Home Classes Welcome to year 4 - elm and poplar classes

Welcome to Year 4 - Elm and Poplar Classes

Teachers:

Miss Puttick

Teacher: Elm Class

• Looking forward to teaching in year 4 • I love keeping active • I love reading • I love spending time with my family and friends • I have a gorgeous puppy called Millie. • I am teaching myself the ukulele.

Mrs Moss

Teacher: Poplar Class

Hello, my name is Mrs Moss and I am currently a teacher in Year 4. During the summer I got married! I started my Sandown journey 8 years ago as a Teaching Assistant and after completing a BA Honours Degree in Primary Education, I am now a teacher. Away from work I am kept extremely busy caring for my horse Buzz. Together we enjoy jumping, hacks in the forest and beach rides. I also enjoy spending time with my friends and family, exploring new places.

TAs:

Miss Felstead

TA:

Mrs Bateman

TA:

Additional teachers: Mr Davies (Sport), Mrs Wilhelm (Art) and the Sandown Outdoor Learning Team

In Year 4, we are keen for the children to become independent learners, and to edit and improve their work with increasing confidence as the year goes on. Our main focus is on Times Tables knowledge and their corresponding division facts up to 12 x 12. Children who are demonstrating Times Table fluency are invited to earn their Times Tables badge, which is awarded by Mr Lindsay.

We have a rich curriculum with many creative opportunities. We will be using a variety of ways to make learning interesting and fun for the children. These will include the use of ICT, ART and specialist teachers to enhance and embed learning cross-curricularly.

Some of the topics children will enjoy in Year 4 include:

The Romans
The Greeks
Mountains
Sustainability
States of Matter
Electricity
Habitats
Perspective drawing
The works of John Constable

We aim to arrange Parent Consultation meetings twice a year to set your child’s targets and discuss progress. If you would like to speak to us at any other time, please feel free to message us on Class Dojo.

Please remember:

•your child needs a clear, re-usable plastic bottle filled with water for use in the classroom

•PE kit must be named with appropriate footwear

•School dinners are now cashless for non-free school meal children. Please see the office for further information if you have not set this up.

•Book bags, Book Club and Home Link books must be brought to school daily.

TERM 1

During English this term, our class text has been Escape from Pompeii. The children began the term by writing a diary entry from the perspective of the main character. The children had to make sure that in their writing they had a variety of fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and exciting adjectives. After this, the class then had to write a persuasive article that convinced nervous travellers to holiday in Pompeii.

Within science this term, the children have been focussing on Ecosystems and The Human Digestive system. They began by researching various ecosystems and what lives within them. After this they developed their learning by exploring the different food changes and food webs that exist within their chosen ecosystem. Finally, the children learnt about their teeth names, their functions and how to keep them teeth clean and healthy.

Our focus for History is all about the Rotten Romans! The children began exploring when in history the Roman era was and how different life was back then whilst getting to dress up themselves! Using a map, the children also discovered what countries formed the Roman Empire before they invaded Britain. After this, they explored the reasons why the Roman invaded Britain and decided for themselves what they felt the most important reasons were.

For PE, the children have been learning gymnastics. They have focussed on what skills are needed to perform a good gymnastics routine. They learnt about balance, strength and creativity in their movements such as rolls and jumps.

Maths has been an exciting one this term! Starting off the term we linked our maths learning to our History. The children learnt Roman Numerals and can now put this into practise every day. After this, the children move onto developing their knowledge on Addition and Subtraction. The children revisited learning from Year 3 of renaming and then applied this to word problems! Alongside this, the children have been practising their times tables daily to ensure they are fluent so that they can achieve their times tables badge!

The PSHE focus this term is ‘Being Me in My World’ where the children explored who is in the school community, how they support us and how we play a part in school life. As well as this, the children have developed their leadership skills and learnt about working as a team and how to manage others.

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TERM 2

Term 2 has been a busy one with lots of exciting learning opportunities!

In English, we have been reading The Hundred-Mile-An-Hour Dog by Jeremy Strong. We have worked on our fluent reading of the text to help us read for meaning. We compared the characters in the story when we wrote character descriptions. We worked hard on using adventurous vocabulary by using dictionaries and thesauruses. At the end of term, we wrote a poem based on Peter’s Pets. The children used the structure of this poem, to create their own Christmas poem about their hopes and wishes for the festive period.

In Maths, we have been perfecting our times tables! By the end of Year 4, all children need to be fluent in their multiplication and division facts up to 12x12. The children have been taught to use their known facts to work out unknown facts e.g. to calculate 9x6, we know that 10x6=60 subtract 6 makes 54 so 9x6=54. Next term, we will be progressing onto multiplying 3 single digit numbers together and multiplying single digit numbers by 2-digit numbers.

In Science, the children have learnt how to classify solids, liquids and gases. Many practical investigations have been enjoyed by all including changing the state of chocolate through melting, measuring the temperature of liquids using a thermometer and investigating whether liquids had different freezing points.

During History this term, the children have continued their learning about the Romans. One of our main foci was Boudicca. The children explored a range of sources about Boudicca to help them understand who she was and why she was important during this time period. The children also learnt about the lifestyle of Romans. We will conclude our learning of the Romans next term.

We continued with our Geography topic of Mountains. Children have researched about The Alps, including why tourists visit The Alps and different seasonal activities. In addition to this, we have explored hydroelectricity as the main source of sustainable energy in mountainous regions.

In DT this term, the children used their Science knowledge from Term 1 to make light up Christmas cards with simple circuits. The children explored different components and worked out which ones were the most appropriate for their product. After this, the children designed the circuit that they would need in their card as well as the design for the front cover. At the end of the unit, the children evaluated their product against their design criteria.

Wow! What a busy term we have had! We can’t wait to welcome you all back in Term 3.

TERM 3

Although Term 3 has been a short one and flown by, we have still managed to fit many exciting things in.

In English, we have been reading The Story of Robin Hood by Rob Lloyd Jones. We began our learning by exploring the woods and imagining they were in Sherwood Forest. Children were asked to record what they could see, hear, smell and touch. They then used what they sensed to create a descriptive paragraph using a range of expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials. Following on from this, the children used the Pie Corbett strategy to learn the story off by heart. They used pictorial representations of the key parts and orally retold the story. The children then went on to retell the story in their own words.

In Maths, we have been perfecting our times tables! By the end of Year 4, all children need to be fluent in their multiplication and division facts up to 12x12. The children have been taught to multiply 3 single digit numbers together and multiplying single digit numbers by 2-digit numbers. The children were taught this using the column method.

In Science, we have continued our learning on The States of Matter. The children tested the conditions of how quickly water can evaporate. They did this by placing water in several locations around their classrooms and the school. It was a unanimous decision that heat is needed to change water into vapour. In addition, the children learnt about The Water Cycle through singing The Water Cycle Rap found on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM-59ljA4Bs Continuing from this, the children created their own Water Cycle wheel to consolidate their learning.

During History this term, the children have continued their learning about the Romans. One of our main foci was the reason that Emperor Hadrian had built a wall across England. In addition to this, children learnt how the Romans changed Britain’s landscape by building towns and roads that connected them. They researched how The Romans helped change Britain and created their own information reports to demonstrate their findings. Some of the topics they researched included: Roman food, religion, roads, plumbing and sanitation.

Our Art topic centred on the artist and potter Josiah Wedgwood. The children learnt facts about his life and how he contributed to modern marketing. They researched and analysed his works to design and create their own versions based on his Jasperware collection. The children used playdoh and cutters to create different interpretations of his designs. Following on from this, they created their final pieces using clay. The reliefs were attached using the slip technique. Plates were then painted white and blue to show the traditional colours he used.

Wow! What a busy term we have had. We can’t wait to welcome you all back in Term 4.