Welcome to Year 4 - Miss Whelan's Class 2018-19
Summer 2 2019
I cannot believe our year is over! It has been such a pleasure to teach this wonderful cohort of children, We have had so much fun together and it has been amazing watching them all grow and become more independent learners. I know Miss Hitchen is in for a big treat with this class and I have no doubt that will amaze her as much as they have done me. Thank you for all of the memories cohort 2021!
Have a fabulous summer.....you all deserve it xx
Please find an overview of our year together below.
In Geography we looked at Modern Europe and enjoyed an exciting and informative topic. We got to understand the amazing physical and human geography of Modern Europe and travelled around them learning key facts and exploring the varied countries that make up our European continent. We developed skills in human and physical geography and learned all about the many capital cities, rivers and mountains available to visit for us.
In RE we looked at and responded thoughtfully to ideas of community, values and respect within the various religions. We learned about the differences between religious ceremonies and festivals and also looked at the various pilgrimages that are important in each religion. We looked at words and symbols that are important in different religions and asked questions about why some communities do different things. The children all responded very sensitively to some similarities between different religions and worldviews. Our Geography unit on Europe helped us to locate the various sites for many of the important pilgrimages undertaken by people.
In Science, we learned all about how vibrations cause sounds and how sounds travel, as well as how sounds can change pitch and loudness. The children learnt about how sounds are made, carrying out demonstrations of vibrations. They worked in groups to create a human model of the way particles pass sound vibrations on. The children worked in a hands-on way to explore pitch, and used their understanding of how high and low sounds are made to create their own set of pan pipes. They investigated how sounds change over distance and through different materials and they worked scientifically and collaboratively to investigate the best material for soundproofing, in the context of making a music studio quieter. Finally, they demonstrated their learning from the whole unit by designing their own musical instrument that will play high, low, loud and quiet sounds. This was a very exciting unit which the children loved.
We had the pleasure of attending a day watching cricket at the Old Trafford Cricket ground, where we availed of the many fun activities on site. The children loved this day out and were able to put into practice the various skills learned throughout the year from Chris as they took part in some indoor cricket activities led by some of the players. This was a thoroughly enjoyable day out for children, so thank you to all the parents for helping this to happen. We also enjoyed the many Daily Mile attempts and we hope to keep this up in and out of school We realise the importance of exercising and staying as fit as possible as it not only keeps our body healthy but also keeps our mind healthy too.
One of the highlights of this term has been our Harry Potter Week. During this week we visited Wargrave for the day, where we enjoyed lots of fun and exciting activities while getting to know some of the Year 4 children. In Literacy we enjoyed creating our very own magical wand and writing a descriptive piece about it. We also worked on some persuasive writing when we wrote a review on a new broomstick that could be used for quidditch. The most exciting aspect of the week was of course learning and playing quidditch!
It has truly been a fantastic year!!!
Summer 1 2019
Although it didn't feel like a summer term due to the weather, it was certainly a quick half term!
In Geography we looked at Modern Europe and enjoyed an exciting and informative topic. We got to understand the amazing physical and human geography of Modern Europe and traveled around them learning key facts and exploring the varied countries that make up our European continent. We developed skills in human and physical geography and learned all about the many capital cities, rivers and mountains available to visit for us.
In RE we looked looked at and responded thoughtfully to ideas of community, values and respect within the various religions. We learned about the differences between religious ceremonies and festivals and also looked at the various pilgrimages that are important in each religion. We looked at words and symbols that are important in different religions and asked questions about why some communities do different things. The children all responded very sensitively to some similarities between different religions and worldviews. Our Geography unit on Europe helped us to locate the various sites for many of the important pilgrimages undertaken by people.
In Science, we learned all about how vibrations cause sounds and how sounds travel, as well as how sounds can change pitch and loudness. The children learnt about how sounds are made, carrying out demonstrations of vibrations. They worked in groups to create a human model of the way particles pass sound vibrations on. The children worked in a hands-on way to explore pitch, and used their understanding of how high and low sounds are made to create their own set of pan pipes. They investigated how sounds change over distance
and through different materials and they worked scientifically and collaboratively to investigate the best material for soundproofing, in the context of making a music studio quieter. Finally, they demonstrated their learning from the whole unit by designing their own musical instrument that will play high, low, loud and quiet sounds. This was a very exciting unit which the children loved.
We had the pleasure of attending a day watching cricket at the Old Trafford Cricket ground, where we availed of the many fun activities on site. The children loved this day out and were able to put into practice the various skills learned throughout the year from Chris as they took part in some indoor cricket activities led by some of the players. This was a thoroughly enjoyable day out for children, so thank you to all the parents for helping this to happen. We also enjoyed the many Daily Mile attempts this half term and hope to keep this up in the next half term. We realise the importance of exercising and staying as fir as possible as it not only keeps our body healthy but also keeps our mind healthy.
Seven weeks stands in the way of these amazing Year 4s becoming Year 5s!
Miss Whelan & Mrs Ramsdale x
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Spring 2 2019
Another great half term in Year 4!
Our Maths unit brought us to the wonderful world of TIME. During this unit we learned more about the 24-hour clock, concentrating on how to use both the 12-hour clock and the 24-hour clock. We learned how to convert between units of time, such as minutes and seconds, and hours and minutes and how to solve time problems involving conversions and durations of time in relation to word problems. Time can be such a tricky concept to master so please work with your child whenever possible to help them become more fluent with time.
Our English unit took us on a very exciting journey to Sicily. We learned all about the wonderful scenery the island has to offer, as well as the magnificent foods on offer before writing up our own holiday brochure. The children worked so hard to include effective language that would entice readers to travel to Sicily. This was such an enjoyable unit and the brochures produced show how much the children enjoyed it.
In History, we learned about the Anglo-Saxons. This unit taught us about the invasions of the Scots and Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century. We find out where the invading troops came from and where in Britain they managed to settle and then investigated how life in Britain changed as a result. We discovered how the Anglo-Saxons influenced the English language and had an emphasis on the origins of some English place names.
In Science, we looked at the unit ‘States of Matter’ and learned about the differences between solids, liquids and gases. The children worked scientifically and collaboratively to investigate the weight of a gas during a fun experiment. They also explored in-depth how water changes state, exploring melting, freezing,condensing as well as a particular focus on evaporation. Finally, they learned about the stages of the water cycle, creating mini water worlds where they planted cress seeds and watched these growing.
Our PGL trip was certainly the highlight of this term. The outdoors around Winmarleigh hall were used to provide us with unforgettable learning experiences. We took part in a number of 90 minute sessions each day each one designed to bring out the best in every individual and they did not disappoint. Sessions included, climbing. archery, giant swing, high ropes, low ropes, zip-wire and more In the evenings, the fun continued with some lively entertainment sessions. The children were kept busy and laughing until bedtime when they got the chance to relax! Watching the children pushing themselves in unknown situations and showing their resilience was a very proud moment. This was an amazing experience for the children and one I am sure they will remember for a long time to come.
Only the Summer term remains for our wonderful Year 4s.
Miss Whelan & the Year 4 team xx
Spring 1 2019
Another half term has flown by in Year 4 and we have had a wonderful start to the new year. Our Spring 1 term has been filled with lots of new and exciting learning.
We had an amazing week celebrating Money, Money, Money and during this week, Year 4 concentrated on where money comes from, the various currencies needed when travelling and in particular what we use money for, The children also learnt about the role money plays in people’s lives, including the importance of it in their every day lives and how to make sure it is used effectively. During this week we invited lots of visitors to school and the children thoroughly enjoyed these sessions. Each visitor came to talk about their own personal journey and how they managed to work towards securing their job and what earning money means to them. The children used their creativity and their new money skills to run a market stall in school. They received a small budget and used it to purchase materials to create items to sell and all money raised was donated to Willowbrook Hospice. Such an amazing charity and it was fabulous to see the children having a huge part in this. As part of our English lesson during our themed week, we looked at David Walliams and his hilarious book 'Billionaire Boy'. We used this to talk about how money can impact lives and talked about whether happiness or money is more important. We dressed up as what we would like to be when we are older and wrote our own CV for our future dream job. The children loved reading through examples of Cvs and were able to write about their own qualities to help them secure the job.
Our Maths sessions this half term have concentrated on Fractions. We have learnt about fractions previously but this unit is helping us to deepen our understanding and use new maths vocabulary. So far during this unit or work the children have looked at using a fraction wall . creating their own bar models, using multiplication and division and using inference skills to compare fractions. They understand the importance of knowing their times tables when trying to find equivalent fractions and have created rules to help them find a fraction in its simplest form.
We had some more exciting visitors during this term, one of which was Tom Palmer. Tom is an author and he came to talk to the children about his books. The children asked him some interesting questions, allowing them to get an insight into how Tom became an author. This visit definitely inspired so many of our children to aim high and follow their dreams. He encouraged them to not give up and talked about his love of books and reading, which certainly encouraged the children to read more. Many of the children bought his books and thoroughly enjoyed reading them.
We also had the pleasure of a GB athlete in school. This session was super exciting and VERY tiring! Anna has competed for GB as a Paralympic athlete and talked to the children about her experiences playing basketball in a wheelchair. The children took part in various different stations and persevered to get them completed, they were not easy but the children did not give up and felt very proud of their achievements. A big thank you to those for raising money for GB Paralympics and to help go towards some new school equipment.
We are looking forward to our next half term as we are heading off on our very exciting PGL experience.
Here's to another great half term!
Miss Whelan and the Y4 team x
Autumn 2 2018
Year 4 have had a great half term!
In English, the children started with a fiction unit involving adventure narratives. The children loved using the images to help them create descriptive sentences for their stories. The children worked on their punctuation and basic skills this term and have all tried their very best to include as many of the year 4 objectives as possible in each piece of writing. The children are pushing themselves to use more ambitious vocabulary at all times which is amazing to read. Our children are now all confident when using repetition, alliteration, similes and metaphors in their stories. This unit led on nicely as next we had time to work on poetic skills. The children loved this poetry unit and created some wonderful and emotional poems for WWI week. The children really enjoyed the persuasive writing unit this term, where they got the chance to debate their opinions about mobile phone use in schools and finished this unit with very powerful and persuasive letters for Mrs Holcroft. I know she was almost swayed as the children spoke about the positives of using your phone to go on Time Tables Rockstars and Reading Plus ;-)
In Maths, the children have consolidated their knowledge of multiplication and division. They have continued to work on hard on using different strategies to solve problems. This chapter has allowed the children to show off their wonderful maths and has given them the opportunity to consolidate their learning. Our 7 time tables have been a huge importance to us this term and the children have loved the mini time tables challenge each day. Every child has managed to beat their score from the previous day each time. When we come back we will be concentrating on our 9s.
To celebrate the WWI centenary the children watched a number of videos and read numerous letters from soldiers to their loved ones before writing their own letter as a soldier. They also concentrated on creating their own poems as we learnt that many soldiers expressed their emotions about war through poetry. Some of our poems were displayed in Christ Church which was a huge honour. The art produced by the children during this week was simply amazing.
In Science, our unit has been Animals including Humans. During this unit the children learnt all about the digestive system and the various functions of each organ. The learnt about teeth and are now all aware of the various types of teeth humans have. We also compared our teeth to those of animals and learnt that some animals have teeth that help them to break down bones. The children loved investigating the effect of certain liquids on teeth, despite the foul smell that escaped each time the monitored the containers.
Despite all of the hard work, we have had lots of Christmassy fun too! We went to Christ Church, with Sandra and her wonderful helpers to celebrate the Christmas story. We also Merry Movie Mayhem where the parents came to join in the quiz and we sang songs from Christmas films! The children performed wonderfully and everyone had such a great time. The children also enjoyed a movie afternoon and laughed out load at the pantomime and puppet show.
Merry Christmas everybody!
We hope you all have an amazing festive period
xxx
Autumn 1 2018
We have a busy but fun start to Year 4 with the children showing an eagerness to learn. The children have enjoyed our Geography unit learning all about the Water Cycle and have had the opportunity to explore the processes of evaporation and condensation through a range of practical activities. By considering water as a finite resource, they were introduced to the ideas of conservation and considered some of the issues surrounding supplying clean drinking water to a growing global population. Year 4 worked together to set up their very own filtering system and were all extremely proud of their results.
We have concentrated a lot on reading this term with the children enjoying a trip to the local library to celebrate National Libraries Week. Our Readopoly Reading Challenge has been a huge success and I am excited to see who our winner is next term. A huge well done to Lola , I hope you enjoy your Smiggle voucher.
In Science this term, we have been learning all about Living Things and Their Habitats. The children have explored a variety of ways to identify, sort, group and classify living things. They learned how animals are split into ‘vertebrates’ and ‘invertebrates’ and enjoyed taking part in an invertebrate hunt in our school environment. They used and created classification keys to group, identify and name living things from the local habitat and beyond. This unit also introduced children to the idea that environments are subject to man-made and natural changes, and that these changes can have a significant impact on living things. We looked at the dangers faced by animals around our playground. Throughout the unit children work scientifically by gathering, recording and presenting information in different ways.
In PE the children have taken part in a 7 week course of swimming lessons. Many children in class are already able to complete the 25m swimming task without interruption and the others have all made wonderful progress towards this. The children have also enjoyed PE sessions concentrating on games and working as a team.
We commenced Brass lessons this term, with children playing baritones, cornets and trombones. The children are really enjoying these weekly lessons with Mr McDonald and their progress is already evident. I am sure we have some talented brass instrument players among us in Year 4 and I cannot wait to see how the next term unfolds during these lessons.
In Maths this term we have concentrated on place value, addition and subtraction and have worked hard on explaining our chosen methods. The children have also worked hard on their times tables and this is evident as many children are already on challenge 4.
Keep up the great work Year 4!
Have a wonderful, well deserved week off :-)
Miss Whelan, Mrs Ramsdale and Miss Hunt x
