Elms (Year 4)
Welcome to Elms Class!
Class teacher: Mrs Dereboy
ndereboy@bewickbridge.co.uk
TAs: Miss Dean and Mrs Martin
Dear Elms Class,
I would like to welcome you all back to our final half term this year.
This last half term went so quickly and was again filled with interesting, fun events. As part of our Anglo Saxon topic, we all had a great field trip to West Stow Anglo Saxon Village where we explored recreated Anglo Saxon houses and visited the museum where we were able to handle artefacts found in the excavations and dress up in Anglo Saxon clothing. Our trips would not be possible without the help of volunteering parents so , on behalf of all the children in the class, I would like to thank Mrs Pearce and Mr Redman for their help on trip. I have added some photographs below for you to enjoy.
During art this term, our art topic was Mythical Beasts in which the class created collographs that they printed using our new printing presses. In PE we played cricket and rounders developing our batting and throwing skills. We also took part in a skipping challenge where the class was able to develop their skipping skills. Finally, it was lovely to be able to share some of the work we have covered this year with parents and carers in our class assembly.
We will finish the year with several new topics which are linked to the theme 'Food'. In PSHE we will be looking at healthy lifestyles and healthy eating. In DT we will also be looking at healthy eating and designing and making a healthy snack that we will share in a class picnic in the school grounds. In art we will be looking at how artists from the Roman era to the present day have depicted food in their work. We will be creating paintings and drawings influenced by Wayne Thiebaud's art work and building large models of food based on Claus Oldenburg's sculptures.
We also have several exciting extra curricular events planned this term including our Sports Day, a Day to Create and our annual STEAM week. Dates for these events are on the News and Events section below.
STEAM is the abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Maths. It’s an integrated learning week that encourages students to think more broadly about real-world problems.
I am looking forward to another term packed with all our exciting events and new topics.
Regards
Mrs Dereboy
News and Events
7th June return to school after holiday
Tuesday 28th June Sports Day
Wednesday 6th July Arts Mark Day to Create
11th to 15th July STEAM week
16th and 17th July Family Camping Day
Thursday 21st July end of term
Water bottles
Please ensure your child has a water bottle every day. We have drinking water in class for refilling.
PE kits
This term, our PE lessons will be on Friday. Please, ensure your child has a PE kit at school every day of the week, which is inline with the school uniform requirements (Plain white tee-shirt, navy blue shorts and suitable outdoor trainers).
At the end of each week,PE kits will be sent home for washing.
This half term we are developing our tennis skills in sports lessons so the lessons will be outside. Please ensure your children have suitable sports shoes and may wish to wear tracksuit trousers for the lessons if the weather is cold.
We all enjoyed our trip to West Stow Anglo Saxon Village.
In our art lessons, Elms enjoyed making pots that combined the narrative art styles of Ancient Romans and contemporary artist Grayson Perry.
We studied artefacts from Ely museum and made mosaic borders as part of our history topic.
Summer Term Topic
Bewick Bakers
This is primarily a geography unit that looks at how climate affects the production of wheat. During the topic we will look at human land-use patterns and how the locality of the school has changed over time
Maths
Below is our year 4 curriculum map for our maths this year. Our programme has been designed to provide learners with a deep conceptual understanding of mathematical principles and the ability to confidently communicate in precise mathematical language while becoming mathematical thinkers.
In the last half term of the year we will be studying Position and Direction, Reasoning with Pattern and Sequences and 3D Shape.
The following link will take you to the Oak Academy pages that support our. solving measures and money problems unit You can spend some time at home watching the videos and pracicing some of the exercises to support your work in school.
https://classroom.thenational.academy/units/position-and-direction-f7da
https://classroom.thenational.academy/units/reasoning-with-patterns-and-sequences-08fc
https://classroom.thenational.academy/units/3d-shape-caba
The following is the link to our last unit for if you would like to do some revising.
https://classroom.thenational.academy/units/solving-measure-and-money-problems-2bf5
We will be having our final tables test the first week back from the holiday. The more accurate and faster you are with your tables the more confident you will feel in your maths lessons.
Vocabulary for Position and Direction unit:
x-axis, y-axis, co-ordinates, squares, vertices, vertex, equilateral, isisceles, scalene, right angle, translation.
Vocabulary for Pattern and Sequence:
similarity, difference, pattern, Roman numerals, Arabicnumerals, increase, decrease, rule, term
Vocabulary for 3D shape:
cylinder, cone, prism, pyramid, cube, cuboid, shere, face, edge, vertex, 2D 3D
Maths eyes competition
Well done to so many of you for entering our first school Maths Eyes Competition. You had some great pictures and questions. I am pleased to inform you that Hannah from Elms class won the competition!
English
During the Summer term, in English, we will be writing the following different types of texts.
Narrative - myth
Explanation text
Poetry - Limericks and Kennings
Newspaper
Punctuation and grammar
We will continue to focus on developing expanded noun phrases, fronted adverbials and clauses within sentences. Our punctuation focus is punctuating direct speech and commas in lists and after subordinate clases and fronted adverbials.
Science
Our final science topic for this term is Teath and Eating
Key vocabulary for this unit:
digestion, waste, excretion, peristalsis, anus, duodenum, small intestine, large intestine, stomach, rectum, esophagus, tongue, saliva, acid, bile, enzymes, incisors, canines, molars, predator, prey, producer, consumer, primary, secondary, tertiary
Computing
We had some great computing lessons last half term with coding unit. We used turtle academy to learn the coding language, algorithms and how to write a count controled loop. We quickly mastered the need to debug when the algorithm was wrong and it didn't work.
For those of you who want to practice at home, the link is https://turtleacademy.com/
Our final unit in computing will take our coding work further and use Scratch to create games using count controled loops.
Home Learning
Home Learning Project
English Writing Skills Progression
The following document explains the expectations for children's writing in year 4. By the end of year 4 they need to have mastered these skills to be able to be assessed at Year 4 level. We are constantly practicing these skills and expect to see evidence of them in all writing completed in school.
Reading
Reading every day is the most important part of learning at home. Books will be sent home from our school library and should be brought into school each day along with the school library bookmark. Please check that your children are recording their reading in their reading records.
Suggested reading books for Year 4 children:
Books are perfect presents but it is often difficult for parents to decide which books to buy for their children. To help you this is a list of recommend books for year 4 children.
Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
The Demon Headmaster - Gillian Cross
A Caribbean Dozen - John Agard & Grace Nicholls
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters - John Steptoe
Beowolf - Kevin Crossley-Holland
The Dragon's Child - Jenny Nimmo
The Ghost Blades - Anthony Masters
Sara, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan Smart Girls - Robert Leeson
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky - Susan Jeffers & Chief Seattle
Robi Dobi - Madhur Jaffrey
The Reluctant Dragon - Kenneth Grahame
Flow - Pippa Goodhart
Dragon Poems - John Foster & Korky Paul
The Crazy Shoe Shuffle - Gillian Cross
The Sea Piper - Helen Cresswell
The Chocolate Touch - Patrick Skene
Catling Spacebaby - Henrietta Branford
A Pot of Gold - Jill Bennett
Fog Hounds Wind Cat Sea Mice - Joan Aiken
The Clothes Horse - Allan Ahlberg
It Was A Dark and Stormy Night - Allan Ahlberg
Max and the Millions - Ross Montgomery
The Children of Green Knowe- Lucy Boston
The Accidental Prime Minister - Tony Mclaughlin
When the Mountains Roared - Jess Butterworth
How to Help a Hedgehog and Protect a Polar Bear - Jess French
Survivors - David Long and Kerry Hyndman
Terrible True Tales from the Tower of London - Sarah Kilby and Peter Cottril
100 things to know about Science - Usborne
Spelling
The spellings for each week are posted on Google Classroom. Spelling must be practised on a regular basis
Summer Term
Week 1: Spelling strategies - common exception words
Week 2: spelling suffix 'sion' explosion, division, repulsion, confusion,
Week 3: Possessive apostrophe for singular and plural possessive nouns
Week 4: prefixes un, dis, in, re, sub, inter, super, anti, auto,
Week 5: Words with the 's' sound spelt 'sc'
Week 6 Spelling strategies - common exception words
Times tables
Why is it important to learn your times tables?
Times tables are a very important part of mathematical knowledge and pupils who struggle with them in primary school will likely fall behind when they begin secondary school. ... Through knowing their times tables pupils will start to notice patterns and will then be able to apply this knowledge to more advanced work. Throughout the year children will have regular multiplication assessments to follow their progress.
Children are expected to practice their tables at least 3 times each wek using TT Rock Stars.