Key Year 4 Knowledge
By the end of Year 4, the government expects all children to know their multiplication tables up to 12 x 12.
They also expect children to be able to spell all of the words in the Year 3 and 4 statutory spelling word list.
As such, these are two key areas of focus in school for our Year 4 pupils. We also feel these are great areas, alongside regular reading, for children to work on at home.
The spelling list is included below and can be easily found on google by typing "Year 3 / 4 spelling list". Children will receive fortnightly home-learning to support with this.
Times tables can be practiced in many ways including using Times Tables Rockstars online, for which all pupils have a log in. As with spelling, children will receive fortnightly home-learning to support with this.
Our Daily Key Skills page on this website will help support children with practising these skills at home.
Autumn Term 1
This half-term we will be kick starting the year by studying the Roman Empire. We will be looking at how the mighty empire started, expanded and ultimately came to conquer much of our country.
We will recap from Year 3 what England was like prior to the Roman invasion and will come back in the Spring Term to see the impact the Romans made on our country.
In our science we will be studying sound, how it is made, travels and how we hear it. This links nicely with our music work looking at and learning the songs of Abba.
In art this half term, we will be studying the famous poem The Jaberwocky and creating our own picture books retelling the poem.
Autumn Term 2
This half term, we have a Science and Design Technology focus. In our Science, we will be studying electrical circuits and getting hands on with different electrical components, making various circuits and conducting experiments. This Science learning will support us with our Design Technology work - designing, making and evaluating an electronic game.
On top of this, we will be becoming mini-geographers. We will be studying the physical and human Geography of the United Kingdom and Sheffield in particular.
In our writing we will have a focus on non-fiction and particularly biography writing. The children will be inventing their own scientist and writing their very own biography telling us all about them.
In reading we have the pleasure of studying Ted Hughes' classic novel The Iron Man which links nicely to our work on electricity.
It's a busy half-term in the run up to the Christmas holidays, but one we are sure the kids will really enjoy!
Spring Term 1
This half-term, Year Four will be once again looking at History and the Romans. In Autumn Term 1 we studied the rise of the Roman Empire, and in this half-term we look in detail and how life changed in Britain during the Roman occupation. Our study of ancient Rome will feed nicely into our reading and writing this half term too.
Last half term, we studied Design and Technology and made working steady - hand games. This half term we take a break from D.T., and return to Art, looking at pattern making. We will use this learning to support with some Roman mosaic work too.
Our Science topic for this half term is changes of state where we look at solids, liquids and gases, and in our Religious Education lessons we will be looking at the question "What does it mean to be a Christian in Britain today?". On top of this, we will be continuing to study Music and Spanish.
What a busy and exciting half-term we have to come! Let's get going!
Spring 2
This half term, we will be writing a Viking myth called 'The Little Viking Band.' This will lead us nicely into our History next half-term, which will be about the Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Scots. There is lots of History going on as in our reading we are studying texts about the Celts and Romans.
In Science, we are learning about living things and their environments, so we will be looking at habitats, food chains and classification keys, amongst other things. In Geography, we are learning about where our food comes from. We will learn about food miles, fair trade and the impact of what we eat on the environment - this will culminate in us interviewing a member of the kitchen staff, to see how responsibly sourced our school dinners are.
As you can see, there is lots going on already, before we have even touched on Art, RE, PSHE, MFL and Music! So, let's get learning!
Summer 1
We have a lot to pack into our History this half term, as we sail through the Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Scots! In Computing, we are looking at databases, where the children will use databases to order and answer questions about data, as well as creating charts and graphs about the data they have. In Music we will be getting the glockenspiels out again, and playing along with, then improvising to, different pieces of music.
There is a thread running through our Writing, Science and DT this half-term, this being health and nutrition. In DT we will be making healthy and (hopefully) delicious smoothies, including a label with a brand name, logo and slogan. This will marry well with our Science topic, where we are looking at skeletons, muscles and nutrition. Our writing will have a persuasion focus, where we will hand out some persuasive leaflets, encouraging people to make healthy, nutritious choices, based on the learning done in Science and DT. Smoooooooothhhhh!!!