Shipton Bellinger Primary School

  Year 4 Archive

2022-2023 (Including Autumn 2023)

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End of Year 4

We had a super week. We finished our maths and English learning journeys as well as our Viking learning. We played a great game of pirates, where we had to use our coordinate plotting and reading skills and adding and subtracting money. It will defiantly be a game we will play again. We also did other team games including a strategic game of rock, paper and scissors on order to get our team to the winning corner and a game involving clues in Roman numerals.

What a fantastic year we have all had. I'm super proud of you all! Thank you so much for your cards and gifts. I hope you all have a fantastic summer and can't wait for our Year 5 journey together. 

Summer 2, Week 6

This week, we have been writing instructions based on How to trap a dragon. We used all the key features and our imaginations to add creativity to our ideas. Some children chose to trap a dragon in the hope that it could become their friend or pet, others of us chose to trap dragons who were causing chaos on the local villages. 

In maths, we have revisited shape, looking at quadrilaterals, triangles, symmetry and angles. The children have used their skills and applied them to problem solving. 

For our Art, we used the clay to create our Viking brooch designs. We then glazed them.  The children were pleased with their final result. 

We have continued learning our Viking song, we will add instruments next week!

Summer 2, Week 5

This week, we have been working hard on coordinates and translations of shapes.  We have used the grid to follow instructions to draw polygons and read the coordinates. We have also used our fluency starters to revise the four operations and make sure we can answer them accurately. 

Our English learning journey has been looking at the features of Instructions. This includes, imperative verbs, chronological order as well as looking at the structure of the writing. We will be planning and writing our own instructions next week based on 'How to train your dragon'. 

In RE, we have been finding out about the Hindu celebration of Raksha Bandhan which celebrates the bond between siblings by the gift of a Rakhi (bracelet). We made our own friendship bracelets and gifted them to someone special. 

In PSHE, we have been focusing on safety when using the internet and this week's theme was about online relationships and how to keep safe. 

Summer 2, Week 4

We've had such a busy week and it all started with a lovely visit from Mrs Hellawell's pony, Wynne. 

We were busy learning how to draw Viking knots and use them in patterns. This is all in preparation for making our own brooches next week. We continued our Viking leaning by focusing on the Viking raid at Lindisfarne in  793AD.  We examined evidence from St. Alcuin's letter. We looked at the possibilities why the Vikings came to England and what happened as a result of the raid. 

We also has our transition morning, where we got to explore our new classroom (Owl class) and we also made a start with our origami owls ready for our class display. It was really exciting to open our time capsules. We could compare on how much taller everyone had grown and also looked at our hopes and dreams. It was lovely to hear the children say they have achieved their goal. We loved it that much, we decided to make another time capsule for next year. 

Also this week, we have enjoyed our French lessons and learning how to ask how you are and the replies. Fox class demonstrated fantastic speaking and listening skills. 

For everyone who has taken part in our 30 days wild - well done. There is still time to take up an activity. 

Summer 2 -  Week 3

Well we have had a busy week, but the highlight has to be our trip to Linkenholt. The children participated in swearing an Oath and training to be Vikings. We learnt how Viking battle, with the shield wall, archery and cooking bread on a camp fire. It was a tiring day but absolutely glorious. 

Summer 2, Week 2

It has been lovely to see the Viking creations the children have made at home. We have had longships, Viking homes and artwork using Viking knots. Keep them coming in! In music, we are learning a Viking song which we hope to perform at the end of term... watch this space! 

In computing, we have been using scratch to learn coding. We were able to control our character using different actions and changed variables to explore what happens. I was very impressed with how quickly the children were able to explore and understand how to use the blocks, particularly when we were repeating an action. 

In art, we have been looking at Viking knots and learning how to draw them accurately. 

As you know, the children have worked incredibly hard on learning all the time tables up to 12 and this week they completed the year 4 multiplication check.  I'm super proud of all of them! 

Summer 2 - Week 1

Wow, we are in the final term of Year4. It has gone so quickly but so far we have so much fun!

Well, we have started this term with our Viking topic and have begun reading Beowulf and looking at the themes of heroism, good Vs evil and justice. For our writing learning , we have been reading sections of 'How to train your dragon' and looing at the dragon descriptions in preparation of writing our own description. 

We have started our Let's go wild for 30 day, which is something the Wildlife trusts our running. In June, there are 30 challenges the children can take part in. If you could take photos or bring in what you have worked on, we can add it to our chart. 

In PE, we have begun our cricket skills unit, the children impressed me so much with their batting and bowling skills. 

Summer 1 - Week 6

We had an enjoyable week, with lots of outside learning. We worked on recalling our multiplication facts in games, a huge game of bingo and by writing them out using chalk on the playground. 

We finished our book, The Firework- Maker's Daughter and found out the result of Lila's journey. We also wrote our own missing chapter stories based on Razvani and how he became the fire-fiend. The children paid particular attention to starting their sentences in a variety of ways. 

In Science, we thought about the negative and positive impact humans have on living things and their habitats. Chloe was particularly inspired and created a save the hedgehog group where children joined her in her mission to help protect hedgehogs. Well done Chloe! 

We also enjoyed our art lesson, painting in the style of Wu Guanzhong, a contemporary Chinese artist. We used different shades of greys, browns and blacks and used layers of simple shapes to create a city scene. We kept in his style of limited detail but with a hint of colour. 

Our week ended on a high, out in the sunshine taking part in 'Sports Day' style activities such as shot put, javelin, driving range golf game and running. 

Summer 1 - Week 5

In RE, we thought about how rituals relate to our own lives. A lovely discussion was had where the children shared with the class different traditions they have with their families. We thought about how it made us feel to be part of these traditions and rituals. 

WE have been editing photos using an editing programme. This week our focus was on effects and filters and how using them changes the way we look at them. For example, using a woodland picture, we used the effects to make it more eerie and then changed again to make it seem magical. 

In PE, we continued with athletics and practised relays and passing the baton. We also used netball and basketball skills to take part in 'keep fit' stations. 

 We ended our week, with a lovely walk to the woods to explore the habitats in our local area. We found and saw lots of living things and thought about why these animals live in this area. 

Summer 1 - Week 4

This week, we have worked hard in our writing. The children have been using fronted adverbials and coordinating conjunctions to expand and improve sentences. We applied this to writing about the 'new moon ceremony' which was an important event in our book, The Firework- maker's Daughter. 

In Science, we created our own classification keys. The children had to think carefully about the questions they were going to ask by using the characteristics of the animals they had. They then swapped with another pair and tested and evaluated each other's key. 

We enjoyed our PE sessions this week, this included fitness and agility stations using hockey skills. Followed by the outdoor session where we learnt the skills to jump as far as possible. Working in pairs, the children encouraged each other and measured each other's jump. 

Summer 1 - Week 3

We have had a wonderful week celebrating the King's Coronation. All our work this week has been linked to this historic event. It started with finding out about the official invitation of the Coronation which was designed by Andrew Jamieson. We used similar techniques to create our own invitation to our Coronation picnic at school. 

We also found out about Westminster Abbey and used this to inspire our descriptive writing making sure we used adventurous vocabulary to describe the features of the interior and exterior of the building. 

We were able to recap instructional writing by making a Coronation Trifle and write the instructions to go with it. 

In maths, we used a tea party theme to work out different possibilities of placing objects in a particular order. This  links to a 200-year-old maths puzzle and also to Latin Squares or Euler Squares which form the basis of popular Sudoku puzzles. Our aim was to position different coloured items into a square grid so that each row and column contains one of each.

Another task was a cupcake challenge, which helped us to consolidate our 3x, 4x and 8x table knowledge. Our task was to decorate cakes using the following rules.

• Every third cake will have white icing
• Every fourth cake will have sprinkles
• Every eighth cake will have smarties

 and predict what would happen. The best part was we got to eat them afterwards... yummy!

We had a lovely time with butterfly class making Coronation sticks using natural materials. Fox class were superb role models to our youngest children - Well done!

Hopefully a memorable week for Year 4 that the children will remember. I certainly will have fond memories of Coronation week with Fox class. 

Summer 1 - Week 2

In our English learning journey, we have enjoyed being inspired by Lila (the main character) from ‘The Firework Maker’s Daughter’ and wrote our own firework poems. The children created their own similes to form images, onomatopoeia, powerful verbs and adjectives to describe the array of fireworks. We have performed and proudly displayed our poems in the classroom.

Our science topic, living things and their habitat gave us the opportunity to spend time in our ‘wild area’. The children enjoyed searching for invertebrates and collaborating to work out the group it belongs to using the classification key.

In ICT, we have been looking at photos and thinking about how they have been edited and possible reasons why. Next, we used a program to rotate and crop photos in a certain way to change the subject focus or improve the image. We are looking forward to exploring more photo editing skills.

 It is exciting start to PE, where we are taking advantage of the sunny weather to practice our athletic skills. This week this included sprinting.  This will continue this term in preparation for sports Day in June.

Summer 1 - Week 1

I can't believe we have already finished week 1 of the summer term. Well we began our China topic by looking at the atlas and finding capital cities, surrounding countries, continent, and exploring physical features. We then compared this to the UK and noticed just how many differences there are.

In English, we have started to look at our text for this term, The Firework- maker's daughter written by Philip Pullman. We read about the wonderful fireworks Lila made and used this to create our own ideas for fireworks. I was amazed at the creativity we had, from coronation fireworks to ones that spelt out names. We used language which we had 'magpied' from the text to explain our firework.  We also read several Firework poems and identified the poetic devices. 

In maths, we have continued to have a big push on time tables and this will be a main theme this term so please continue to practise at home. In addition to this, we have been calculating division with remainders and using this skill to problem solve. 

Finally, in Science we were deciding what determines a living thing. Then we sorted pictures of living things into different groups. Next, we looked at animal groups and what features they have. 

Spring 2 - Week 6

We made it to the Easter holidays!!

What a fantastic term, I am very proud of you all. We finished our DT project making the Egyptian tomb traps. We tested out our traps and showed our friends how they work. 

In English, we wrote our newspaper reports based on Howard Carter's finding. We worked hard to include direct quotes from the key people involved.

In mathematics, we continued our multiplication and division and using known facts to help derive other number facts. We used the grid method to help work out larger multiplications. 

We also attended our Easter service where a few of us shared our learning about how Jesus suffered during Holy Week. Others showed our art work linked to the RE learning. I was so proud of the choir members, they sang beautifully in church. 

Have a lovely Easter and I look forward to the summer term with our new learning journeys. 

Spring 2 - Week 5

What a lovely week we had in Fox class! We have been thinking about the Christian Easter Story. For our Easter service next week, we have created our own Easter plates in the style of artist Clarice Cliff. 

In DT, we have continued on our 'tomb traps'. Now the decorating is finished, the children are working hard to make their trap work effectively. 

In English, we have been exploring Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb and the events leading up to that. The children had fun 'hot seating' the key people involved in the discovery. We also looked at pictures of the finds. The children put themselves into the archeologists' shoes when they had to crawl through a 'passage' into a 'tomb' with just a touch and draw the artefacts they could see. It really helped the children experience what it may have been like for Howard Carter. 

Our Week ended with the Talent Show Final. We had a marvellous magician and a disco dancer as our finalists and wow, you both did a fantastic job. A big well done to all those children who entered the competition, I am very proud of you all. 

                                                                            Spring 2 - Week 4

This week, we have been solving addition and subtraction problems. We have been thinking carefully which method would be suited to the question. 

We have been using the editing skills in computing to create newspapers. The children explored changing the font style, size and colour. Also, adding pictures and captions to their report. 

In PE, we have been continuing with tennis and learnt how to serve and move to the serve. Some of us managed to even get into a rally. 

Our week ended with the Talent Show, all the entries were fantastic and kept us all entertained. The results of the two acts going into the final will be revealed on Monday. 

         Spring 2 - Week 3

A lovely week with the excitement of the snow thrown in! 

We have continued our science learning, discovering the function of the digestive system. Working in small groups and with everyday household items we demonstrated what happens to food after its been eaten. This allowed the children to visualise the process, thinking about the job of each part of the body.

In English, we have worked hard to identify and write simple, compound and complex sentences. Varying our sentences and writing about Marcy's journey to ancient Egypt. We have also been generating vocabulary ready for when we write our own adventure stories next week. 

The children have been learning formal methods of addition and subtraction as well as mental strategies. We will now be applying these to two step problems and using the correct strategy for the type of question. 

In our DT, the children have designed their own tomb trap. I'm so impressed with the creativity of their designs and look forward to seeing them come to life. 

Spring 2 - Week 2

In our science learning, we have been finding out about the importance of cleaning our teeth. We then thought about an experiment we could set up to show how drinks can damage our teeth. We used eggs in place of our teeth and placed them in different liquids. I think the most surprising result was the 'no added sugar orange juice'. After 3 days of being in the liquid, the egg shell was damaged and peeling away!

We had a wonderful time celebrating World Book Day in our amazing costumes. Our maths was linked to an Egyptian book where the children followed clues about 3D shapes to find the treasure. The children used nets to make square based pyramids. We also took part in the 'live lesson' and thought about our favourite characters and endings to stories. During the afternoon, we did a quiz about books and shared our favourite stories. 

In English, we were using our acting skills to show how characters interact. Focusing on Ra and Marcy and what they might say to each other. We then wrote this in our books using correct speech punctuation. Well done Fox class for another fantastic week. 

If you have any spare shoes boxes at home, please could we have some for our DT project. 

Spring 2 - Week 1

What a fantastic start to our Ancient Egyptian topic, I really enjoyed seeing and reading the research the children have already created. We were lucky enough to have 'Open Box' in school who delivered an Ancient Egypt workshop. Using drama, we found out about  Gods and life in these times. 

Wednesday was Anti-bullying Day which was focused around the book 'The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse' and the theme of kindness. Fox class has their very own 'Kindness Tree' from our discussions and activities in the morning. During the afternoon, we watched part of the film and created artwork to go with quotes from the book. 

 In Maths, we have been revisiting place value and applying these skills to problem solving style questions. We are still working hard to learn and improve our recall of the times tables. 

 For our science topic, teeth and digestion, we are exploring what damages teeth and how to look after them. If possible, on Tuesday, please can you bring toothbrush/paste in school and complete the consent form for your child to have a 'disclosing tablet'. 

Spring 1 - Week 6

The end of another half term, where does the time go?

This week, we had fun using our designs inspired by William Morris to create a print. We thought about aspects of nature and tried to include this in our designs. I think the children were pleased with their results. 

The children really enjoyed writing their non-chronological reports about the Victorian Workhouses. I am very proud of all their hard work they put into their writing. 

We have been busy in maths looking at angles and then identifying different triangles. We had fun making our own using lolly sticks and art straws. 

This year's theme for Children's Mental Health Week was 'Let's Connect'. We worked in teams to come up with a character for a potato, including a profile. We had some very interesting potato characters. It was lovely to see the children work as a team and have fun!

Have a fantastic half term!

Spring 1 - Week 5

Our Maths this week has been building on our fraction work and looking at mixed numbers and improper fractions. We have solved  problems using bar models and number line representations to show them. All the children did a fantastic job.

In Science, we have continued to explore sound and focused this week on volume and how we can change this. We explored very quiet and very loud sounds and how they travelled through mediums such as air or solids. 

We have been historians this week, looking at evidence from the Industrial Revolution and how lives changed during Victorian Britain. We discovered that factories were built and read accounts from people who owned or worked in these factories. We thought about how reliable the sources were. It gave us a insight to what live must have been like for people working in these factories. 

Our hockey skills have been improving each week. So far we have learnt the reverse stick, slap shot and turning with the ball. We then used these skills in mini games. 

Well done Year 4!

Spring 1 - Week 4

Another super week in Fox class. This week, we have used the dienes and place value counters to help us learn about hundredths. We were able to add and subtract tenths and hundredths from decimals and fractions. 

Science was super fun as we investigated pitch. We started with a straw. It was very funny listening to everyone trying to get a note! Then we explored how we could change the pitch. We continued our investigations using water in containers and twanging a ruler, making sure we were 'fair testing'. 

In English, we finished our stories based on characters from Oliver Twist. Once they were edited, the children worked really hard to publish their stories - some of these have been sent home for you to have a look at.

Well done Year 4 for another fabulous week!

Spring 1 - Week 3

What a lovely week Year 4 have had. We're really getting 'stuck in' with our Victorian topic and this week we looked at what schools were like during The Victorian period. Fox class enjoyed following some of the Victorian school rules and other rules we were not so keen on! Although there are many differences between schools then and now, we were surprised to learn there are still many similarities. 

In Maths, we finished our learning on time. However, it would be great to continue practising at home please. We have moved on to counting and calculating in tenths using fractions and decimals. 

Our Science learning was very fun and we worked in small groups to make a string telephone and explore how sound travels through solids and then gases (the air). The children used previous scientific knowledge from our states of matter unit to describe the particles and linked it to how sound travels. 

Our English focus has moved into planning and writing our own stories based on characters from Oliver Twist. I'm looking forward to reading the problems and ending to the stories next week. 

Spring 1, Week 2

This week we have continued to base our learning around Oliver Twist. We have been using this to learn the grammar needed in our writing in Year 4. The children have worked hard to identify words classes and use them in their writing. We have also enjoyed reading sections of the story. 

In maths, we have been looking at measures including length and mass and converting to different units. We have just begun telling the time to the nearest minute and will be moving on with answering reasoning questions that relate to time and converting from minutes and hours. 

We had a fun science lesson this week, we explored 5 different experiments that explored how sounds are made and how sound travels. We reported our findings and were particularly impressed with the rice moving without us touching it! We realised that we hear sounds when the vibrations travel from a source through a medium to our ears. 

Our focus in History allowed us to discover who Queen Victoria was and the influence she had on people at the time. We made our own fact files and organised it into sections. 

Well done Year 4 another busy week. 

                          Spring 1 - Week 1

What a lovely week we've had. We started our English learning journey reading' Oliver Twist' and examining key characters, using tier 3 vocabulary to describe them. 

Our computing lesson involved us looking at 2Logo and exploring the tools and making following simple commands to make shapes. 

Sound is our new topic in Science as part of that we went on a sound walk and discovered that even in quiet locations there is never silence! We thought about sound pollution and the impact it has on humans and animals. 

The Victorians is the period of History we are leaning about and as part of that the artist William Morris. We looked at some of his famous prints. We also looked at paintings from the Victorian times and drew conclusions based on the evidence from each of the paintings. 

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Autumn Term '22