Grange Valley Primary & Nursery School

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Welcome to Year 4 - Miss Whelan's Class 2019-20

Welcome to our Year 4 blog.

Spring 1

Our Spring term has been full of new learning and the children are starting to show more and more resilience in all aspects of their school life, which is a pleasure to see.  We have been looking at graphs in Maths. The children have enjoyed reading graphs and interpreting trends from the data given, however, this has been one where the children have had to work hard to develop the skills involved in creating a graph. As always their times tables knowledge sprang into action.  As with almost all of our units covered this year we once again encountered the importance of knowing our times tables. The children are constantly working hard on improving their fluency in preparation for their end of year assessment. We are pleased to say that two of our girls are currently holding 1st and 2nd place on the school leader board.

 In English, we used a magnificent book called Leon and the Place Between by Angela Mc Allister as our stimulus for writing our narrative piece. The children thoroughly enjoyed this book, in particular the boys. They immersed themselves into the imaginary world of magic and explored the many possibilities that came from the story. The children’s imaginations were ignited with wonder and awe and they used their story language to help them create their own imaginary world where anything is possible. This book not only helped the children in terms of their creative flow but also in terms of thinking about trust, friendships, resilience and the effect a positive mood can have on everyday lives. Our class novel, The Boy at the Back of the Class, has been a huge hit this term with many of the children purchasing their own version in order to read on from what we have read in class. This has helped to increase the element of reading for pleasure.

In Science this term, we have been focusing on electricity. Lots of technical vocabulary has been used by the children and they have enjoyed learning about each component in a circuit. Girls and boys have both embraced STEM opportunities and there are plenty of future electricians in Year 4! We linked this learning to our DT topic where we created a battery operated light. The children worked on their design criteria and tried their best to only use recycled materials to create their product.

In Geography, we took a closer look at where the countries of the world are located, and some of the ways geographers describe locations. We learned to locate and describe places using longitude and latitude, and find out about some of the important lines that delineate specific areas of the Earth - the Equator, the Hemispheres, the Poles and the Tropics. We also looked closely at the lines of longitude, with the children developing their understanding of time zones. We now know why the people living in Sydney and other places around the world get to celebrate the New Year before us here in the UK.

Without a doubt, the most memorable part of our term  was our PGL residential to Winmarleigh Hall. Over three days and two nights the children experienced learning through many outdoors activities. Each activity had its own challenges and the children threw themselves into each one, always pushing themselves to a point where they felt comfortable. The all showed wonderful elements of teamwork and not only did they build on some already great friendships but they developed some band new friendships with the classes of Wargrave. The children will have lifetime memories from this trip and are already talking about their residential in Year 6.

Another great term Year 4, well done everyone :-)

Autumn 2

We have had a busy but great half term in Year 4. Everyone has worked hard and done themselves proud.

In Maths, we further developed our knowledge on how to multiply and divide by 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12. We started using mathematical vocabulary such as 'quotient' in relation to division and learned how to calculate multiplication equations using the multiplication facts that they know.  We worked hard on knowing the difference between sharing and grouping and can now understand the commutative law in multiplication. We can confidently solve problems involving multiplication and division and are using these skills and knowledge in our lessons as well as our arithmetic tests each week.

In English, we worked on some non-fiction writing techniques and created a holiday brochure. We used persuasive language to convince the reader that our holiday company was without a doubt the best holiday company to make your travel plans with. In our writing we worked on using alliteration, co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions as well as much more in order to write effective sentences for our brochure. We also thoroughly enjoyed Leon and Place between and using this book as a stimulus for our fiction this half term. This book allowed us to let our imaginations run free and we created some exciting and wonderful pieces of writing. We learned that sometimes you just have to believe in order to lose yourself in a new world.

In History, we learned about the Anglo-Saxons and Scots and the invasions of the Scots and Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century. We found out where the invading troops came from and where in Britain they managed to settle and how life in Britain changed as a result. The children learned how the Anglo-Saxons influenced the English language, with an emphasis on the origins of some English place names. In addition to this they learned what life was like in a typical Anglo-Saxon village, what jobs people did and what the houses were like. 

We loved our Computing unit this half term. This unit introduced the children to two different software choices for a creative way of presenting digital photos. We used existing images  and the children spent three lessons learning skills in Microsoft Publisher and a further three lessons using Windows Movie Maker. In the end the finished  result was the presentation of a  ‘photo story’ using their still images.  This was such a fun and exciting unit and the children were also able to use their prior knowledge to aid their final presentation.

It has once again been a wonderful half term of hard work and new learning and it was wonderful to meet so many of you and celebrate the progress being made by your child at parents' evening.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and here's to a great new year.

xx

 

Autumn 1

It was lovely to see the children returning to school with smiles on their faces, slightly taller, more mature and eager to learn. Their eagerness and wonderful attitude to their learning allowed us to have a great first half term with plenty of fun and learning taking place each and every day.

In English this term we used the magnificent picture book 'The Flood' as our stimulus for writing a disaster story. During this unit we worked on using our FANTASTICs where possible to excite the reader with our writing. This story, despite having no words was quite moving and allowed us to discuss how some families experience difficult times and how coming together and working as a team can help in making matters better. We also used Space Week as a stimulus for our writing when we wrote some outstanding persuasive letters for Mrs Holcroft. Our request was a bit 'out there' as we were hoping she would grant us permission to travel to the moon for our PGL trip. We still find it hard to believe that she said no because we know we were VERY persuasive in our writing. If you are reading this Mrs Holcroft will you please reconsider our request?

In Maths, we have been working hard on place value, addition and subtraction strategies as well as using our times tables knowledge to help us solve problems. We are working hard on mastering out times tables fluency ahead of our important test later this academic year. Maybe the boys could rival the girls on the leader board next half term?

In Geography, we learned all about the water cycle and were able to use our Literacy unit on The Flood to help us understand the power of water. We explored the processes of evaporation and condensation through a range of practical activities. By considering water as a finite resource, we were  introduced to the ideas of conservation and considered some of the issues surrounding supplying clean drinking water to a growing global population.

Our Science unit linked nicely with this as we learned about States of Matter. We learned about the differences between solids, liquids and gases, classifying objects and identifying their properties. The children worked scientifically and collaboratively to investigate the weight of a gas and enjoyed working for Willy Wonka when they had the chance to find the ideal temperature to melt chocolate. This unit was full of experiments and it was wonderful to see the children full of curiosity, creating their own questions and hypotheses in each lesson.

The staff in the Year 4 classroom have all thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the children and have been blown away by their knowledge and skills already. We are looking forward to another exciting half term.

Year 4 Notice Board

Welcome Meeting Information

Autumn Curriculum Overview