Year 4 2024 - 2025

"Do everything in love” 1 Corinthians 16:14

 

Learning to love, loving to learn

Welcome to Year 4

Our staff

Mrs Orton is our class teacher and Miss Roberts and Mrs Furnival will be supporting your children's learning this year.

 

The following information tells you a little more about the work and activities we will be doing in Year 4. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

helen.orton@st-marys.halton.sch.uk

 

General information

• Please kindly ensure that your child has their PE kit in school at all times.
• Please ensure your child brings a water bottle to school every day.
• Homework will be given out on Fridays and we would ask you to kindly ensure it is returned to school on or before the following Wednesday for marking.
• Please read with your child at home and record their learning in their reading diary. Please kindly ensure reading diaries are brought to school on Fridays for marking.

 

Spring Half Term 1

 

Mrs Orton, Miss Roberts and Mrs Furnival are looking forward to welcoming your children back after the Christmas holidays. 

 

Please find below some information regarding what topics the children will be exploring this half term:

 

Our Christian Values

During the first half of the Spring term, our Christian value is 'Respect'.

 

RE

In our RE lessons, we will be exploring who Jesus was and what he said and did to convince Christians that he was the son of God.

 

Reading

 

During our reading lessons, will be using Pathways to Read to teach children specific reading strategies. This half term, we will be reading 'Volcanoes' by Maria Gill.  

 

English

This half term, the children will be using the book 'Zeraffa Giraffa' by Diane Hoffmeyer to write a persuasive leaflet. 

Spelling

We will continue to use Pathways to Spell as part of our English lessons to develop spelling strategies and learn spelling rules, as well as the Y3/4 spelling words. 

 

Maths

In maths, the children will learn through concrete experiences, moving onto pictorial and abstract methods as their confidence builds. They will also be encouraged to use their learning to reason about maths and solve problems. 

Our focus for the Spring term will be multiplication, place value and fractions.

Towards the end of Year 4, the children will undertake a Times Tables test. We will do lots of work with the children in class to help them learn their tables and we will continue to set weekly times table practice tasks for homework. If you would like any advice regarding how you can further support your child at home, please don't hesitate to ask.

 

Science

This half term, the children will be studying the human digestive system and the names and functions of each organ. We will also be learning about teeth and conducting experiments to discover the importance of looking after our teeth. Towards the end of this half term, we will start exploring food chains and food webs and the impact they have on the environment and indeed our own lives.  

 

Geography

Our geography topic for this half term is mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes.  The children will be exploring how mountain ranges are formed and will study some of the world's most prominent mountain ranges. They will also be learning how earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur and will be introduced to lots of technical vocabulary. I know they are really looking forward to this unit! 

 

Art

In our art lessons, the children will be studying impressionism and will spend lots of time developing a range of techniques used by impressionist painters.

 

PE

Our PE lessons will continue to promote a healthy lifestyle. This half term, the children will be participating in outdoor adventure activities with a view to enhancing their team building and decision making skills. 

 

Courageous Advocacy

As we continue to live our lives and act out the teachings of Jesus, we will look to be courageous advocates and promote good mental health and support children less fortunate than ourselves. 

 

PHSE

In PHSE, we will continue to learn about the importance of mental wellbeing and will learn further strategies to keep our minds healthy. We will be following the school value of 'respect' in our PSHE lessons, thinking about how we should respect ourselves and one another. 

 

Music

This term, we will be using Charanga for our music lessons. We will ask ourselves how music improves our world and compose pieces to try to connect with our spiritual selves.

 

MFL

In our French lessons, we will be building on the knowledge and vocabulary we have already learned and delving deeper into the animal kingdom. We already know the names of some animals in French and this half term, we will be looking at their lifestyles and their habitats.  

 

Computing

Computing lessons are crucial in this increasingly digital age. This half term, the children will learn how to use data loggers.

 

Homework

Homework will be sent out on a Friday to be returned on or before the following Wednesday.

We expect each piece to take around 15-20 minutes. If you have any questions or queries, please come and see us or write a note on the piece of work. Homework will be designed to either build on skills taught in class or pre teach knowledge or skills for the following week. Therefore, we appreciate your support with this important part of your child's learning journey.

 

Pettypool residential

This term, Year 4 are going on an overnight residential at Pettypool Outdoor Education Centre.