Class 4 – Spring Term

Spring Term in Year 4

CHINA

English:

We start the New Year by beginning a new text ‘Firework Makers Daughter’. We will write a tale of quest and a tale of fear. Children will continue to improve their sentence work, handwriting and developing their love for writing. There will also be an opportunity for children to complete a small poetry unit too.  

Through our Pathways to Reading sessions, we will discuss and record words and phrases that the author uses to engage and impact on the reader, make predictions based on details and information that the children have deduced, and identify where the author has made precise word choices for impact and effect. We will transfer these skills into our own writing. 

Our narrative writing will explore the themes of both adventure and tales of fear, from which we will focus on the use of fronted adverbials, speech punctuation and the use of noun phrases, expanded by adding modified adjectives and prepositional phrases. 

The non-fiction units on explanation texts, chronological and non-chronological reports will link closely to our topic this term. 

Maths:

We begin this term looking at multiplication and division units, where the children will consolidate their prior knowledge of multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100 before moving on to using facts from the 6,7 9,11, and 12 times tables in order to both multiply and divide. We will also learn how to multiply both 2 and 3 digit numbers by a single digit, learn about factor pairs, understand and use written methods and solve correspondence problems. The children will continue to develop their ability to quickly recall and derive times table facts for all of the tables up to 12 x 12. This will help with the Times Table Test all year 4 children will take later on in this academic year. A meeting about this will be held this year for your questions to be answered. 

After, we will be moving onto measurement, paying particular attention to length and perimeter. The children will learn to calculate the perimeter of both rectangles and rectilinear shapes. They will find missing measurements and calculate from diagrams without grids. Finally, we will start to look at fractions. 

Science:

We begin the spring term by learning about the digestive system and how our bodies function. The children will also learn about our teeth and their role, as well as how they are affected by decay. 

The second half term the children will begin learning about electricity, circuits and electrical components. The children will develop their understanding of what electricity is used for and how to identify common appliances before creating their own circuits. 

Music:

The children have been making good progress with their instrument lessons. This term, the children will develop their ability to read standard notation and play with greater clarity and expression, with the teachers from Love Music Trust. Please remember they need to practise during the week at home to make the most progress. Music lessons take place on a Thursday so children need their instrument in. 

Art/Design and Technology:

During this term we will be looking at some of the beautiful artwork that has been created within Ancient China. This will include lots of hands–on and creative activities for the children to do and will allow the children an opportunity to recreate pieces of historical artwork in a variety of ways. The children will be using clay to make plates and then decorating them with beautiful willow patterns. The children will also be developing their knowledge of Chinese writing and create their own scrolls. 

Wider Curriculum:

This term we will begin to learn about Ancient China and The Shang Dynasty. The children will start to investigate when events happened and where they fit into the history of the country. We will explore the how civilisation was different back then and how this is significant in today’s world. The children will be able to locate China on a map and find out about what the country is like as a place and how it has been developed. The children will learn about the Great wall of China. 

Computing:

The children will be starting to learn about how to work collaboratively both online and on shared documents. We will be looking at how this links to Google Classroom and how this is one way of working with others online. The children will also begin to explore the use of email, how to create slides, and how to handle data within spreadsheets. 

PSHE:

As we embark on a new year, the children will be encouraged to think about goals and ambitions that they want to set for themselves. The children will also learn about making informed choices and how they can have both positive and negative consequences. From this, they will explore the term ‘balanced lifestyle’. We will continue to encourage the children to be respectful and responsible citizens. 

World Religions:

This term we focus on celebration and what different people across the world celebrate and how they show their celebrations. This will include Passover and Eid. As well as this we will be discussing what non-religious people believe and celebrate.

P.E:

Our PE day this term will be swimming lessons at Congleton Pool supported by staff at the pool and from the school. Please send your children into school with their swimming kits each Wednesday morning. School kits need to be brought in each Monday for any opportunity to have a P.E. lesson. Kits are a Marlfields named tracksuit or Marlfields named logo t-shirt, black shorts and sensible footwear.

Homework:

Spellings and times tables should be practiced daily for 10 minutes. Spellings will be set online via Google Classroom every Friday ready to be practiced over the weekend in preparation for the following week. Maths and English homework will be set on Friday with the expectation that it will be completed by the following Thursday. English/topic themed homework will be set via Google Classroom, please let me know if you need any help logging in. Maths homework will continue to be set on My Maths. Times tables will be tested regularly.  The children are expected to complete their weekly Times Table Rock stars practice sessions. 

French:

The children will continue to develop their ability to hold simple conversation. We will also explore language patterns using song and rhyme. This term we will be looking at items of clothing, the colours of the items and the parts of the body where they are worn.