Welcome to year 4. The children have settled in amazingly and we have been working hard. 

English

Linked to our geography topic of "Where in the world?" we have been looking at stories from around the world. 

We have written about:

Yeh-Hsien - A Chinese Cinderella

The Leopards Drum - an Asante Tale from West Africa

Baba Yaga - A Russian traditional Tale.

Jungle Animal poetry

Maths

This term in maths we have been focusing on Place value up to 4-digit numbers. We have been using column addition and subtraction and problem solving using these skills. 

Reading

In year 4, we have daily Guided reading sessions where over the week, the children will read with adults, complete activities based on the book and complete comprehension questions. 

Geography

Our first Geography topic of year 4 is looking at 'Where in the world'. We look at where our food comes from, the meaning of imports and exports, trade, seasonality and growing conditions. We zoom in on land use for rice and cocoa production and look at the similarities and differences in their growing conditions. We look at fair trade, why it exists and the benefits, looking at a case study on a cocoa plantation. 

In this term, we focus  on Human geography including land use: economic activity including trade links and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water.

We teach and lean skills relating to :

• Locating the world's countries
• Locate places on large scale maps
• Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Norther Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. 
• Begin to identify significant places and environments on maps. 
• Use maps, atlases, globes and digital resources to locate countries and describe features studied. 
• Analyse evidence and draw conclusions eg make comparisons between 2 locations using photos / pictures / maps

Science

This term we are learning about electricity and electrical circuits. We will be constructing a simple circuit using a bulb, wires and a battery. We will be looking at how to adapt the circuit using differing amounts of bulb and / or batteries and the effect this has on the brightness of the bulb. 

We will adapt the circuits to include motors, buzzers and switches. 

We will finish our term will a circus challenge to see if we can construct a circuit to make the clown's nose light up and his bow tie spin - even including a switch to turn them on and off.

French

We have started this term by looking at our unit of ' On y Va!' (All aboard). In this unit, the children listen to authentic french speakers, look at the weather and associated vocabulary, learning about modes of transport and speak and write about how they travel to school. 

Music

In year 4, we have the opportunity to learn the violin.  Many of the children have not played before and have been amazing at picking up the skills. We have learned the names of the strings, which notes they play and about rhythm and beat. 

PE

We are outside this term learning the skills of invasion games. We are putting all our team work and competitiveness to good work. 

RE

This term, we are learning about Hinduism and our topic question of

'What do Hindu's believe God is like?'

We are learning about:

Brahman and the story of Svetaketu.

The Trimurti (The destroyer, the preserver and the creator). 

The different aspects of Brahman being represented by many different images of god eg Ganesh, Lakshmi.

The cycle of Karma (good and bad) and Moksha (being at one with Brahman)

How Hindu's worship, at home or in the Mandir.

The Puja tray and what the objects represent. 

Hindu festivals. 

PSHE

This term we are looking at our topic of 'taking more control'. We have looked at how advertising influences us, peer pressure, stereotypes, making informed choices, celebrating our own successes and our aims and targets for the future. 

ICT

We have started the year by looking at internet safety and how to stay safe from viruses, scam emails and phishing.