Welcome to the Year 4 web page. 

In Year 4 our English and Mathematics work is based on the Primary Framework for Literacy and Mathematics.

In all other curriculum subject areas we have customized and adapted the QCDA schemes of work to suit our school and our pupils’ needs. We aim to give them a broad base in their Primary education. Each child’s individual needs will be met when possible enabling them to achieve to the highest level.

 The following information will tell you about the main topics covered by pupils in Year 4.

    English:

• Speaking and Listening – The children in Year 4 are expected to listen for extended periods of time. They will listen to teachers and peers, reading and talking about stories, information and instructions. They will also be encouraged to speak and listen to each other in English in pair work and in drama activities.

• Reading – Year 4 continues with the same reading scheme as before.  The children will work at their own individual level completing the comprehension and extension activities to reinforce their learning and understanding of the texts.

• Writing – During the year the children will be expected to write in different styles; story writing, poetry, descriptive writing and letter writing.  The children will develop their ability to express their ideas and thoughts through more complex and detailed sentences.  They will build up their vocabulary, consolidate and learn verbs and adjectives, learning about speech marks and other forms of punctuation in order to enhance their writing.

    Mathematics:

·         Number work: mainly consolidating and developing their understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, through mental and written methods.  They will be expected to know by heart all the multiplication tables up to 10. They will learn about fractions and begin to recognise decimals.

• Shape, data and Measure work: consolidating and learning about 2D and 3D shapes, length, weight, capacity and time. Reading different types of graphs and information tables.

    Science:

·         Moving and Growing: Through this unit children learn about how the skeleton is related to movement and support in humans and what happens to the skeleton and muscles as they move. They also compare human bones and skeletons with those of other animals.

·         Circuits and conductors: This unit builds on children's previous practical experience of making circuits and extends their understanding of circuits, conductors and insulators and the need for a complete circuit in order for a device to work. Children are introduced to ways in which they can vary the current in a circuit.

·         Habitats: This unit builds on children's previous practical experience of making circuits and extends their understanding of circuits, conductors and insulators and the need for a complete circuit in order for a device to work. Children are introduced to ways in which they can vary the current in a circuit.

·         Characteristics of materials: The work in this unit builds upon the Year 3 topic. The  children should extend their knowledge of the range of materials we use and of the properties that characterise them. This knowledge should help them recognise what needs to be considered when a material is chosen for a particular use.

·         Solids and liquids: In this unit children learn about the differences between solids and liquids and recognise that the same material can exist as both solid and liquid. They identify changes that occur when solids and liquids are mixed and how to separate undissolved solids from a liquid. They learn that melting and dissolving are different and recognise that when a solid dissolves it is still there.

·         Friction: In this unit children build on their existing knowledge of forces and learn that forces can be measured and compared. The unit focuses on friction as a force which exists between objects moving across solid surfaces and opposes motion, and the forces of air resistance and water resistance which oppose the motion of objects moving through air and water.

    History:

• The Ancient Egyptians: In this unit children find out about the way of life of people living in ancient Egypt from archaeological discoveries. Children will develop their understanding of characteristic features of a society; identify the different ways the past is represented; and use sources of information to make simple observations, inferences and deductions.

·         The Vikings: In this unit, children are introduced to the idea that people from other societies have been invading and settling in other countries for a long time. Children find out how Viking influence spread through different parts of the world and how, over a period of years, the Vikings eventually settled in Britain.      Children will develop their understanding of chronology, describe and identify reasons for and results of historical events, situations and changes and consider different ways the past has been interpreted.

·         The Tudors: In this unit children find out about the Tudors through the story of Henry VIII's marriages. They develop their ability to use written and pictorial sources, ask and answer questions, give reasons for actions and identify changes. They will also learn about the lives of different types of people living in Tudor times. Children will find out about the characteristic features of society at a time in the distant past by asking and answering questions from a range of different sources of information.

    Geography:

·         Improving the environment: In this unit the children use the school buildings, grounds and immediate locality to investigate environmental issues and improvements. It encourages children to become actively involved in improving their local environment.

·         Village settlers: This unit combines work on, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings in Britain with geographical work on the development of settlements. It introduces children to how settlements develop over time and how early settlers provided many of the settlements we use today. It will be used as a geographical study within the history unit and later to revisit work previously completed in history. This unit is particularly suited to children who are not skilled at extended writing, but have developed a higher level of geographical skills. Children will work in small groups when using maps and individually when designing their own village, which will provide an assessment activity.

   ICT:

• Keyboard skills
• Developing their ability to word process and create graphics.

    Art, Design & Technology

The art and design topics will develop skills and understanding through cross-curricular activities:

·         Investigating pattern through mathematics.

·         Understanding wax resist through history.

Making and designing storybooks through English.

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