Welcome to Year 4- a year of Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Viking invaders, global adventures, lots of learning and lots of fun!
Year 4 Teachers
Mrs Stockwell
Miss Olley
Miss Blackwood
D.A.R.T at the heart…
At Kader, we know that in order to make ideas ‘stick’ we have to revisit them repeatedly. Every day, within all of our lessons, we have Dedicated Active Recall Time (or D.A.R.T!) which involves us completing activities to revise prior learning. We know that we can actively make our brains grow by doing this and we love to see our knowledge-base expand as a result. Our knowledge organisers help us to recap learning across our topics and we are building a wealth of strategies to learn key facts, dates, words and methods of learning.
Books, books and more books…
Like in other year groups across school, we LOVE it when our learning all links together as it helps us to make vital links, joins and connections between the knowledge we acquire.
Each topic we learn runs for a half-term and around this, we have built a Book Spine to help us strengthen our understanding of other curriculum areas. Our texts are carefully selected to give us a range of reading experiences, from a wealth of genres and authors. This helps us to embed our learning in other areas of the curriculum and develop our vocabulary bank, since the books we use are so rich in language. During our Whole Class Reading sessions, we use quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry to transport us to other worlds and to help us become proficient readers with a breadth of materials. Each day, we use Reading Plus to help us to develop our reading skills as well as our fluency and stamina.
Our maths vision…
Our mathematics’ vision is to promote curiosity, enjoyment and a love and thirst for challenge and learning. It is ambitious and creative, empowering us to become independent, resilient and successful mathematicians. We strive to develop a life-long love of learning mathematics and the skills to play an active, creative and responsible role in society.
Maths learning in Year 4, just like every other year group, ensures that we gain both mathematical fluency and the ability to apply our skills to reasoning-based problems. We use online platforms (Conquer Maths and Times Table Rockstars) to supplement our work in school and to ensure we constantly revisit maths facts to embed them further.
What is the Year 4 Times Tables Test?
By the end of Year 4, pupils should have memorised their times tables up to and including the 12 times table, and they will show precision and fluency in their work. The Year 4 Times Tables Test is an annual check that Year 4s in England and Wales complete. It is an online test with 25 questions; children must answer each question within 6 seconds so the whole test will take less than 5 minutes. There will be no publication of a school’s times table tests results and they will not be one of a school’s accountability measures. However, it is vitally important that the children work to the best of their ability as tables are vital to their success for KS2 SATS.
2022_Information_for_parents_Multiplication_tables_check
Helping at home…
We work incredibly hard at school and so down-time with family is very important. At home however, we can utilise the online platform of Conquer Maths to support our learning, since we know that the more we do at home, the more confident we will be in class and the greater our chance of success.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/multiplication-tables-check
is a free site that is structured in the same way the DfE test will be administered. It is important that children become familiar with this structure to fully prepare them for the tables check.
We also know that reading for 20minutes a day is so vitally important. At this stage in our reading journey, we need 20 minutes each day to ensure that we become more fluent and can read with both pace and expression. The best way to develop this is with an adult who can listen, question and provide a good reading role model, sometimes echoing sentences back to us so we can hear what it should sound like.
Writing…
Budding authors…
We start our writing learning journey by examining our writing genre and what great examples look like so we always have a fantastic model in our heads before we write. We are always mindful of our purpose for writing and our intended audience- why we are writing and for who. Because our English curriculum is built around incredible books, we know that we can make our writing come alive with the language choices we make. We use drama wherever we can to bring our ideas to life so that we never face a blank page without some ideas of what to write. We use literature to explore sentence types that authors use and discuss the effect of them on the reader. We then independently learn how to use and apply these sentence types into our own writing to produce writing that we are very proud of. We know that we can always improve and we are always happy to find and fix marvellous mistakes that we make as part of the editing process. We are amazing little authors!
Autumn Term
I am Warrior
I am Warrior! I am strong, brave and powerful. Meet me in battle. Draw your sword, yield your axe and challenge me if you dare! Invade and attack. Romans versus the Celts, the fight is on …
Discover warring Britain: meet Claudius, Boudicca and Julius Caesar, and find out what the Romans did for us.
Get ready for Gladiator School and learn alongside Spartacus and Spiculus: brave fighters of the Roman Colosseum.
When all that battling makes you hungry, relax, lie back and feast yourself on dormice and grapes, or perhaps a roasted swan sprinkled with nuts?
Burps, Bottoms and Bile
Open wide – let’s take a look inside! We’re on a voyage of discovery to investigate the busy world inside your body!
Do you have a toothy grin or a winning smile? Take dental impressions and test the effects of sugary substances on your pearly whites!
Follow a tasty morsel as it makes its way through your digestive system, helped by some mouth-watering saliva! Mmmm! And don’t forget the importance of good hygiene – at both ends!
And whilst we’re talking business…could you recognise an animal just by its poo? Are you brave enough to take the challenge?
Do beans really have wind power? Let’s work scientifically and bottom this one out, once and for all!
You will also be making a model of the human digestive system to persuade others to eat healthily. Learn how to look after this marvellous belching, squelching, mixture-making machine we call our body.
Spring Term
Traders and Raiders
Big and strong, powerful and brave, the Saxons wave their battle-axes and brandish their swords as they begin to invade Britain’s shores.
Sail back to the Dark Ages, where battles were rife and fear reigned. Find out about the life of the Saxons, including how they lived and where they came from. Meet the bloodthirsty Vikings from Scandinavia – never before had such terror swept the land.
Make a Saxon sword or a Viking brooch and decorate it with intricate patterns.
Choose to be a Saxon or Viking and trade your crafty goods. But let’s keep it cool – we don’t want a fight breaking out!
Are you ready to shine a light on the dangerous and deadly Dark Ages?
Interconnected World
Travel the world whilst learning essential skills such as compass points and 4-6 grid references.
From the tropics to the vast continent of America, explore a dizzying array of cultures, countries and climates.
Finish the journey closer to home by learning about the National Rail and the United Kingdom’s canal networks and become an expert at gathering data from maps and surveys.
Summer Term
Misty Mountain Sierra
Mighty mountains peak above the morning mists, imposing and eternal, rocky outcrops at their feet.
Discover how these giants are formed, as a fold or a block, a dome or a plateau.
Follow the water cycle’s course from peak to valley and meet the exceptional tribes of the hostile Himalayas.
Then plan a mountain expedition from the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) that is eco-friendly and safe as can be.
But beware, look out! What’s that by that tree? Its footprints are huge! Have we found the …Yeti!
Blue Abyss
Grab your wetsuit! We’re going deep into an underworld world of incredible coral and mysterious sea creatures.
Head to your local aquarium and learn about life in the ocean. Can you pick a favourite fish, plant or animal?
What do real divers get up to below the surface? Create a fishy story about exploring an amazing underwater world.
Time to go a little deeper into our seas. Make a model deep-sea submarine that can withstand great pressure and travel to the deepest, darkest places on Earth. Make sure you test it first!
What are those bright lights in the distance? It’s a group of bioluminescent sea creatures! Look closely and create a colourful, 3-D art exhibition when you rise to the surface.
Flippers on? Snorkel ready? Let’s head into the Blue Abyss…