Goldfinches 2022 - 2023

Welcome to Goldfinches Class 

What we learn in Year 4:

We are so excited to have you back and are looking forward to our next adventures together this Autumn Term.

Please remember the link to our weekly blog is at the bottom of the class page.

Autumn Term

Mrs Judge will teach on Mondays and Mrs Evans will teach Tuesday-Fridays. Miss Wilkinson is our Teaching Assisstant.                                             

Legacy                          

This is our class theme for the year. We will consider the Legacy left behind by the people of Ancient Greece and Rome and the Legacy we would like to leave to our future ancestors through our impact on the world and people around us. 

Writing

This half term we will explore 'Gorilla' by Anthony Browne and use it as inspiration to write our own fantasy story. This gorgeous book will help us to develop the skills of using varied nouns and pro-nouns, choosing precise vocabulary for our descriptions, writing direct speech with the appropriate punctuation and organising our stories into paragraphs.                                                                                                   

After half term we follow the adventures of Leon as he disappears into the place between. This is a magical book which will continue to inspire us to develop a rich and ambitious vocabulary, develop the understanding of possessive pronouns and different tense and write a diary entry from the point of view of another character.                                                                                                     Reading

We will promote the love of reading through daily sessions of quiet independent reading where the children will have access to a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books. We encourage the children to select their own books from the wide range available and will support them to make choices that are approriate for their reading ability.

Please continue to support your child to read at home daily for at least 15-20 minutes. A mixture of your child reading aloud to you and quietly to themselves is perfect and in Year 4 it is so important that you continue to read aloud to your child regularly.

Shared reading- During our shared reading lessons, we will focus on increasing our vocabulary and understanding of an increasing range of words. We will use both fiction and non-fiction texts to improve our ability to predict, retrieve, infer and deduce and learn to comment on the author’s intent, purpose and viewpoint. 

Our Shared reading texts go alongside the writing texts. This half term we will read different stories from A World Full of Animal Stories.                                                                                                   

After half term we will follow the adventures of Suzie in The Train to Impossible Places.                                                                                           

  Spelling

We will continue to follow the Read Write Inc Spelling scheme and the Y3/4 statutory spellings with spellings from these lessons sent home weekly for parents to support. In class we focus on practising spellings through a range of games and activities.  Spelling tests will be every Friday with new spellings sent home each Friday. The weekly spellings are also atteched to the weekly blog in case your child is absent or loses their spelling sheet.

Maths

This Autumn we will focus on mental calculation methods in our  weekly Arithmetic lessons. Monday maths with Mrs Judge will have a focus on angles and the properties of shapes. During the rest of the week with Mrs Evans we will focus on place value, roman numerals, rounding to the nearest 10 and 100. After half term Mrs Judge will teach money and solving money problems and Mrs Evans will teach addition and subtraction.

Times Tables

Year 4 is a key year for times tables with the Government expectation being that children will know all of their times tables to 12x12 and the related division facts by the end of Year 4 when they will sit the online National Multiplication Tables Assessment. We will use the time first thing in the morning to practise and learn our times tables and will have mini tests each week to work through our times tables. This term we will begin with a recap of the 2x, 10x, 5x, 4x and 8x.  We will regulalry send home times table activities and games for your child to practise at home. Look out on the weekly blog for links to online times table games.

 History and  Geography

We will learn about who and where the first ancient civilisations in the world were and understand the changes and developments since the people of the Stone, Bronze and Iron age. We will move on to a more in-depth study of the Ancient Greek civilisations and the Legacies they have left. Look out for details about the Ancient Greek workshop which will visit Goldfinches for a day. 

Art

In Art we will begin by developing our sketching and use of water colour by creating our own Goldfinches for our classroom tree. We will move on to learning how to sketch the human figure in proportion and develop this to look like a moving figure. We will take inspiration from the Ancient Greek art which still remains on pots and urns to create our own and tell our own stories. We will use brusho to create the vibrant rusty orange colours used by the Ancient Greeks.

DT 

In DT we will learn about healthy food and make links with the ingredients used in Greek Salads. We will taste test, design and prepare our own Greek Style salads. 

Science

Our Science focus this half term begins with sound and understanding how sounds are made and travel. After half term we learn about teeth and the digestive system, food and making healthy choices. 

 RE   

This half term we will learn about the Holy Spirit. After half term we will learn about Incarnation.

 PSHCE - No Outsiders, Heartsmart, Minfulness

This half term we will focus on 'Get Heart Smart' then after half term 'Don't forget to let love in'. We will use Smiling mind, peer massage and mindfulness activities to help us to learn about the importance of our mental health and well being. Our No outsiders books are 'Dogs Don't do Ballet' and 'King and King' this term.

 PE

PE will be on Fridays this term and will begin with football and tag rugby.

On PE days your child will come to school wearing their PE uniform and remain in it all day. If the ground is wet, please send your child in to school with spare socks and shoes/trainers for them to change in to after PE.

Please remember all long hair must be tied back and earrings either covered with tape or removed at home.

   Music

Goldfinches will learn to listen and appraise different pieces of music by discussing the lyrics and musical dimensions such as tempo, rhythm, texture and pitch. After half term we will move on to using the glockenspiels to play together, read musical notation and explore our own compositions.

  German

This term Goldfinches will continue to learn, listen to and speak German with Mrs Judge.