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Year 4

Monday 4th March

Year 4 have enjoyed the first two weeks back at school. If you would like more detailed information about what Y4 are learning, then please download the Spring 2 curriculum web.

Please do help your child to keep up momentum with Times Tables Rockstars. It is so important that they know these key facts and undoubtedly makes their maths lessons easier, and they feel more confident. Recent data from TTRS shows our Y4 St Leonard’s children are scoring well above average compared with other schools nationally. Well done and let’s keep it going!

Here is what we have been up to so far this half term…

English – We have been looking at a text called The Paperbag Prince in preparation for the children writing their own narratives about an abandoned setting and what is found there. The children have been learning how to use phrases to expand and add detail after nouns while also revising speech punctuation.

Maths – We have now finished a unit of learning about length and perimeter. We learnt that 1km is equivalent to 1000m. We also now know that the perimeter is the length around a closed 2-D shape. We have now moved on to a larger unit of maths learning about fractions. We have started by remembering that a fraction is an equal part of a whole and that we can used mixed numbers to count in fractions.

Foundation subjects – In DT, we have enjoyed the start of a unit all about designing biscuits. We know that when we design something it is important to know out product, user and purpose. For our unit, our product will be biscuits for Mrs Slaven, Mr Fisher and Miss Ballam. The purpose? To enjoy of course! We also recapped prior knowledge of the design cycle and new that we needed to conduct product research first so reluctantly spent a lesson tasting some biscuits that exist already and recording our findings. This week, we have enjoyed practising key baking skills in our new cookery hive. In Geography, we are learning why some earthquakes cause more damage than others. In Science, we are learning all about simple electrical circuits.

Monday 5th February

Year 4 have had a fantastic half term and while it has only been a short term, it has been incredibly busy! The children have been getting stuck into many exciting opportunities and the staff team have all been very impressed. Please remember to refer to the learning webs produced each half term which outline in great detail the learning the children are covering.

English – Over the last few weeks, the children have been thoroughly enjoying reading and basing their writing on the text Monster Slayer. They are now starting to write their own versions of this story and we are seeing a range of rich and high-quality vocabulary coming through into the children’s writing. They are using devices such as similes effectively and considering how they can best write for effect. After half term, we will be moving on to look at a text called the Paperbag Prince and reading a text called the Lion and the Unicorn in guided reading sessions.

Maths – In maths, we have now reached the end of our Multiplication and Division methods unit. Children are now confident in using the short multiplication method to multiply both 2-digit and 3-digit numbers by a one-digit number. They have also looked at how they can use flexible partitioning of numbers to divide a 2 digit and 3-digit number. Please check the calculation policies for year 4 on the maths page if you want to see more about how these methods work. After half term, we are moving on to look at measurement of length and perimeter.

Foundation Subjects – The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Anglo Saxons in history and how their way of life was different to the Romans. We enjoyed our trip to Escot where we had the opportunity to be Anglo Saxons for the day. In Art, our focus has been on pattern making through different materials. The children have looked at making patterns with charcoal, ink, stamps, rollers and using tracing / symmetry. In Science, we have finished our unit of learning by creating our own food chains based on information about what different living things eat. In RE, we were grateful to have a visitor from Exeter Hindu Community group come and speak to us about Hindu beliefs, festivals and worship.

Friday 19th January

Year 4 have been enjoying the first few weeks of the Spring Term. We have hit the ground running with lots of new, exciting learning and are all working very hard.

Last week and over the next few weeks, the children have been completing practice Multiplication Tables Checks. This enables us as teachers to know how the children are currently doing with learning their times tables. All of the year 4 team are incredibly impressed with the results with many children already achieving full marks (25/25) or a high score of 23 plus out of 25. We have seen improvement from all of the children since the Autumn term so thank you for your support with helping your child to play TTRS and learn their tables. Keep up the good work!

English – Over the last two weeks, we have completed a unit of poetry writing based on a book called Tell me a Dragon. The children have really been focusing on using ambitious vocabulary that draws on their reading to ensure the description within their own poems is of good quality. We are now moving on to another narrative unit based on the text Monster Slayer: A Beowulf Tale. We will be focusing on writing narratives with a clear plot and describing settings and characters.

Maths - In maths, we have learnt to find factor pairs for any given number and are now moving on to learn the formal short multiplication method in expanded form. If you would like to see what this looks like then visit the maths page on our website and download the Y4 multiplication and division calculation policy. The children will use this to multiply 2-digit and 3-digit numbers by a 1- digit number. Knowledge of times tables is crucial to the ease of use with these methods and we are clearly seeing the children be more confident with the methods because they are confident with their times tables.

Foundation Subjects – In history, we have started our unit of learning about the Anglo-Saxons. We now know why the Romans left Britain and can discuss how the Anglo-Saxon’s way of life was different to Romans. In science, we have been learning about food chains and how to interpret them. In RE, we are continuing to learn about Hinduism and what Hindus believe God is like.

We are looking forward to our school trip to Escot for our living history experience in a few weeks.

Friday 8th December

We've had another great few weeks in Y4. Here is what we have been up to.

English - In English, we have looked in detail at the text A Walk in London and we are now ready to write our versions about our trip to Dartmoor Zoo. We will be focusing on how this text will need to be written in the present tense and securing our knowledge of how to use conjunctions, speech punctuation and fronted adverbials to add detail to our writing.

Maths - We have been working through a unit on multiplication and division. We have looked at ways that we can use facts we know to find answers to fact we don't know. The children's improving knowledge of their times tables has really shown in this unit as they have been confidently using their times tables to help them. Keep up the good work of hitting the 3 mins a day target on TTRS. Soon, we will start to look at how we can multiply larger two-digit numbers by a one-digit number using partitioning to help.

Topic - In science, we have looked at the difference between endangered and extinct animals and how we can protect them and their environments. In DT, once class have now made their torches and really enjoyed switching off all the lights to see them working in the dark. The other two classes will make their torches next week. In History, we have learnt about Hadrian's wall and why it was built.

We really enjoyed our PE trip to the gymnastics club this week.

Friday 24th November

Here is what we have been up to over the last few weeks. A quick reminder to please ensure that your child is meeting the 21 minutes a week Times Table Rock Stars expectation (3 mins a day). This is really going to help them to secure the best outcomes in their end of year times table check. Little and often is best.

English - We have now finished writing our own disaster stories based on Escape from Pompeii. We have all really enjoyed this text and the children have produced stories that describe settings, character and plot really effectively. We are now moving on to look at an information style text. It is called A Walk in London and the children will write a version of this connected to our school trip called A Walk Around Dartmoor Zoo.

Maths - We have now finished our unit of learning on area. We know how to count squares in order to determine the area of a shape. We are now moving on to look at multiplication and division and will start looking at individual multiplication and division facts within the Year 3 and Year 4 times tables. We will then move on to methods to calculate multiplication and division.

Topic - In science, we have continued to classify animals and have begun to use classification keys to do this. We know that classification keys ask yes and no questions to determine what a living thing is. In history, we have continued our learning about the Romans and have been looking at gladiators and what they did. In DT, we have looked at simple circuits, reviewed some torches that already exist for product research and now designed our own torches. In the coming weeks we will begin to make our own torch.

We are looking forward to gymnastics trip that is coming up soon. If you have any questions about this then please contact our PE lead Mr Tanner.

Friday 10th November

It has been a great first two weeks back at school after the Oct Half Term holiday. Thanks to all the parents who came to our Y4 art exhibition before the break. It was great to celebrate the efforts of the children and we know they really enjoyed it. Here is what we have been up to...

English - We have started to look at a text called Escape from Pompeii which is a story about two children who escape from Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The children have thought about how the characters change throughout the story and how the author uses effective verb choices to build the tension. They will now begin to use examples from the text of adverbial phrases for where, direct speech and possessive apostrophes before writing their own version of the narrative.

Maths - We have now finished our unit on addition and subtraction. We have learnt how to use the column method with and without exchanges and can now use it confidently. Ask your child to show you an example of column addition and subtraction at home. Can they talk you through it? We also thought about making calculations efficient for example 2329 + 999 is much easier to work out by adding 1000 in our head and then subtracting 1. We are now starting a short unit on area. We will be counting squares to calculate the area.

Topic - In science, we have started to look at classifying animals and plants by their features. We have talked about how animals are broadly classified into invertebrates and vertebrates and that flowers are broadly classified into flowering plants and non-flowering plants. We will now start to apply this knowledge to classification keys which ask yes and no questions to help determine what something is. In history, we have started a unit of learning about the Romans and have thought about why Claudius wanted to invade Britain and how the Romans nearly lost control of Britain when Boudica and her army.

We also had a great trip to Dartmoor Zoo. We enjoyed seeing some animals up close (including a snake) in our keeper led workshop and were lucky enough to see tigers, wolves, cheetahs and jaguars as the weather just about remained sunny for us. We were able to make great connections to our science learning about living things and their habitats. We also saw our learning about teeth in action as the cheetahs tucked into their dinner!

Friday 20th October

We have had a fantastic first half term in Year 4. The children have made an excellent start to the year and should be very proud of their learning.

English - Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at the features of pursuasive writing and how we can use a wide range of subordinating conjunctions to add detail to our sentences. The children have produced some humorous writing that tries to convince others to become a bankrobber.

Maths - We have begun our addition and subtraction unit and have been looking at how we can use the formal method of column addition to add two 4 digit numbers together. We have looked at how this works when their is no echnage needed and also how to exchnage 10 ones for a ten, 10 tens for a hundred or 10 hundreds for a thousand when a column totals 10 or more. We will be moving on to look at column subtraction after half term.

Topic - In science, we finsihed our unit of leanring about teeth and digestion by looking at the teeth of animals and thinking about how their teeth give us clues to their diet. We found that herbivores have flat molar teeth while carnivores have sharp pointy teeth. In geography, we have finished our unit of leanring by looking at how hurricances form and how people can stay safe in a hurricane. Finally, we have been very excited to share the art work we have completed this half term with parents/carers in our Y4 art exhibition.

We hope you all have a great half term!

September 2023

Welcome to our Year 4 Blog!

We have been busy getting our new website up and running and we are excited to share with you all the brilliant learning that the children will be doing. You can find our Learning Web for Autumn 1 below which contains all of our curriculum information for this half term. This is also on display in classroom windows.

You should now have received a letter from the School Office with details about our upcoming school trip to Dartmoor Zoo on Friday 10^th November. If you are able to volunteer your time for this trip then please do let us know by emailing parents@stcmat.org

Here is a link to our Y4 parent welcome letter that was sent out by the office a few weeks ago if you would like to see it again.

Here is what we have been up to over the last few weeks.

English - We have been working on a text called A River by Marc Martin. This is short narrative that focuses on a journey along a river. The children have now written their own journey stories including plenty of prepositions, conjunctions and adverbial phrases for when. The children are really proud of the work they have produced.

Maths – The children have been focussing on a unit of place value with 4-digit numbers. They have looked at the value of each digit in terms of the thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. They have looked at how we can order and compare numbers, find numbers on a number line and rounding numbers to the nearest multiple of ten and 100. We have also been having a big push on TTRS to ensure we are playing 21 minutes a week.

Topic – In science, we have enjoyed discovering all about the parts of our digestive system. It was great to see a live demonstration of how the digestive system works using everyday objects like a potato masher for teeth and tights for intestines. In Geography, we have been learning all about Florida and how it is the 11^th largest peninsular in the world. In RE, we are learning all about the Trinity and what is means for Christians to believe that God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirt.

From next week, we will start to post some spelling home learning. Home learning for maths is TTRS and we would also expect children to be reading regularly at home for 15 minutes at a time.

Current Learning Web

Summer 1 Learning Web

Previous Learning Webs

Autumn 1 Learning Web

Autumn 2 Learning Web

Spring 1 Learning Web

Spring 2 Learning Web

Y4 Home Learning Documents

Home Learning Document - Summer 1 Half Term

In the document above you will find each week's suggested spelling for this half term, information for TTRS maths home leanring and reading.

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