Summer 2
For the love of reading text
Mary Poppins by P. L Travers
From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, everyday life at the Banks house is forever changed.
It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house. She becomes a most unusual nanny to Jane, Michael, and the twins. Who else but Mary Poppins can slide up banisters, pull an entire armchair out of an empty carpetbag, and make a dose of medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial? A day with Mary Poppins is a day of magic and make-believe come to life!
White Rose Maths
Geometry: Shape – Understanding angles and symmetry.
Position and Direction – Coordinates and translation on a grid
Statistics: Interpreting and drawing line graphs
Geography/ History
Crime and Punishment - How has crime and punishment changed over the years?
For our History focus, we will understand how and why laws and punishments change over time. Children will explain how attitudes towards crime have changed and understand how and why the police force has changed over time. We will understand that views on what a punishment is have changed over time and we will discuss how and why attitudes towards the suffragettes have changed over time.
Science
Electricity
We will continue our Science focus on electricity, recognising that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit. We will also recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.
Educational Visit
N/A
PSHE/RSE/ RE
PSHE/RSE - How do we manage risks in different places?
This half term, we will discuss how to recognise, predict, assess and manage risk in different situations. We will know how to keep safe in the local environment and less familiar locations (e.g. near rail, water, road; fire/firework safety; sun safety and the safe use of digital devices when out and about.) Children will understand how people can be influenced by their peers’ behaviour and by a desire for peer approval; recognising how to manage this influence.
Children will understand how people’s online actions can impact on other people and we will know how to keep safe online, including managing requests for personal information and recognising what is appropriate to share or not share online. We will know how to report concerns, including about inappropriate online content and contact
RE - How and why do people mark the significant events of life?
During RE lessons, children will identify some beliefs and make simple links about love, commitment and promises in two religious traditions; describing what they mean and how people live (e.g. through celebrating forgiveness, salvation and freedom at festivals.) We will offer informed suggestions about the meaning and importance of ceremonies of commitment for religious and non-religious people today, describing what happens in ceremonies of commitment (e.g. baptism, sacred thread, marriage) and say what these rituals mean. We will raise questions and suggest answers about whether it is good for everyone to see life as a journey, and to mark the milestones and give good reasons why we think ceremonies of commitment are or are not valuable today.
Art/ D & T/ Music
Art – Our artist focus is Bridget Riley
We will continue to study the artist Bridget Riley, modifying, adapting, combining and designing prints and using tessellation to complete art in the style of Bridget Riley. We will create our own abstract pattern to reflect personal expression and will be able to discuss and evaluate our own work
D&T – Our focus is Mechanisms; Making a car
Within design and technology lessons, we will be building a car chassis. We will design a shape that reduces air resistance and investigate and analyse a range of existing products. We will make a model based on a chosen design and assemble and test our completed product. Finally, we will evaluate ideas and products against a given success criteria.
Music – Reflect, Rewind and Replay.
Spanish
Fruits and Vegetables
This half term, we will name fruits and vegetables, recognise and use masculine and feminine nouns and give our own opinion of a fruit and vegetables, including giving a negative opinion of fruit and vegetables. We will hold a short conversation and answer questions about our fruit/vegetables preferences. We will continue to broaden our vocabulary and understanding by using a dictionary.
PE day
Our PE Day will be on a Friday. Our sport focus will be ‘Nimble Nets’ in which we will study Tennis, becoming familiar with serving and rallying. Our fitness focus will be ‘Cool Core (Pilates)’ and we will participate in a range of balance, coordination and concentration techniques Our health focus will be ‘Healthy Mind: Healthy Body.’
Spellings/ Reading
Our spellings for this half term will focus on possessive apostrophes with plural words.
We will continue to focus on the Y3/Y4 statutory spelling list throughout all lessons.
Summer 1
For the love of reading text
Stig Of The Dump- Nobody believes Barney when he says he’s discovered a boy living wild in the dump. But for Barney, Stif is totally real. They become great friends, learn each other’s ways and embark on a series of exciting adventures. Narrative writing and writing letters to persuade.
White Rose Maths
Decimals, money and measurement
Geography/ History
Geography
How does the Earth shake, rattle and roll? Children will begin to gain knowledge of the locations, causes and outcomes of these natural features and the disasters they can cause.
Science
Electricity
Children will be able to identify appliances that run on electricity, then they will create electrical circuits and name the basic parts. They then will start to identify whether or not a lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery. To finish the children will then be able to recognise some common conductors and insulators and associate metals with being good conductors.
Educational Visit
Think Tank Birmingham- Bringing Science to life- The children will have fun with both static and current electricity as they will learn and replicate scientific discoveries from Ancient Greece to the modern day. We’ll make a larger than life human circuit and finish by looking at the dangers of electricity and how a little electrical understanding can keep us all safe.
PSHE/RSE/ RE
PHSE- How can our choices make a difference to others and the environment?
RE- What is it like for someone to follow God?
Art/ D & T/ Music
ART- Bridget Riley
D & T- Making a car. The children will build a car chassis.
Spanish
Animals
PE day
Friday
Spellings/ Reading
The Children will be take part in a weekly spelling test on a Monday morning, where they will be tested on spellings which they have learned over the previous week both in school and at home.
Children access a banded reading book, appropriate to their reading ability. They also have the opportunity to choose a new book from our school library each Thursday morning.
Spring 2
For the love of reading text
Journey to the River Sea
Using this award-winning classic adventure, we will be travelling with Maia a thousand miles up the Amazon and writing a narrative about our adventure. We will then be writing instructions to help Maia prepare for her journey. We will also be reading the poem ‘Diamanetes’ and creating our own poem in this style.
White Rose Maths
Fractions
Decimals
Geography/ History
Geography – Rivers and the water cycle
In this unit we will; name and locate some of the UK’s and the world’s most significant rivers and mountain environments, learn about the features of a named river (the River Thames) in the UK from source to mouth, learn how rivers and mountains are formed, identify some of the processes associated with rivers, understand where rivers and mountains fit into the water cycle.
Science
Animals including humans
In this unit we will be learning about the digestive system. We will find out about the different parts of the digestive system and what functions they perform. We will also be learning about the different types of human teeth and the different ways they are used to cut, tear and chew our food. We will be constructing and interpreting a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.
Educational Visit
Tittesworth Reservoir
PSHE/RSE/ RE
In PSHE we will be learning about how we grow. We will learn about how our bodies change during puberty, and how personal hygiene routines change. We will also learn how emotions and feelings change during puberty.
In RE we will be learning about the Pentecost, and its impact on Christian beliefs.
Art/ D & T/ Music
In our Art lessons we will be using the work of Linda Caverley as our inspiration. We will be looking at scale and proportion, making computer generated drawings, and creating our own pattern in the style of the artist.
In Design and Technology we will be looking at different structures, and designing and making our own.
In Music, we will be listening to the song ‘Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers. We will be appraising the song and learning to sing and play it using simple percussion instruments.
Spanish
We will be learning to name different types of clothing in Spanish. We will use our knowledge of colours to add more information and learn to describe our favourite outfit?
PE day
Friday
Spellings/ Reading
Reading at home has a huge impact on the development of not only your child’s reading skills, but it also helps to develop their writing too. Our reading challenge continues to be reading five times a week at home. The children will continue to have a spelling test each Monday and each set of spellings will practice a particular spelling rule. There is also a set of additional spellings in the children’s reading diaries which they should be able to read and spell by the end of year 4.
Spring 1
Roman Britain: Was the Roman invasion good or bad for Britain?
In this unit, the children will be learning all about the Roman invasion of Britain and it's impact on the lives of the Celts. The children will consider whether the Roman settlement was a positive experience for all involved. They will use a variety of sources of evidence to investigate the topic. They will investigate how the Roman army was organised, before role playing s reconstruction of a Roman army drill.
Autumn 2
The Ancient Egyptians
Throughout Autumn 2, Year 4 will be developing our knowledge and skills in exciting ways.
During English we will be exploring Narrative writing based on the story of The Wind in the Willows.
Within Maths we will be developing our understanding of Multiplication and Division, as well as applying our reasoning skills.
As part of History, we will be exploring the world of the Ancient Egyptians and why they are considered one of the most important early civilisations.
As part of Science, we will be learning about living things and their habitat.
Autumn 1
The Americas
Our topic this half term has a Geography focus. We will be learning about ‘The Americas’. We will be learning how to use a compass and looking at different types of maps. Our English focus this half term is ‘Matilda’. We will be writing character and setting descriptions as well as our own narrative writing. In Maths we will be developing our knowledge of number and place value. We will also be consolidating and developing our understanding of addition and subtraction. In Science, we will be learning about sounds and how they are made. We look forward to exploring these topics together.