Year 4 - Miss Matthews
Some important reminders:
PE is on a Tuesday and the children can wear their PE kit all day.
Water bottles should be brought into school every day.
Reading books and diaries should be brought into school every day. Please encourage your children to read at least three times a week! Please sign your child’s diary when you have listened to them read.
Spellings will be tested on a Friday and new spellings given out weekly.
We encourage children to practise their times tables regularly to prepare for the Multiplication Tables Check in June. Children enjoy practising on Times Table Rockstars or TimesTables.co.uk.
Dates:
Monday 4th May 2026: Bank Holiday
Wednesday 6th May 2026: Centre for Life visit
Monday 11th May: Winter Gardens visit
23rd-31st May: Half Term
Summer 1
Maths: This term in Maths, we will be starting our learning about decimals, including tenths and hundredths, followed by money and time.
Writing: We are focusing on the book The Great Kapok Tree, which the children will use as inspiration for a narrative and a recount. They will continue to develop their confidence when using speech in their writing.
Geography: The Geography focus for this term is Rainforests. The pupils will learn about biomes and habitats, along with adaptations for survival. Furthermore, they will learn about the risks that rainforests are facing.
Science: Linking to our learning about rainforests, pupils will develop their skills of grouping living things and creating classification keys. They will look at the problems faced by animals in the rainforests and how we can help them.
Spring 2
Geography: This term, we have been focusing on South America, learning about the climate, human geography and physical geography.
Science: This term, we developed our understanding of electricity and built our own circuits.
DT: Using our new knowledge of electricity, we built our own lightboxes. First, we had to build the structure and then decorate it. Finally, we had to add our own lightbulb circuit.
PE: We started the term with football. The children recapped their key skills and then used these in matches and penalty shootouts!
Spring 1
Computing: This term, we have made fantastic e-books that contain book reviews of the texts we have read throughout the year.
PE: All of the children have shown great sportsmanship and determination while learning new tennis skills. They have been practising their fore and back hand while playing in pairs and fours.
Active Sunderland: We have enjoyed our sessions with Active Sunderland, who have been teaching us about healthy eating and lifestyles. Recently, we got to see the impact of fats and sugars in our diet!
History:
In the Spring Term, we will be focusing our learning on Ancient Greece and how they lived. We will look at the differences between different city-states such as Athens and Sparta and compare the Greek civilisation to others that we have learned about.
English:
We will be reading a book called Leo and the Gorgon's Curse, which links to our topic. Then we will be writing a myth and a persuasive text.
Science:
This term, our focus is on the teeth and digestive system. We will conduct experiments to find out more!
Autumn 2
English: In Autumn Term 2, we are focusing on the book Pugs of the Frozen North. From this, the pupils have written their own amazing adventure stories and designed their own high-tech sleds to write an explanation text about.
Maths:
The class have learned even more of their times tables and are using these multiplication facts to answer more challenging questions.
Geography:
We have learned all about the polar and tropical regions of the world. We can now recognise the Equator, Tropics and Prime Meridian on a map! We also had an interesting visit from a real polar explorer who showed us all of the equipment he used.
DT:
This term, our focus was nutrition. We researched the types of food that Arctic Explorers need to survive and made our own sledging biscuits which were packed with energy to
Autumn 1
English and History:
In Year 4 this term, the children have been learning all about the Mayan civilization. We are covering this topic in both English and History. The children made fantastic leaflets all about Chichen Itza, a significant Mayan city. The children are reading the Rain Player book which will provide inspiration and ideas for their writing.
Maths:
Pupils will start their years exploring Place Value, all the way up to 10,000. Children will use a range of physical and pictorial resources to support their learning. They will move onto Addition and Subtraction, using column method to complete calculations.
Science:
In Science, we are exploring the states of matter- solid, liquid and gas. We are conducting experiments to develop our understanding of how states can change. We have melted ice cubes and recorded our observations and findings, and turned cream into butter!
Art:
In art, we are comparing Quentin Blake's illustrations to Petra Palmeri's realistic artwork. We have practiced our own sketching skills and will create our own artwork in the style of both artists.
RE:
We are focusing on Christianity in RE this term. We have learned all about baptism and the holy trinity. We headed to the church where the children spent the morning with Father David, who taught them all about the process of baptism. The children got to hold a christening shell and witness the baptism of a minion!
PE:
The class are working together to learn a dance routine, they are working collaboratively to create moves in partners, groups and as a whole class.
