Welcome to Year 4
Welcome to Year 4.
The focus expedition for this term will be “The Romans” which will involve the exploration of the question “What did the Romans ever do for me?”. There will be many opportunities for the children to research areas of interest, work with their peers as well as collaborate in larger groups. Children will also be encouraged to be independent learners and will have the opportunities to develop many critical thinking skills.
Literacy
In Literacy we will be studying a plethora of different literature, as well as reading stories set in the Roman era, such as “Escape from Pompeii” written by Christina Balit and “My Family and Other Romans” written by Marie Basting.
I place a large importance in Reading. Children will be frequently listened to as they read, and I encourage that this is replicated at home, if and when you have the time. Children are encouraged to change their home reading book on their set day which will be a Monday.
Children will develop their Writing skills through producing newspaper reports, diary accounts, letter, persuasive and creative writing leading to presentations. Your children will then further develop their writing skills by looking at grammar and developing their ability to hopefully capture an audience with their writing.
Numeracy
Throughout the Autumn term, your child/ren shall be exploring:
*Place value – representing numbers to 1,000 as well as partitioning and creating number lines to 1,000. Representing numbers to 10,000 as well as partitioning of numbers of 10,000. Finding 1, 10, 100, 1000 more or less and comparing and ordering numbers within 10,000. We will also be rounding to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 as well as exploring Roman Numerals – linked to our expedition.
*Addition and Subtraction – exploring adding and subtracting in 1s, 10s, 100s and 1,000s as well as exploring these with exchanges. Estimating answers and checking strategies.
*Multiplication and Division – multiples of 3, 6, 7, 9 as well as 2, 5, 10 and 11 from Year 3. Long multiplication and multiplying by 3 numbers. Division facts of the above multiplication tables.
*Area – counting squares to find area. Multiplication facts to calculate area and perimeter andlength.
Humanities
In the Autumn term, we will be learning about the Roman era (27BC-476AD), exploring the story of Romulus and Remus, invaders and settlers, the Celts, the Roman army in Britain and influential people of the era. We will also be exploring Life in Roman Britain as well as Roman myths and legends.
Science
We will be exploring “Rocks” and “Forces and Magnets”. I am hoping for lots of hands-on investigation. The children will develop their understanding of investigations, fair tests and how to record relevant data. We will also look to create volcanoes to explore the devastation in Pompeii.
Religion, Value and Ethics
In RVE, during the Autumn term, Year 4 will be exploring “Big Frieze”, “People of God” and “Incarnation”. We will explore what the children can already recognise and look to further deepen their understanding in both the Old and New Testament.
I.C.T (Digital Competency Framework)
We will continue to focus on keeping children safe when online and when communicating online. In ICT, the children will create documents, PowerPoints, spreadsheets and graphs. We will explore features of HWB, so it is essential that all children can log into their own HWB accounts. We will also explore saving work online and creating documents that multiple people can access at once. We will also be using ICT to explore Music through apps such as ‘GarageBand’ and further developing the children’s knowledge of ‘StopMotion’.
Welsh
As well as reinforcing what the children already know through a variety of retrieval practice games, we shall also be introducing new vocabulary relating to ‘camping – gwersylla’ and ‘illness – salwch’. Children will practice sentence patterns through a variety of different ways, such as songs, roleplay and games. We shall also be using the role of ‘Helpwr Heddiw’ in the classroom to help develop their
language skills.
Physical Education
P.E lessons are timetabled for a Monday and a Tuesday. Please could your child wear their P.E kits and trainers on these days into school. As the weather gets colder, your child will need a P.E hoodie or sweatshirt for when we are outside. Children are not permitted to wear colourful ‘team’ shorts, t-shirts or jumpers, in line with our uniform policy.
This term our focus is developing the children’s skills in gymnastics, the fundamentals of Physical Education as well as ball skills used in rugby and netball.
Expressive Arts
There will be lots of opportunities to experiment with different mediums of art. Through using these different techniques. Presently, we are exploring Nick Rowland and Jackson Pollock to create volcano art.
Music also plays a role in the classroom, with children using song to help aid the understanding of topics as well as developing rhythm.
There will also be the opportunity for children to participate in drama and role play scenes from the Roman era. The children have expressed an interest in battle formations and I will incorporate this into their learning.
Homework
Homework will usually be given out on a Friday and I would appreciate it if it could be returned by the following Friday, thus giving the children a whole 7 days to complete. I can appreciate a lot of your children participate in extracurricular activities.
Homework will be given via Google Classroom and will usually consist of spellings for the week, as well as a small math and/or a small language activity.
Best wishes and I look forward to updating you throughout the year,
Miss Phillips
