Summer 2
For the love of reading text
Mary Poppins by P. L Travers
From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, everyday life at the Banks house is forever changed.
It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house. She becomes a most unusual nanny to Jane, Michael, and the twins. Who else but Mary Poppins can slide up banisters, pull an entire armchair out of an empty carpetbag, and make a dose of medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial? A day with Mary Poppins is a day of magic and make-believe come to life!
White Rose Maths
Geometry: Shape – Understanding angles and symmetry.
Position and Direction – Coordinates and translation on a grid
Statistics: Interpreting and drawing line graphs
Geography/ History
Crime and Punishment - How has crime and punishment changed over the years?
For our History focus, we will understand how and why laws and punishments change over time. Children will explain how attitudes towards crime have changed and understand how and why the police force has changed over time. We will understand that views on what a punishment is have changed over time and we will discuss how and why attitudes towards the suffragettes have changed over time.
Science
Electricity
We will continue our Science focus on electricity, recognising that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit. We will also recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.
Educational Visit
N/A
PSHE/RSE/ RE
PSHE/RSE - How do we manage risks in different places?
This half term, we will discuss how to recognise, predict, assess and manage risk in different situations. We will know how to keep safe in the local environment and less familiar locations (e.g. near rail, water, road; fire/firework safety; sun safety and the safe use of digital devices when out and about.) Children will understand how people can be influenced by their peers’ behaviour and by a desire for peer approval; recognising how to manage this influence.
Children will understand how people’s online actions can impact on other people and we will know how to keep safe online, including managing requests for personal information and recognising what is appropriate to share or not share online. We will know how to report concerns, including about inappropriate online content and contact
RE - How and why do people mark the significant events of life?
During RE lessons, children will identify some beliefs and make simple links about love, commitment and promises in two religious traditions; describing what they mean and how people live (e.g. through celebrating forgiveness, salvation and freedom at festivals.) We will offer informed suggestions about the meaning and importance of ceremonies of commitment for religious and non-religious people today, describing what happens in ceremonies of commitment (e.g. baptism, sacred thread, marriage) and say what these rituals mean. We will raise questions and suggest answers about whether it is good for everyone to see life as a journey, and to mark the milestones and give good reasons why we think ceremonies of commitment are or are not valuable today.
Art/ D & T/ Music
Art – Our artist focus is Bridget Riley
We will continue to study the artist Bridget Riley, modifying, adapting, combining and designing prints and using tessellation to complete art in the style of Bridget Riley. We will create our own abstract pattern to reflect personal expression and will be able to discuss and evaluate our own work
D&T – Our focus is Mechanisms; Making a car
Within design and technology lessons, we will be building a car chassis. We will design a shape that reduces air resistance and investigate and analyse a range of existing products. We will make a model based on a chosen design and assemble and test our completed product. Finally, we will evaluate ideas and products against a given success criteria.
Music – Reflect, Rewind and Replay.
Spanish
Fruits and Vegetables
This half term, we will name fruits and vegetables, recognise and use masculine and feminine nouns and give our own opinion of a fruit and vegetables, including giving a negative opinion of fruit and vegetables. We will hold a short conversation and answer questions about our fruit/vegetables preferences. We will continue to broaden our vocabulary and understanding by using a dictionary.
PE day
Our PE Day will be on a Wednesday. Our sport focus will be ‘Nimble Nets’ in which we will study Tennis, becoming familiar with serving and rallying. Our fitness focus will be ‘Cool Core (Pilates)’ and we will participate in a range of balance, coordination and concentration techniques Our health focus will be ‘Healthy Mind: Healthy Body.’
Spellings/ Reading
Our spellings for this half term will focus on possessive apostrophes with plural words.
We will continue to focus on the Y3/Y4 statutory spelling list throughout all lessons.
Summer 1
For the love of reading text
Year 4 will be meeting the wonderful characters of Stig of the Dump by Clive King. We will be using drama to step into Stig's world, explore his extraordinary den and go on adventures along with Barney and Stig. We will be using this text to write a narrative from a first person perspective. We will then write to persuade through a letter.
White Rose Maths
Continuing our learning of decimals.
Money
Time
Geography/ History
Geography
The children will be exploring earthquakes and volcanoes, finding out how the Earth shakes, rattles and rolls. We will be describing and understanding the key aspects of volcanoes and earthquakes, exploring how they follow patterns. We will be introduced to the tectonic plates and learn about the 'Pacific Ring of Fire'. We will take time looking at the causes and distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes, along with the effects on both landscapes and the people who live in the vicinity. We will consider why people choose to live in such life-threatening zones and what they must do in order to take precautions. To finish off, we will be creating our own volcanoes.
Science
We will begin our term-long topic of electricity. First of all, we will explore the dangers of electricity, making sure we know what steps must be taken to ensure we are all safe in all environments. We will explore which appliances around our homes use electricity and recognise the difference between mains and battery operated appliances. We will begin to identify the components of a basic series circuit to create our own, exploring where issues may arise and how to overcome this.
Educational Visit
We will be visiting the Think Tank science museum in Birmingham. We are lucky enough to be able to watch electricity in action in a live show then exploring how our planet works in the planetarium. We will explore the rest of the venue, looking back on previous learning (such as the digestive system) and future learning such as space.
PSHE/RSE/ RE
Within PSHE lessons we will explore how our choices make a difference to others and the environment. We will explore the importance of Fairtrade and giving to charity and being mindful of the use of single use plastics. We will have show how we are able to show care and concern for others (people and animals) and to carry out personal responsibilities in a caring and compassionate way. In our RE lessons we explore what it is like for someone to follow God. We will make clear links between the story of Noah and the idea of covenant, make simple links between promises in the story of Noah and promises that Christians make at a wedding ceremony. Finally, we will make links between the story of Noah and how we live in school and the wider world.
Art/ D & T/ Music
Our focus artist for this half term is Bridget Riley. We will begin to interpret environmental and manmade pattern, we will modify and adapt prints and use tessellation to complete art in the style of Bridget Riley. Within our DT lessons we will be researching and designing to enable us to make a car chassis. We will research shapes that reduce air resistance and use this knowledge to design a suitable model. Within music lessons we will explore the song 'Blackbird' by the Beatles, we will explore the meaning behind the lyrics and work together to sing in unison.
Spanish
This half term we will explore how to discuss animals in Spanish. We will begin by learning the vocabulary of popular animals. When we are confident with the spelling and pronunciation of these, we will work on using this vocabulary within full sentences and questions, allowing us to have back and forth conversations with our peers in Spanish.
PE day
Year 4 will continue to have PE on Wednesdays. Please ensure PE kit is in school every day however as this can sometimes be subject to change.
Spellings/ Reading
Spellings will be given each Monday and will be tested on the following Monday. Each set of spellings will have a specific focus/rule. Our focus this time will be on the suffix -ly and the prefixes sub, anti, auto and inter. We will also continue to learn our Y3/4 statutory word list which can be found at the back of your child's reading diary.
Spring 2
For the love of reading text
Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson. ‘Maia, an orphan, can’t wait to reach her distant relatives a thousand miles up the Amazon. She imagines a loving family with whom she will share great adventures. Instead she finds two spiteful cousins who see the jungle as the enemy and refuse to go outdoors. But the wonders of the rainforest more than make up for the hideous Carters. And when Maia meets a mysterious boy who lives alone on the wild river shores, she begins a spectacular journey to the heart of an extraordinary new world.’
We will spend time exploring how this fantastic author describes the wonders of the Amazon and portrays the emotions of the characters. Then, we will use this information to write our own set of instructions on how to get to the Amazon rainforest. Next, we will use many of the skills we have banked throughout year 4 to write our own narrative in the style of Eva Ibbotson, using all of the techniques we know to describe the Amazon. Finally, we will conclude our writing this half term by delving into Diamante poems and writing our own!
White Rose Maths
This half term, we will conclude our learning with fractions by using the skills we have built so far to convert mixed fractions and improper fractions within addition and subtraction sums. We will then move onto our decimals topic of understanding tenths and hundredths on a place value chart and number line, then using this to divide 1 and digit numbers by 10 and 100.
Geography/ History
Within geography this half term we will be exploring Rivers – both those within the United Kingdom and famous rivers around the world. We will be exploring the water cycle and how this has an impact on how rivers can begin. Year 4 will explore how rivers can stretch through both rural and urban environments. We will spend time exploring the River Thames, following this from source to mouth. We will compare the River Thames to other large rivers around the world, locating these on a map.
Science
We will explore animals including humans this half term, focusing on teeth! We will begin by exploring oral hygiene and how tooth decay can be prevented. We will then explore the different types of teeth within a human’s mouth and how these may change throughout our lifetime. Next, we will explore the digestive system and how our bodies process our diet including our favourite experiment of the year! Finally, we will explore teeth within other animals and how their diets and food chains will affect what teeth they have.
Educational Visit
Our educational visit this half term will be to Tittesworth Reservoir to explore our learning within Geography further. We will see examples of the water cycle in action from small streams, to waterfalls and the reservoir itself.
PSHE/RSE/ RE
Within PSHE/RSE this half term, year 4 will be introduced to the aspect of bodies changes as they process through puberty. We will explore ways to access and support to manage their own and others’ feelings around puberty and the feelings they may experience throughout this. We will continue this by exploring how personal hygiene routines may need to adapt throughout this process.
Within RE this half term, we will continue to explore Christian beliefs with a particular focus on the Pentecost and the Holy Trinity. We will explore the reasons as to why some may have different beliefs to the Pentecost and God in comparison to past.
Art/ D & T/ Music
Art lessons this half term will continue to centre around our focus artist this term Linda Calverly. We will practise using scale and proportion to draw whole bodies. Then, we will explore the artist through the use of technology. Creating digital art using Calverly’s art as inspiration.
Spanish
This half term we will extend our Spanish vocabulary to items of clothing. Right from a hat to a pair of shoes. We will use our previous learning of colours and numbers to begin to use this vocabulary within full sentences. We will practise asking and questions in relation to this within dialogue.
PE day
Year 4’s PE day will be on a Wednesday.
Spellings/ Reading
We recommend that children read at home a minimum of 3 times per week, we continue to follow this in school too. Your child has a reading book to suit their ability. Also, spellings will be added to your child’s spelling book each week when they will be tested the following week. All spellings each week will follow a spelling rule, this will be evident at the top of their sticker each week.
Spring 1
Roman Britain: Was the Roman invasion good or bad for Britain?
This half term, the children will learn about the Roman invasion of Britain and it’s impact on the lives of the Celts. They will consider whether the Roman settlement was a positive experience for all involved, and explore the long-term legacy of the invasion. They will use a variety of sources of evidence to investigate the topic, including visual sources of artefacts (the Vindolanda Tablets) and archaeological sites (Hadrian’s wall). They will investigate how the Roman army was organised, before role playing a reconstruction of a Roman army drill.
Autumn 2
The Ancient Egyptians
In this unit, the children will explore who the Ancient Egyptians were, what they did, and discuss whether Ancient Egypt deserves its reputation as one of the most important early civilisations.
The children will research the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China, Ancient Sumer and the Indus Valley civilisation and compare these to the Egyptians and Britain at that time before creating a time capsule.
Autumn 1
Can you come on a Great American Road Trip?
In our topic this half term, the children, inspired by Johnny Cash singing ’I’ve been everywhere’, will travel the North and South American continents. They will distinguish between the terms ’continent’, ’region’, ’country’, ’state’ and ’city’ along the journey. Finding and using images and maps on the internet and in atlases, children will make notes on cities and record their countries/states. They will compare the built-up environments and settings of the cities as well as identified key regions of the American continents.