This term in Religious Education, the children will think about ‘Is a holy journey necessary for believers?’, as they consider pilgrimage in Spring 1. After half-term, we will consider, ‘Why do Christians call the day that Jesus died, ’Good Friday’?’ as we take a close look at Salvation in Spring 2.

Spring 1

Is a holy journey necessary for believers?

We will explore the holy journeys made by believers and the reasons and impact for such journeys. We will also be looking at religion within our community and how different religions show what is most important to them. I will be sending a letter in the next few days inviting anyone who has been on a pilgrimage, to come and share their experiences.

Spring 2

Salvation

We will be asking the questions, ‘Why do Christians call the day that Jesus died, ’Good Friday’?’ and what do our celebrations show about what we think is important in life? In the lead up to Easter we will be looking at the theme of Salvation. We will consider how celebrations reflect what is important to us in our lives.

This term, Year 4 will be exploring the classic story ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S. Lewis. Through this engaging text, pupils will develop a range of reading, writing, and comprehension skills, including:

• Writing Skills:
  • Descriptive writing to create vivid settings and characters inspired by Narnia.
  • Writing descriptive sequences featuring action
  • Writing a poem
  • Planning, writing and editing a first-person narrative
  • their diary entries and letters from the perspective of key characters.

This rich and imaginative text will inspire pupils to develop their creativity and love of reading, while building key literacy skills. We look forward to seeing their creativity shine as they step into the magical world of Narnia!

This term, the following topics will be covered:

• Perimeter
• Shape – properties of 3D shapes
• Symmetry and translation
• Decimal numbers
• Measures - money
• Problem solving - decimals
• Fractions - adding and subtracting fractions, fractions of quantities,
• Fractions in the context of measures, equivalent fractions
• Multiplication
• Formal division

During the topics, children will develop their scientific enquiry skills by making observations, conducting experiments, and recording results.

This first half-term, Year 4 will be diving into the exciting topic of States of Matter.

Pupils will explore the properties of solids, liquids, and gases, learning how materials can change from one state to another.

Key learning points include:

• Identifying and understanding the different states of matter.
• Exploring changes of state using relatable examples.
• Explaining how water changes state as part of the water cycle.

During the second half-term, Year 4 will be tuning in to Energy: Sound and vibrations.

Children will find out how sounds are heard through different mediums.

Key learning points include:

• Explaining the relationship between vibration strength and volume. 
• Describing the relationship between volume and distance.
• Describing pitch and how to change it.
• Explaining how insulating materials can be used to muffle sound.

During Autumn 1, we will be following a Gospel Unit of work which explores the question, ‘What kind of world did Jesus want?’ The children will be able to:

Identify this as part of a ‘Gospel’, which tells the story of the life and teaching of Jesus.

Make clear links between the calling of the first disciples and how Christians today try to follow Jesus and be ‘fishers of people’.

Offer suggestions about what Jesus’ actions towards the leper might mean for a Christian. Make simple links between Bible texts and the concept of the ‘Gospel’ (good news).

Give examples of how Christians try to show love to all, including how members of the clergy follow Jesus’ teaching.

Make links between the Bible stories studied and the importance of love and life in the world today, expressing some ideas of their own clearly.

As we approach the festive season, we will consider, ‘Does the Christmas narrative need Mary?’ The children will explore the role of Mary in Christian life and in the Christmas story in particular. They will know that Mary is considered to be the mother of Jesus and that God was his father, although Mary was married to Joseph. They will know the key events from Luke’s gospel that involve Mary; they will have thought about their significance to the Christmas narrative; they will be able to interpret some of the symbols usually connected with Mary; they will know that different denominations vary in their treatment of Mary, and they will have considered their own response. 

In addition, the Autumn Term also has a focus on Harvest and Advent. Year 4 will be presenting the Advent Assembly on Friday 28th November at 9.15.

In the Autumn term, Year 4 will begin by studying the class text ‘The Last Bear’ by Hannah Gold. This is a beautiful book centred around the relationship between a girl and a bear. All our English lessons will be based on the novel.

After half-term, our focus will shift to the author Roald Dahl. Both our English work and history will be related to this significant author. We will encourage the children to read lots of great stories by Roald Dahl, such as ‘The BFG’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ to make comparisons and pursue themes. His books, ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine', and his first book, ’James and the Giant Peach ‘, will be the main focus and stimulus for much of our learning next half-term.

WRITING:

The class texts will be a stimulus for a range of writing genres including:

Narrative

Instructions

Diaries

Letters

Non - chronological reports

Poetry

READING:

We have three sessions of reading timetabled across our week. Two of the sessions are guided reading using VIPERS, where we will read a topic related shared text. There is a focus on vocabulary teaching, verbally answering questions, demonstrating written answers and independent comprehension. In addition, the children have a D.E.A.R session (Drop Everything And Read) when they are encouraged to read material of their choice. They also have access to the school library during this time. Short 'protected read' sessions are also timetabled so that the children can listen to the teacher read our class novels.

In Mathematics during the Autumn term, we will be covering the following topics:

Number, place value

Rounding and estimating

Securing addition and subtraction mental fluency

Securing formal written addition and subtraction fluency

Counting in multiples of 6,7,9,25 and 1000

Multiplication and Division facts (Times Tables)

Factor pairs, Integer Scaling and Correspondence Problems

Problem solving, including measures to apply place value

Multiply and Divide a One or Two-digit Number by 10 and 100

Measures – Conversions of units, compare, estimate and calculate

Roman numerals

Data handling

Perimeter

Morning Skills:

The children have a 20-minute session of mental arithmetic at the start of each day.

Times tables: The children will have ‘Multiplication Masters’, regular weekly table tests, to reinforce their rapid recall. These are the tables they should know and will be taught; KS1–2s, 5s and 10s.

Y3–3s, 4s, 8s

In Year 4 we will extend our tables knowledge and will focus on 6s, 7s, 9s, 11s and 12s.

This term, our Science topics consist of the following:

Living Things and their Habitats

Within this topic, children will focus on grouping and classifying living things according to their shared characteristics. They will learn about the characteristics of the five vertebrate groups. They will find out about the taxonomist's role and will model this by sorting and organising data in a variety of ways, including Carol diagrams, Venn diagrams, pictograms and classification keys.

Electricity

In this unit, children will explore how to construct a circuit and what makes it work. Children will learn about the varied power supplies for electrical appliances and their roles, referring to renewable and non-renewable energy sources. In addition, children will learn about the safety measures around electricity. The children will be involved in investigative work and will follow lines of enquiry.