Return to Classes

Year 4

Mr Brittin (Class Teacher)

Mrs Ebbs, Mrs Lorek, Mrs Read and Miss S Sweeney (Support Staff)

Summer 2025

This half term, Year 4 have shown fantastic enthusiasm for their learning. Every lesson has been approached with positivity and determination, and I’ve been so impressed by their continued effort across all subjects.

In English, the children have been exploring explanation texts. They designed their own useful inventions and wrote clear, step-by-step explanations of how they work. Next, we’ll be diving into traditional African tales, exploring poetry, and having a go at writing our own play scripts.

Our focus in Maths has been decimals. We’ve built on our understanding of place value to partition, order and round decimals, linking this to our work on money. Next, we’ll be moving on to time, followed by shape, position, and direction as we approach the end of the year.

In Science, we’ve been learning about electricity. The children have identified the parts of a circuit and used them to successfully light up bulbs. They particularly enjoyed testing out different types of switches and seeing how they affect the flow of electricity.

Our topic this half term has been the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. The children have really enjoyed learning about historical events, important decisions made by kings, and the dramatic Viking raids. We’re now looking forward to exploring how peace was eventually made and the impact this had on our country.

In Art, we’ve continued our work on sculpture. The children have looked at how artists take inspiration from nature and have created their own sculptures inspired by birds’ nests—thinking like a bird to inform their designs!

PE has been all about ball games, with a focus on rounders and cricket. The children have enjoyed trying out different positions and developing their bowling, batting, and fielding skills.

In PSHE, we’ve been discussing relationships—how they change over time and the emotions that come with those changes. These can be sensitive topics, but Year 4 have approached them with real maturity and respect, showing great empathy in our class discussions.

Year 4 should be really proud of everything they’ve achieved this term. We’re all looking forward to an exciting final half term together!

Spring 2025

The children have returned from the Christmas break bursting with energy and eagerness to dive into our captivating subjects!
 
In English, we’ve been adventuring through traditional tales, retelling them from different perspectives. The students have been honing their description skills by painting vivid pictures of fantasy settings and the characters that inhabit them. Later this term, we’ll embark on an informative journey as we write non-chronological reports about the majestic Amazon River.
 
Maths has been a buzz of activity with children demonstrating their multiplication and division prowess. We’ve tackled multiplication using both informal and formal methods for 3-digit by 1-digit numbers. In division, flexible partitioning has been our go-to strategy for making larger divisions more efficient and understandable.
 
In Science, we’ve been on an animal adventure! The children have been learning about how animals are sorted, grouped, and classified based on their characteristics. The challenge of creating a classification key definitely showed the children’s hard work.
 
Our History lessons have transported us to Mesoamerica, where the ancient Maya civilization once thrived. The children have been exploring where the Mayans came from, how they were first discovered, their place on the historical timeline, their religious beliefs, and the sources of our knowledge about them. It’s been a fascinating journey into the past!
 
Still life is our new topic in Art, and the children’s enthusiasm has been truly inspiring. They’ve been expressing themselves artistically and giving each piece deep meaning. We’ve studied traditional still life artists like Paul Cezanne and contemporary artists, created detailed artist studies, and brought famous still life paintings to life by arranging real objects in the classroom.
 
Here’s to a term filled with learning, creativity, and discovery!

Autumn 2024

Year 4 have started the year off well with the enthusiasm and motivation to do the best they possibly can.  

In our English lessons, we have been writing about Roman myths. The children have read a selection of these ancient stories and plotted their own mythological adventures where their hero/heroine must take on a formidable beast or find a treasured artefact.

In our Maths lessons, our focus has been on place value. The children have extended their understanding of numbers up to 10,000. They’ve have honed their estimating and comparison skills, tackled the intriguing challenge of working out 1, 10, 100, and 1000 more or less to given amounts and shown great enthusiasm for rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. 

History has transported us back to the era of the Anglo-Saxons. Through a study of historical sources, we have unravelled where the Anglo-Saxons came from and the reasons behind their invasion and settling in England following the decline of Roman Britain. The children have also enjoyed playing the role of archaeologists, drawing conclusions from fascinating archaeological discoveries at Sutton Hoo.  We are very close to finding out the mystery of ‘Who was buried at Sutton Hoo?’

In Science, we have been exploring the states of matter. The children have eagerly sorted items into the categories of solids, liquids, and gases. We have investigated gases in fizzy drinks and the various states of matter water takes and how it changes.   

In Art, I have been very impressed with the children’s enthusiasm and artistic expression as we study the works of the renowned Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. The children have uncovered the motivations of Gaudi’s artistic style, mosiac designs and translated our findings into research pages and art studies.  

Translate »