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Grangetown Primary

Year 4 - Mrs Millican

Welcome to Year 4

Important things to remember:

  • Please remember to bring in reading books and home/school diaries every day. They will be checked and signed every Monday.
  • Violins need to be brought in to school on a Tuesday.
  • Football with Arj is on a Wednesday lunchtime. Please bring football kits to school to change into.
  • Our P.E. day is a Friday. Children may come to school dressed in their jogging bottoms with their school tops. 
  • Learning at Home books should be returned on a Thursday and new work will be given out on a Friday.
  • Water bottles should be brought in to school every day.

July - Designing and Making Musical Instruments

                   

For our Design Technology lessons this half term, the year 4 children designed and made their own musical instruments. The children had time to listen to a variety of instruments and use them to find out how they made different sounds. In science, we learned about vibration and pitch and used our knowledge to decide what we would like our instruments to sound like. Using a wide range of recyclable materials, the children created their own ‘string’ and percussion musical machines. The children evaluated, altered, and decorated their devices and then made our own Year 4 orchestra.

June - Holy Trinity Church (1719)

            

To introduce our history half term local history topic, the year 4 children visited Holy Trinity Church. After a tour of the church, looking closely at the different artefacts, the children learnt all about some of its secrets from the past. They learned all about a young, orphan boy, who had sung in the choir. He wrote a letter explaining that he was going to be 14 years old and would be sent to sea. He wanted to be remembered. The letter was hidden in a pew and found 125 years after it had been written! The children then completed a writing workshop, using quills and chalk to write their own letters, using the style of handwriting that William had done. The children then visited the Marine Heritage Museum and learned all about the kind of ship that William would have worked on. They also looked at some of the history of ships and ship building in Sunderland.

May - Generation Wild

            

The year 4 children had a wonderful day at the Washington Wetlands Centre when they learned how to become ‘Guardians of the Wild’. In school, we read a story ‘Ava’s Destiny’, all about a young osprey who transformed into a creature half girl, half bird. When the children visited the centre, they were surprised to stumbled upon Ava and her nest. She asked the children to help her by looking after nature so that the creatures would communicate with us. The children then completed different nature activities including making bug hotels and playgrounds, finding and identifying minibeasts and creating nature tracks. The children had the opportunity to watch the otters feeding time and in the afternoon, we toured the Wetlands.

April - Handball, Dodgeball, Benchball

            

The year 4 children have had some fabulous PE experiences throughout April. We had the opportunity to visit both Raich Carter and Sunderland Tennis Centre to take part in two festivals. Children challenged a number of different schools, firstly, in handball and benchball and the following week in dodgeball. We learned lots of new skills and tactics as well as the importance of working together as a team. The children really enjoyed the competitions and all improved their games ability.

Summer 1

During the first half of the summer term, the children will be learning all about the Amazon Rainforest. We will find out about different climates and environments and the animals that live in them. 

March 23rd - World Maths Day

             

We celebrated the importance of maths by showing how maths is needed every day. Classes played games where maths is needed, for example, using a dice to move, counting ‘money’, looking at shapes in jigsaws, and playing card games and dominoes. Some children designed and make their own game which included a mathematical element. Each class learned about a famous mathematician and discussed how important their studies, work and theories were to how we use their findings in the mathematics we use today. Mathematicians included Pythagoras, Archimedes and Florence Nightingale. Everyone had a wonderful day, recognising the value of maths.

February 16th - Ancient Greece Day

To celebrate all that we had learned in the first half of the Spring term, Y4 had a special Ancient Greece Day. The children were invited to come in to school dressed as people would have dressed in Ancient Greek times, or as a Greek God or Goddess – and they looked amazing! We began our day by looking at the Ancient Greek alphabet and writing our names using letters and symbols. We then made our own olive wreath crown to wear throughout the day. We learned about different Greek buildings and columns and in small groups, the children were set the task of designing and making a Greek temple, using only a limited number of sheets of paper and card. The temple needed to be strong enough to hold a weight. During the afternoon, we learned about Greek Myths, including finding out about Hercules. We learned how Greek pottery can teach us lots about what life was like in Ancient Greece and then designed and coloured our own pots. The children also had fun tasting some of the foods that they would have had in Ancient Greek times. We all had a fabulous day!  

Spring 2

In the second half of the Spring term, year 4 will be reading the book The Wild Robot. We will then use this to base our writing on. We will be looking at South America in our geography lessons, trying to learn about the different countries that make up the continent. Our science lessons will be electrifying as we learn about the different components that are needed to make up a circuit and learning the difference between battery power and mains power. 

January - Swimming

For our PE lessons this half term, the year 4 children will be swimming at Southmoor Academy. They were all very excited this week when we went for our first lesson. They all had a fantastic time walking and swimming across the pool, ducking under, floating and gliding in the water.

Spring 1

This half term, the children will be reading the wonderful book Leo and the Gorgon's Curse. They will be basing their English work around the book using it as a motivation for their writing. It also links to our history work this term where we will be learning all about the Ancient Greeks. For our science, we will be finding out about different types of teeth and their functions and will also learn all about the digestive system. Times table learning will be very important this term, so hopefully the children will be practising at home as well as in school. The children are very excited about out PE this term as we will be going swimming for the first time - at Southmoor Academy

December 19th - Christmas Singing Celebration

The children sang beautifully and remembered all of the actions this morning in our Christmas sing celebration. You'd better watch out... 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town!'

December - Science

In science this half term, the year we have been learning all about how gases, liquids and solids change state. We observed ice to see if the size of the ice cube made a difference to the time it took to melt. We also found out how to speed up the process of evaporation – and weighed sponges that had been placed in different conditions. The children really enjoyed making their own water cycles in a glass, watching the warm water evaporate and then condense again as it hit the icey ‘lid’ on the top of the glass. The children then really enjoyed making their own ‘water cycle in a bag’ and sticking them onto the window to watch the evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection of water. 

November 11th - Magical Maths

                 

Today, we completed out first Magical Maths problem solving and reasoning activity. Our problem today was to find Magic Vs. We used the digits 1-5 and needed to make each of the arms of the V add to the same number. We decided what equipment and resources we should use and then worked in groups so we could discuss what we found. We enjoyed looking for patterns and rules.

November 8th - Arctic/Antarctic Workshop

                       

        

The children had a fantastic day taking part in an Arctic/Antarctic workshop. They learned all about what life would be like living in the coldest parts of the Earth. We had a fantastic day, trying on protective clothing, trying skis and sledges, building tents and tasting rationed, dried foods. The wonderful day will definitely help us to understand the work we will be learning all about this half term in geography, DT and science.

Autumn 2

In the second half of the Autumn term, year 4 will be learning all about the Arctic and Antarctic. They will find out about lines of longitude and latitude, including learning the names of the tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator. In science, we will be finding out about evaporation and condensation and how these processes are part of the water cycle. We will be reading the book Pugs of the Frozen North and will use the story to help motivate our own writing.

October - Freeze Frames

        

The children enjoyed working in groups to create freeze frames to retell the Mayan soothsayer's story of the Battle of Quirigua. The children then wrote letters to the king of Chichen Itza to warn him of the rebel city.

September - Visit to St Aidan's Church


 

   

     

 



The Year 4 children had a wonderful visit to St Aiden's Church where they were met by Father David who taught us all about Baptism in the Christian Church. The children learnt about why Holy water is used and how the sign of the cross is made on the forehead of the person being christened. We looked at the christening shell and the candle and even had the chance to all watch a christening take place - of of a minion. Afterwards, we had the wonderful opportunity of looking around the church and were able to ask lots of questions about the signs and symbols. 

Autumn 1

During the Autumn tern, the year 4 children will be learning all about the Mayan civilization. They will be reading the Rain Player book and The Chocolate Tree for inspiration for their writing. In science we will learning all about different states of matter and in RE we will find out about baptism and what Christians believe is the Holy Trinity.