What a busy half term it has been in year 4.

In Literacy, the children have explored two different texts both written by Michael Morpurgo. They have explored the vocabulary and language used, predicted what will happen next and used their inference skills to describe a character. The children, have then focused on co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions to extend their main clauses. Also they have used expanded noun phrases to add more detail into their writing.

In maths, the children have developed their formal written methods for addition and subtractions. They have also focused on their times table knowledge exploring factor pairs with arrays. The children have also collected and presented data in a tally chart and bar chart and have used these to interpret the information from the data.

In science, the children have investigated what makes the best material for a conductor by conducting their own fair test. They have then moved onto investigating different states of matter and their properties by making careful observations on how they behave.

In art, the children have been exploring “Power Prints” by investigating different ways to create light and tone using sketching pencils. They have then also design and created their own printing style and used these to create patterns from print.

In Geography, the children have explored the physical and human features of the countries of Europe and they have focused on Spain and Iceland. They have then compared these countries identifying their similarities and differences. The children, have the used a compass to find and locate north, south, east and west and used this to describe their location.

In Personal Development, the children have continued to look at their different relationships and what is a good friend. They have also then looked at their own health and well-being looking at what keeps us both physically and mentally healthy and what they can do to help themselves.

In our Design and Technology, the children have explored existing biscuits then followed and adapted a recipe ensuring they keep to hygiene rules. Following this, they have design and then made their own biscuits.

Finally in Religious Education, the children have learnt about the 5 Pillars of Islam and their significance to Muslims.

In literacy, the children’s learning has been centred on the book “Blue Planet II”. Through this, the children have explored their non-chronological report writing and its features. The children have also been developing their writing skills when writing main clauses in the present tense.

In numeracy, the children have learnt about place value, including ordering and comparing numbers to 10,000. The children also are developing their formal written methods for addition.

In science, the children have learnt about renewable and non-renewable sources of electricity and how they have an impact on the environment. The children have also explored making a complete circuit.

The children have enjoyed themselves during their geography lessons where they have explored atlases to find and identify the: different continent, oceans, countries around the equator and climates. The children have also applied their locational and scale knowledge using four figure grid reference.

In history, the children have researched Anglo-Saxons and Viking settlements. They have then compared them to Stone Age, Roman and modern settlements thinking about which on they would prefer to live in and why. The children have then used this historical knowledge to write about Anglo-Saxon and Vikings settlements using co-ordinating conjunctions.

In maths, the children have been converting between different units of time as well as using a calendar. From this, they have learnt how to tell the analogue time to the nearest minute. The children have also developed their problem and reasoning skills to solve pattern and rule problems by generalising and describing it with mathematical proof.

In science, the children have begun to learn about sounds and how they are made by vibrations. They have also investigated how sound travels through sound waves and how the further away you are from the source of a sound the quieter the sound is.

In computing, the children have begun to learn about computer networks and the hardware devices within them along with their purpose within a computer system. They have thought about what the Internet is, how network devices make up the internet and outlined how information can be shared via the World Wide Web.

As well as all, on the 27^th March the children visited St Michael’s Church in Madeley to take part in Experience Easter. The children took part in six small group activities where they talked about different aspects of the Easter Story and then what that means to Christians. At each station there was a small activity to complete such as thinking about hopes and dreams, thinking about how we can help others, taking part in the last supper and creating art using pipe cleaners for the Garden of Gethsemane.

Finally, the children in year 3 and 4 put on an amazing, spectacular Easter Production which they performed to the rest of the school and to parents.

Even though it may have only been a short month, year 4 have been busy working hard and learning lots of new skills.

In Literacy, the children have continued to use the story “There’s a Viking in my Bed” by Jeremy Strong to support their learning. They have used inverted commas, using the w model, to record what characters from the book might say during specific scenarios using and applying their inferences skills to help them. The children, then acted out these scenarios and thought about what mischief Siggy could get up to if he come to Woodlands Primary School. Using drama, the children came up with many ideas and have then used these ideas, to write their own story called “There’s a Viking in my School.”

In maths, the children have explored decimals by reading, writing and recognising the value of each digit up to 2d.p. Following this, they have multiplied and divided whole numbers and decimals by 10 and 100.

In RE, the children have identified how to care for a beautiful world by thinking about how they can show that we care for the world today. They then made links between the creation stories and the need to take care of the world and what this means to Christians and Jews. Finally, the children thought about the importance of Shabbat.

In PE, the children have continued to improve their multifunctional skills through a range of games focusing on their throwing, catching and kicking abilities. The children have also continued to learn a range of street dance moves which they finally put all together when they choreographed and preformed their own street dance in small groups.

In Design and Technology, the children have put their baking skills to the test. First, they tested biscuits already on the market. Next, in groups, the children had to design and make their own biscuit following a recipe.

World Book Day 2023

In school today the children have celebrated World Book Day. The children have come to school dressed as various book characters. They have had costumes from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Georges Marvellous Medicine and BFG.

During literacy, the children read and listened to various character descriptions from Roald Dahl books. They used these descriptions to draw what they pictured the character looked like and then compared this to their friends pictures. The children discovered all our pictures were similar but not the same. This is because they all use their imagination whilst reading to picture the characters and events in our heads.

In the afternoon, the children used some scripts from ‘The Twits’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ to take on a role. Some of them even played the part that they had dressed up as! The children focused on reading with expression, actions and ensuring they were facing the audience.

Yesterday in class, year 4 celebrated Safer Internet Day and Mental Health week. In the morning, the children have explored the uses and the risks of social media linking it to their wellbeing and how this can be linked to their physical and mental health. The children, also discussed the positives to social media and how it can help us keep connected.

The children then thought about what the same is and what is different between socialising with friends face to face and online.in groups, they used the “Game Goblin” to identify how online game could be ruined through impolite and disrespectful behaviour. Following this, in groups they took a look at “Be Kind Online Cards” and sorted them into those that are kind and those that are not.

The children have also, with the help of Zap the alien, explored how they can keep themselves safe online through thinking carefully about how content they post and it might affect others, their feelings and how it may affect how others feel about them (their reputation). The children also discussed the effect of an online post can have on others and why they should reflect on a post before sharing it along with what actions they would take to keep themselves safe in these different situations through giving Zap some top tips to keep himself safe online especially when using social media.

In the afternoon, they have explored and discussed their growing emotions that their emotions change over time as they get older our emotions can grow. The children considered how their emotions can grow when things don’t go away understanding that they can learn from their mistakes. The children also learnt to reflect together, by understanding that growing emotionally doesn’t happen quickly. It can take time to notice, learn about and understand their thoughts and feelings. It is also something they continue to do for the whole of their lives! That they can help each other to grow emotionally and to understand their thoughts and feelings.

In Year 4 the children have started the topic of ‘Incredible Invaders’ which covers the Anglo Saxon and Viking invasion of Britain. Children have learnt about the similarities and differences of the invasion of Britain as well as identified the cause and consequences of the invasions.

In Year 4, during literacy the children have been learning to include a variety of grammatical features in their writing. Literacy has been based on the text, ‘There’s a Viking My Bed’ by Jeremy Strong. Children have learnt how to use fronted adverbials to begin sentences to show when, where or how the verb happened. They continued their learning by using expanded noun phrases to describe and make their writing interesting. Finally, they have learnt how to use the ‘W’ method to use direct speech in their narrative writing for example, “I hungry, need food!” Siggy exclaimed loudly as he searched the kitchen. The children will be writing their own narrative based on the Viking Siggy visiting Woodlands Primary School.

During maths, the children have learnt about fact families of numbers and how to use their inverse to check their calculations. Following this, the children have covered co-ordinated and learn how to plot point in the first quadrant of a grid as well as translate a shape from one position to another. The children have also been using their skills to round 2, 3 and 4 digit numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. They have learnt that they need to use the key digit to help them to round up or down.

During Science, the children have learnt about the water cycle, discovering how water is reused by changing state in various ways. Year 4 have completed various experiments change the state of water and chocolate learning what happens when each is cooled and heated.

In our foundation subjects Year 4 have continued to learn to play the recorder and begun to learn a part to play in the ABBA classic Mamma Mia. They have thought about what makes a good friend during Personal Development, thinking about how people should behave towards others and how peopled are expected to behave towards them. Furthermore, they have also discussed what relaxation feels like and that relaxation techniques can be used anywhere. During PE, the children have been developing their multi-function skills such as kicking, catching and throwing as well as studying different components on street dance and the choreographing their own routines.