Summer Term 1
Spring Term 2
Whole school theme: Take one picture
Year group theme: Shaping our view
Topic overview
In Geography children will be looking at Tilbury and Thurrock and how the environment has changed over the past 50 years. The children will also be taking part in a Dragon’s Den type project with other children in year 4 across the GLC, to design a new outside space for their schools, then present to each other.
Rhyming Narrative Verse and Explanation Text are the focus of our literacy lessons. Children will use drama and discussion to tease out some of the serious issues behind the humour in Kaye Umansky’s engaging tale of The Bogey Men and the Trolls Next Door. For our non-fiction unit children will be creating their own explanations in a variety of forms, culminating in the delivery of an explanatory lesson on The Water Cycle (linked to Science).
Art and Design this half term concentrates on the work of artist Alberto Giacometti and his abstract wire figures, and Henry Moore who is famous for sculpting people with hollow spaces in their bodies and for using flowing, abstract shapes. Children will also use their sculpting skills as part of their Geography design project.
In PSHE we will be focussing on healthy and safer lifestyles looking at personal hygiene and the benefits of carrying out a regular hygiene routine. We will also look at how illness and disease might be spread and how this can be reduced.
Our PE lesson will focus on gymnastics and Invasion Games. Year 4’s PE day is on Tuesday. Please ensure that your child has their PE kit ready for this day (black shorts, purple t-shirt, black plimsolls), and that all jewellery is removed before they come to school. Thank you.
Children will be continuing with clarinet lessons for music this half term.
Ideas to support your child
Children should be reading every day and it must be recorded in their Reading Record by an adult.
Children need to complete all weekly homework provided on a Friday and return it to school by the following Wednesday. (See inside homework book for details.)
Continue to help your child learn all times tables up to 12 x 12.
Encourage your child to complete the Guide on the Side Homework each half term, related to our topic.
Guide on the side
This term the whole school will be focussed on London and surrounding boroughs, and Year 4’s area of expertise will be about our local area.
The children will need to complete a project based on how Thurrock has changed over the last 50 years. We suggest the children try a mixture of activities from the provided list which includes creating a map of the local area; making a model of a local landmark and interviewing people who have experienced the changes during the last 50 years.
Homework is due in on Monday 19th March.
Visits/visitors/events
1st March: Parents evening
1st March: World Book day – Children to dress up as favourite book character.
15th March: Year 4 Dragon’s Den presentations in the Ellis Theatre (Gateway Academy)
Parent and child session (TBC)
This is an opportunity for parents to come in to their child’s classroom and join them in their learning in a fun and informal environment.
Spring Term 1
Whole school theme: An Eye on London
Year grop theme: The Blitz
Topic overview
Our focus this half term is WW2 and The Blitz. Children will be learning what it was like to be around during the Second World War and what it meant to be an evacuee. They will listen to the clip of PM Neville Chamberlain announcing that Britain is at war, and radio clips of children’s experiences of being evacuated.
In literacy the children will be introduced to a story with a historical setting – Runaways! By Jim Eldridge. They will explore the setting and use it to immerse themselves in the story. The setting and period will then provide inspiration for their own writing.
In our non-fiction week, the children will broaden their knowledge of the Victorian period by looking through journalistic texts that are typical of the period.
Design and Technology centres on building an Anderson Shelter and how these were used in WW2. While our Art lessons concentrate on cross hatching, which is the use of fine parallel lines drawn closely together to create the illusion of shade or texture in a drawing.
In music children will be continuing learning how to play the clarinet and our PE lessons will focus on gymnastics and WW2 dance.
Year 4s PE day is on Tuesday. Please ensure that your child has their PE kit ready for this day (black shorts, purple/white t-shirt, black plimsolls), and that all jewellery is removed before they come to school. Thank you.
Ideas to support your child
Children should be reading every day and it must be recorded in their purple Reading Records. Please also encourage your children to learn the weekly spellings that are sent home.
The Maths Challenge supports your child with learning their Time Tables. Once they can recall their assigned times table – both multiplication and division facts – they can take the Maths Challenge test (fortnightly).
Guide on the side
This term we are studying WW2 and your Guide on the Side homework will be based around Anderson Shelters. Children will have the opportunity to choose from a range of tasks including creating a fact file, building a model of an Anderson Shelter, writing a safety brochure about how to act during the Blitz or writing a diary account in role of someone who has experienced being in an Anderson Shelter.
Homework is due in on Monday 5th February 2018.
Visits/Visitors/Events
To be arranged (information to follow)
Parent and child session
Date: TBC
Children will teach their parents their new skill of cross hatching in order to create a WW2 picture.
Autumn Term 2
Whole school theme: Influential People
Year group theme: Elizabeth I
Topic overview
Our fiction focus this half term in Literacy is Play Scripts. Children will be reading, performing and writing play scripts based on a Vietnamese folk tale. Our non-fiction unit will concentrate on learning the features of Information Texts.
In maths we will begin with developing knowledge of shape and then move on to mental methods of addition, while in music we're learning both well-known and original songs for our Christmas Production. We will be focussing on clarity of diction, the dynamics of the song and performance techniques. Children will also continue clarinet lessons.
In science we are looking at states of matter - by the end of the term the children should be able to compare and group material together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases, be able to observe that some material change state when they are heated or cooled, and to be able to identify the part played by evaporation, condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.
In art we will be learning about portraiture and looking for inspiration from famous portraits. We will explore traditional and modern methods of creating a portrait and use the ideas gathered to create a portrait of ourselves.
In Religion we are exploring Christianity and the Christmas story- by the end of the term children should be able to understand the definition of symbolism, understand the important events that occur in the Christmas story and the symbolism within it, understand what the different parts of a Christingle symbolise and express what the Christmas story means to Christians today by designing their own Christmas decoration and Christingle.
This term in History we are exploring the Elizabethan Era and Elizabeth I. Children will get to investigate the ‘Golden Age’ of British history by investigating the influence of Queen Elizabeth I as well as the lives of those living in Elizabethan England.
The theme in PSHE is bullying and the unit covers ‘what is bullying?’ ‘types of bullying’ ’how does bullying make all those involved feel?’ ‘How can we support people who are bullied?’
In PE children will be exploring gymnastics, focussing on moving with control and awareness of space, and refining movements into sequences to include varying speed, direction, level and body rotation during floor performances.
Year 4’s PE day is Tuesday. Please ensure that your child has their PE kit ready on this day (black shorts, Purple/white t-shirt, black plimsolls, black tracksuit bottoms for outside PE), and that all jewellery is removed before they come to school. Thank you.
Guide on the Side Homework
This half term’s homework is linked to our history topic on Elizabeth I. Children will need to complete two activities and will have a choice of writing a letter, creating a presentation, designing a throne or making a royal crown.
Ideas to support your child
Children should be reading every day, recorded in their Purple Reading Records to receive a stamp.
Reading comprehension is to be completed weekly as well as practising spellings and x tables.
A written task is given fortnightly which needs to be completed to a high standard. Children should also write their spellings in sentences to ensure they understand the meaning of new vocabulary.
Visits/Visitors/Events
- 7th December Year 4 visit to Tilbury Fort linked to our history topic on Elizabeth I.
- 7th December Christmas Markets (Come and try some delicious food from around the world made by the children.)
- 13th December Year 4 & 5 Christmas concert.
Autumn Term 1
Whole School Theme: Who's Who?
Year Group Theme: Pakistan
Topic overview
This half term Year 4 will be focusing on the country of Pakistan through a range of different subject areas.
During our topic sessions children will look in detail at Pakistan and make comparisons with the UK. This will include examining location, population and climate as well as cultural differences between the two countries including a food tasting session!
Textiles will be a focus in the Art and Design and Technology sessions where children will be given the opportunity to explore textiles and patterns linked to our topic work and then design and produce a bag or purse.
English will focus on stories set in different cultures (i.e. Pakistan) and a persuasive script which provides children with the opportunity to write a script to advertise a film to a specific audience. The core text will be linked to Thurrock Trailblazers and the Royal Opera House to create and Sing Carmen.
Maths will continue to use the Numicon scheme with particular focus this half term on revising calculation methods for adding and subtracting as well as securing key number facts and strategies; while Science this half term provides children with the opportunity to find out more about teeth, digestion and eating.
It will be an exciting time in PE where children will be looking at multi-cultural dance linked to our topic and also be learning how to play hockey. PE days in year 4 are on Tuesday and Thursday. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit ready for these days and that all jewellery is removed before they come to school. Thank you!
Ideas to support your child
All children are expected to read at home with an adult for at least 10 minutes each day. This should include a range of text types. Please also encourage and support your child to complete their Guide on the Side homework to a high standard.
Letters regarding spelling and times tables will follow shortly.
Guide on the side
This half term’s homework is linked to our science topic: ‘Animals including humans’ which is linked to the whole school theme of: ‘Who’s who?’
Children are to research 1 organ in the body – they can choose which. They will need to find out what it does in the body to keep us alive and well, and present any other interesting facts they have found out.
Visits/visitors/events
This half term children will have the opportunity to taste some Asian food and then be taught how to make their own vegetable samosas as part of our Open futures/Cook it programme.
As part of our Science topic, we are also hoping to take the children for a visit to a local dentist to find out more about looking after our teeth.
Parent and child session
Date: TBC
Our Parent – Child Sessions enable children to share examples of their work with parents and gives parents an opportunity to take part in some of the activities with their child. The session will be a celebration of the learning that has taken place this half term.
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Our Year 4 pupils have started to learn the clarinet with Thurrock Music Services and they are thoroughly enjoying it! |
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