Welcome to Year 4

Mrs Summers, Mrs Ellis and Mrs Harbour

Our theme for Spring 2 is:

Why is Birmingham called the Venice of the North?

Our Theme

Our driver theme this term is ‘Why is Birmingham called the Venice of the North?’, which is a History theme. The children will be looking at the history of canals and their impact in the local area. They will be comparing what canals were used for in the past and what they are like now. They will be looking at why Birmingham has so many canals too. As well as this, they will be finding out more about James Brindley who was responsible for building the canals in Coventry and Birmingham. We are hoping to have a trip to the Coventry canal basin to compliment this term’s topic but this will not be until May or June time due to availability. More details will follow.

English 

In English this half term, we will be finish reading ‘Ocean meets the sky’ where we will be completing a lot of descriptive writing. Following this we will look at the book ‘What really happened to Little Red Riding Hood-The wolf’s story’ which tells the traditional story but from a different perspective. The children will then use this story to write their own story based on this one, but this time from a different perspective again.

Reading, as always, will be a crucial part of the children’s learning. The children will continue to use Accelerated Reader for their daily reading books, which they will also bring home. The children will also have whole class reading comprehension lessons using a variety of books and focusing on different domains such as retrieval, prediction, vocabulary and author’s choice.

Maths

In Maths, we will be looking at time. The children will be consolidating their understanding of the 12 hour clock and will be introduced to the 24 hour clock. They will also answer word problems to do with time. The children will then move on to decimals. The children will be using a variety of representations to understand the value of tenths and hundredths. They will then be comparing and ordering decimals as well as rounding and calculating using decimals. Following this, the children will be looking perimeter and then will be introduced to area by counting the amount of squares in a shape.

Science

This half term, in Science, we will be starting our unit  ‘In a state: Melting, freezing and evaporation’.

They will be looking at the properties of liquids, gases and solids. The children will look at the changes in state. Their learning will also link to the water cycle where they will learn about the process modelling it in different ways.

RE

In RE, we will be finishing our unit on Buddhism where the children will be finishing their focussed enquiry question: Can Buddha’s teachings make the world a better place?

We will then move on to our new focussed enquiry question: Is forgiveness always possible for Christians?

DT

We will be finishing our unit in Art looking at Monet’s paintings and then we will move on to DT.

In DT, we will be looking at pneumatics. The children will explore various pneumatic systems before designing one of their own for a toy for a young child involving pneumatics.

PE

This term the children will be learning skills to support them to play Hockey with the coaches from Onside. They will learn the skills to build up to playing a game.

For their second PE session, the children will be having a Thursday afternoon for their Forest Schools session. Please see below for details of what they will need to wear on this day.

Computing

We will be completing a unit of ‘Animation’ where the children will be using 2animate to create their own animations. They will then be adding backgrounds and music to their animations. As well as this, they will be creating their own ‘stop motion’ animation.

PSHE

In PSHE this half term, we will finish our unit on Dreams and Goals.

We will then move on to the next theme which will be ‘Healthy Me’. The children will be looking at healthier friendships, group dynamics, the dangers of smoking and alcohol, being assertive, peer pressure and celebrating inner strength.

Important information

• PE this half term is timetabled for a Thursday and a Friday . On a Thursday the children will have their Forest Schools session (which replaces their previous PE session on a Wednesday). Children should come to school wearing a white T shirt, shorts/joggers and trainers/plimsolls in school on their PE day. For Forest Schools, the children will need to wear jogging bottoms and warm clothes on top that they don’t mind getting dirty/muddy. They will also need a waterproof coat and wellies to change in to from the shoes that they will be wearing for the rest of the day.
• The children will need to bring in their AR books daily to read in school and should bring them back home, You should continue to read with your child at least 3 times a week. The children will come home with their AR book at the beginning of next week.

How you can help at home

Encourage your child to complete activities on Times Tables Rockstars particularly on the ‘Garage’ tab where the children will then develop their own ‘heatmap’ which will identify the weaker times tables which they can then practise. Use the websites recommended in the weekly notices which simulate the times tables test that the children will be taking part in June.

Ask your child what they already know about canals for our new topic. Encourage them to complete research if they wish. You may even wish to go to a local canal to see how they are used these days.

Listen to your child read at least 3 times per week and have discussions about the text (record the reading sessions in their reading records). Encourage them to summarise what they have read. I have now added a list of the types of questions you could ask your child when reading with them to the class page in the form of a bookmark.

Homework-this will be given out on a Friday and will consist of spellings based on the rule that we have been working on that week, a maths and English activity based on the learning for that week as well as an optional Maths with parents activity to consolidate their learning. We also encourage the children to play on Times Tables Rockstars to improve their multiplication and division fact recall.

We work with a company called SEND Supported at school and they are releasing newsletters each week offering support and guidance to parents of children who many have additional needs in school. Please find below a link to these newsletters:

There are also lots of other resources and information available on their website. The 'Things to do Issue 2 - Resources' file has some lovely activities for all children regardless of whether they have additional needs or not. There are lots of great visual puzzles and games for children to play so please have a look if you can. There are also resources available now to support with developing children's memory skills in 'Thing to do Issue 3 - Resources.'

Literacy Links

Free e books - just register  

Maths Links

P.E Links  

Look out for information being sent to you with login details to use this at home!

Daily half an hour workouts Monday - Friday 9 a.m (Don't worry if you missed it, they are all saved)

Curriculum Links                                      Myleene's Music Klass