Welcome to Year 4 2023 – 2024!

To start the new school year we have been sharing the text, ‘Our Class is a Family’ written by Shannon Olsen. We have thought about being part of a team as a class and a school and other teams we belong to. We have thought about our ‘jobs’ as learners and what makes a great learning partner and a really amazing friend.

Take a look at what we are learning about next this term!

Summer 1

This term we will be launching our curriculum topic ‘Under Attack’, where our Geography, History, Art and Design Technology focus will be focusing on aspects of Roman life. I can’t wait for us to start this topic and be historians. There will also be an exciting trip linked to our history learning.

Spring 2

This term our curriculum on One Minute to Midnight’ will have a lot of geography input, followed by an Art and Design and Technology focus. Once we have learnt about different aspects contributing to climate change, and then about the different types of reusable shopping bags, we will design our own shopping bags and use our sewing skills to make them. Thank you to all the parents who came in to assist in the children developing their sewing skills in week 1 – the class really enjoyed it.

In Art, we will be looking at abstract artists, and used similar techniques to produce our own pieces of abstract art around the theme of saving the planet.

Our English in Year 4 will be to produce some persuasion texts to the government to stop deforestation, linking to our geography learning. We will also complete our work on the video stimuli, ‘The Black Hat’.

During Spring term 2, we will also have our residential visit to Viney Hill. I can’t wait to hear everything about the children’s achievements when they return to school.

Autumn 1

Welcome to Year 4 2022-2023

Year 4 have had an amazing start to the year! The children are settling in with a transition unit based on the text 'Here We Are' by Oliver Jeffers, which has enabled us to get to know all the children and we are ready for a fantastic term! The children have already produced some amazing writing and illustrations. We have lots to look forward to over the year and Miss Hanson and Mrs Davis are excited to continue this learning journey with the children.

Spring 2023

In the Spring term, we will be launching our curriculum topic ‘One Minute to Midnight’, where our geography, history, Art and Design Technology focus will be considering the effects of climate change on our world, and how we can make a positive difference. I can’t wait for us to start this topic, and show our value of stewardship in action. 

Our science unit will be looking at animals including humans and will explore a range of areas linked to how our body works including how we digest food.

Autumn Term 2022 

This term our curriculum on ‘White Water Adventure’ had a Art and Design and Technology focus. Once we had learnt about the different types of bridges, and where famous bridges were on a world map, we considered how we could design a bridge to go over the river we visited in Autumn 1. After exploring three different types of bridge and using our challenge day to decide what properties our bridges needed to show, we designed our own bridges ready to make in Week 6 and 7.  In Art, we looked at the work of Claude Monet, and used his petit tache method to recreate our own version of his painting ‘Bridge over a pond of water lillies’.  

Our English was based around the text ‘Flood', as well as exploring non-fiction texts. Already they have produced some amazing writing in the form of non-chronological reports about the global rivers we have studied in Geography. We will go on to be writing disaster stories to accompany the picture book ‘Flood’. 

In Science we have been investigating electricity. We considered how electricity is made, before making circuits and exploring what the best conductors of electricity are. Year 4 have shown some fantastic scientific enquiry and I am looking forward to us all finding out more about humans and animals next half term. 

Year 4 also begun their child leadership responsibilities this half term. The Prayer Garden Team begun their hard work running sessions with Year 1 children to develop their knowledge of Christianity whilst completing creative activities.  

Autumn term has been fantastic for Year 4 – from river visits to bridge building we have done some fantastic learning and have so much to look forward to after Christmas! 

Welcome to Year 4 -2021-2022

Welcome to Year 4 - what a fantastic start to the new school year we have had! Year 4 have settled in brilliantly and we are already in full swing with our curriculum. I am really excited for the year ahead, and my first year teaching at St Johns. We have lots to look forward to!

Miss Hanson (Class teacher) and Miss Addenbrooke (Class teaching assistant)

Summer Term 1

This term we have had an exciting start to our final topic ‘Under Attack’! After a brief historical look at the Roman army, we have been focussing on Design technology – designing and building catapults. Looking forward to focussing on art and history more next half term, as well as our exciting ‘Time to Shine’, ‘Come and Share’ and trip to the Roman City of Wroxeter!

Our English was based around the story Hugo Cabret, as well as beginning to explore Roman myths. For Hugo Cabret, they have already written fantastic character and setting descriptions, and the next chapter to the story. We will be looking at the Roman myth Theseus and the Minotaur over the next few weeks.

In Science we have been exploring light. We considered what light and a light source is, and the scientific definition for darkness. Then in Summer 2, Year 4 will continue to explore reflections and other exciting aspects of light!

As always, the children have been shining in all areas of the curriculum showing all our school values in abundance.

Spring Term 2

This term our brand new curriculum on ‘One Minute to Midnight’ has been fantastic and the children have really enjoyed it! During Spring term 1 we focussed on geography – how global warming is impacting the melting of the ice caps and ways that we are able to help protect our environment. Then during spring term 2 we had an Art and Design and Technology focus. Once we had learnt about the different stitches and some types of reusable shopping bags, we considered how we could design a reusable shopping bag to reduce the amount of single use plastic bags we are using. We will be finishing off Spring term 2 with art.  After looking at the work of Jackson Pollock, and looking at the key components of abstract art, we will be creating our own piece of abstract art to represent what we have learnt during the One Minute to midnight topic. Look out for our virtual ‘Time to Shine’ session by the end of Week 6, Spring 2 on Seesaw, which will be a virtual exhibition of our art learning.

Our English was based around the poetry anthology ‘Moon Juice', as well as exploring non-fiction texts. Already they have recited by heart and produced some amazing poetry, inspired by the work of Kate Wakeling. We have also been looking at a video stimulus called ‘The Black Hat’, where the children have written fantastic character and setting descriptions, as well as a story based on the video.

In Science we have been exploring animals including humans. We considered how our digestive system works and what the different functions of our digestive organs and teeth had. Then in Spring 2, Year 4 have shown some fantastic scientific thinking to understand and create their own classification keys and venn diagrams to understand the differences between different plants and animals.

We completed Spring Term with the fantastic residential to Viney Hill where the children completed 2 days of amazing activities, as well as experiencing a night away from home. Miss Addenbrooke, Mrs Henderson and Miss Hanson are incredibly proud of the children – they really did shine at Viney Hill and showed all of our school values in abundance.

Spring term has been amazing for Year 4 – from Viney Hill, to classifying haribo in science, to bag making we have done some fantastic learning and have so much to look forward to after Easter!

Spring Term 1

This term, we will be launching our brand new curriculum topic ‘One Minute to Midnight’, where our geography, history, Art and Design Technology focus will be considering the effects of climate change on our world, and how we can make a positive difference. I can’t wait for us to start this topic, and show our value of stewardship in action.

Our science unit will be looking at animals including humans and will explore a range of areas linked to how our body works including how we digest food.

Autumn 1

This term our curriculum for History, Geography, Art and Design and Technology is taught through our ‘White Water Adventure' learning. We will be looking at the resource of water in more detail, exploring its importance in the water cycle, rivers and seas. We have already been on a fantastic trip to the brook as part of our topic learning, which the children really enjoyed. We have also explored the location of different rivers and mountain ranges so far, with the children showcasing their previous knowledge from Year 2 and 3 which was brilliant to see. Look out for our virtual ‘Come and Share’ session on 1^st October 2021 on Seesaw, which will focus on some of our geography learning.

For DT we will be designing and making bridges - I am looking forward to seeing the children develop their skills and knowledge from Year 3. In art, we will be looking at the work of Claude Monet, and painting in his petit-tache style to create our own versions of his artwork. Look out for our virtual 'Time to Shine' session, where you can get a closer look at their art learning!

Our English is based around the text 'The Firework Maker’s Daughter' by Phillip Pullman, which the children are loving. Already they have produced some amazing writing in the form of letters and setting descriptions. We will go on to look at a range of other texts later in the term.

In Science we are investigating states of matter. We did an interesting experiment to find out whether air has any weight to it, and the children made some fantastic predictions. I am looking forward to us all finding out more about the states of matter this half term.

Autumn 2

This term our curriculum on ‘White Water Adventure’ had a Art and Design and Technology focus. Once we had learnt about the different types of bridges, and where famous bridges were on a world map, we considered how we could design a bridge to go over the river we visited in Autumn 1. After exploring three different types of bridge and using our challenge day to decide what properties our bridges needed to show, we designed our own bridges ready to make in Week 6 and 7.  In Art, we looked at the work of Claude Monet, and used his petit tache method to recreate our own version of his painting ‘Bridge over a pond of water lillies’. Look out for our virtual ‘Time to Shine’ session on 8^th December 2021 on Seesaw, which will be a virtual exhibition of our art learning.

Our English was based around the text ‘Flood', as well as exploring non-fiction texts. Already they have produced some amazing writing in the form of non-chronological reports about the global rivers we have studied in Geography. We will go on to be writing disaster stories to accompany the picture book ‘Flood’.

In Science we have been investigating electricity. We considered how electricity is made, before making circuits and exploring what the best conductors of electricity are. Year 4 have shown some fantastic scientific enquiry and I am looking forward to us all finding out more about humans and animals next half term.

Year 4 also begun their child leadership responsibilities this half term. Our two school council representatives helped organise children in need events, our two chicken farmers have been assisting in looking after the school chickens, and our two eco-squad representatives have been working with Mrs Pugh to explore how St John’s can look after the environment. The Prayer Garden Team also begun their hard work running sessions with Year 1 children to develop their knowledge of Christianity whilst completing creative activities. Miss Addenbrooke and Miss Hanson are incredibly proud of the children and their leadership responsibilities as they continue these roles into the spring term.

Autumn term has been fantastic for Year 4 – from river visits to bridge building (and even a snow day in between!) we have done some fantastic learning and have so much to look forward to after Christmas!