Year 4 Team 2024-2025:

O'Keeffe Class Teacher: Miss Lamont

Picasso Class Teacher: Miss Zealand

Setting Teacher: Mrs Herbert

Welcome to Year 4!

Welcome to our Year 4 class page! We hope you have had a wonderful break and are looking forward to beginning the new year and Autumn term in Year 4.

This term, our PE day will be a Monday. Please make sure appropriate PE kit is in school every day. 

We are using 'Go Read' to log the children's reading books. The children have been shown where to go to change their reading books independently and we will encourage them to change their books as soon as they have finished reading them. The children will also receive a library book to read alongside their banded book. Library books may be changed once a week. 

We are so excited for all of the learning opportunities we will get to share with the children this year. Below is some information on the learning we will be carrying out this half term. 

In English, we will be exploring poetry and form, persuasive writing (adverts) and first person diary entries. During reading lessons, the children will practise their reading skills with a focus on The Queens Nose.

In Maths, we will be exploring place value and the four operations. Please see fluency facts for year 4 below. Please encourage your child to keep practising these, along with the rest of their times tables. Children should continue to practise their times tables in their home times tables books and on Times Tables Rock Stars. In Science, we will be looking at living things, including vertebrates and invertebrates. In History, we will be learning about Anglo-Saxons.  In Geography, we will be exploring rivers. 

Please refer back to our class pages each week to see what the children have been getting up to in school!

Monday 24th March 2025

This week in Writing, the children used a thesaurus to enhance their word choices in their poems. They wrote cinquains and haikus, after they learnt how to replace simple vocabulary with more descriptive and powerful alternatives. By experimenting with synonyms, the children discovered new ways to express emotions and imagery, enriching their poetry and boosting their creativity. The children enjoyed this lesson and enjoyed using the thesaurus' discover new vocabulary. 

Monday 17th March 2025

This week in Maths the children took part in a practical lesson focusing on dividing a one digit number by ten. Using a hands-on approach, they applied their understanding of place value to solve problems, with the help of counters, place value charts and a Gattegno chart. The lesson encouraged reasoning as the children explored how the numbers change when divided by ten, using a tens frame to aid them to visualise the process. Through this interactive activity, the children deepened their understanding of division and place value in a fun and engaging way. 

Monday 3rd March 2025

This week in Maths, the children consolidated all of their taught fraction knowledge. We recapped the whole, adding fractions, converting fractions, and subtracting fractions, ensuring they had a solid understanding of each concept. The children worked on making very colourful posters, which showcased their learning through creative visuals and examples. To make the day even more fun, they were dressed as their favourite book characters, adding an extra layer of excitement to the lesson. It was wonderful to see them so engaged and enthusiastic about applying their fraction skills in such a creative way, and they even shared their posters with the class, explaining their thought processes.

Monday 24th February 2025

This week in maths, the children have been exploring equivalent fractions. They used manipulatives to compare fractions, which helped them visualise how different fractions can represent the same value. The hands-on activities encouraged them to work in pairs, allowing them to discuss their reasoning and deepen their understanding of the concept. They also completed exercises where they matched fractions with visual models. By the end of the week, the children were able to confidently identify and create equivalent fractions, demonstrating their progress.

Monday 10th February 2025

This week in Art & DT the children have been learning about figure sculpting using clay. They have been using a picture of a mannequin to copy and ensure they are focusing on the different proportions. They have spoken about how the mannequin resembles a natural human figure. The children cut a mannequin picture and assembled the different body parts to create a different position. They then discussed how they could bring their 'moving figure' to life through the use of 3D.

Monday 3rd February 2025

This week in Maths the children have been learning about mixed fractions. Throughout the week they have understood what it means for a number to be whole, counted in fractions beyond one, partitioned a mixed number and represented mixed numbers on a number line. The children have used concrete resources to aid them with their understanding of fractions, they have also used manipulatives to support the with their learning. 

Monday 20th January 2025

This week the children have been completing an observation over time in Science. The children have learnt about the different types of teeth, their purpose and how to take care of their teeth. We set up an enquiry to find out what types of drinks cause tooth decay. Using hard boiled eggs to resemble the enamel on our teeth, the children placed the eggs into five different liquids. We will record the results next week. The children have all been very energised when checking the results each day!

Monday 13th January 2025

This week the children took part in a wellbeing interactive learning experience. They learnt about what makes up a balanced diet and were able to try a variety of fruits. They acted as 'myth busters' when challenged on whether certain food and exercise statements were true or false. Body image and mental health were focused on as well as hearing some positive wellbeing quotes such as, 'feeling beautiful has got nothing to do with what you look like.' 

Monday 6th January 2025

In geography, the children have been learning about lines of latitude and longitude. This week, they used their knowledge, to find exact locations around the world including Ben Nevis and Niagara Falls. They used an atlas to find the coordinates. We discussed how it is easier to use an atlas than a globe to do this. The children showed determination and resilience when completing their learning. 

Monday 16th December 

This week, the children enjoyed a VR experience where they were able to enter a Viking virtual reality. They explored Norway, the fjords, Viking long boats and what a meal/party would have looked like. The children were super energised during the experience and as well as bringing their History learning to life, they were able to learn new information that will support them as they continue the topic in the spring term. 

Monday 9th December 

This week in computing the children have finished their podcasts. Using Audacity, they have planned, recorded and edited their own podcast about school news. They have evaluated their podcasts and discussed what they could have done to make them better, for example talking louder and clearer or going to a quieter place. 

Monday 2nd December

This week in French, the children practiced having a short conversation. They were able to ask and respond to questions, including who they are, their age, where they live as well as items that they have or do not have in their school bags. The children listened to each other respectfully and were determined to succeed when having their own independent conversations. 

Monday 25th November 

This week in Personal Development, the children recapped staying safe and how to dial 999 in an emergency. They learnt LIONEL and how it is used to support them with how to make a 999 call and then had a go at role playing this in pairs. The children were responsible and energised when taking part in this activity. 

Monday 18th November 

This week in Maths the children have been practicing their 11 time tables. During a maths lesson the children explored the 11 time table practically. They did this by making flashcards, so they could practice. They made posters to show different ways that they could remember the 11 times tables and they included different facts about the time table, for example the digits of the answers are the same up until 9x. 

Monday 11th November 2024

In English, the children have been exploring third person adventure stories. This week, they explored and identified the features of the model text and discussed their purpose and impact on the reader. They also identified the plot structure of the model text. The children successfully worked together in groups to do this and showed a responsible attitude towards their learning.

Monday 4th November 2024

In maths, Year 4 have been focusing on their times tables. This half term they are learning the 9's, 11's and 12's and also recapping the 7's. During their lessons, they have applied multiplication and division facts to problem solving, created flash cards and posters to support their times tables recall. The children all showed an energised approach. 

Monday 21st October 2024

This week in computing, Year 4 have been learning how networked devices make up the internet. They have had the opportunity to explore different websites and browse to find out what features a range of websites have. They also considered the difference between websites and web pages. 

Monday 14th October 2024

This week in English, the children began to explore narrative poetry. They performed 'A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky - Lewis Carroll' and considered their body language, volume and intonation. They also explored rhyme, pattern and rhythm within the poem. The children were energised when performing their poems to the class.

Monday 7th October 2024

This half term in music, the children have listened in detail to a range of musical styles, focusing on the pitch, tempo and silences. They have also explored the different ways music is produced, musical notations and this week they played untuned instruments including: tambourines, maracas and other percussion instruments. The children showed an energised approach.

Monday 30th September 2024

This half term in Geography, the children have been exploring features of rivers. They are now able to label key features including, source, estuary, tributary, meander and mouth. This week, they conducted an experiment to understand what happens at the mouth of a river. The children placed eggs in fresh water and salty water to see which would float and which would sink. The egg in fresh water sank because it had greater density than the water. The egg in the salt water floated because the density of the salt water was greater than that of the egg.  

Monday 23rd September 2024

This week in English, the children have been exploring persuasive devices in adverts including: slogans, rhetorical questions, superlatives and emotive language. They worked together to identify the features in the example advert and considered the purpose of each of these. The children worked successfully in groups and showed an energised approach. 

Monday 16th September 2024

This week in Science, we have been learning about invertebrates and where we might find them. The children had the opportunity to go outside onto the playground and explore. They used magnifying glasses to help them find their invertebrates. We discovered many invertebrates in our playground. 

Monday 15th July 2024

This week, we had our last Steel Pans session of the year and we celebrated by performing the song we have been practising. We worked in pairs to help each other with the order of the notes and the rhythm and our teacher played the drums to help us stay in time. 

Monday 1st July 2024 

In RE this half term, we are looking at sacred texts and the stories within them and how Sikh followers seek guidance. This week, we looked at the story of the Guru Nanak and the Two Villages. We identified the significant moments of the story which expressed fairness. 

Monday 17th June 2024

This week in Science, we have been learning about circuits and how they work. We connected a cell, wires and a lightbulb to make the lightbulb light up. We learned how electricity flows from the battery and that the circuit must be complete for the lightbulb to work.

Monday 10th June 2024

This week, both classes went on a one night residential trip to Wymondley Woods trip. It was a fun packed 2 days with den building, an assault course, archery and outdoor games. The children enjoyed eating pizza in the great outdoors, making their own sandwiches and they stayed in dormitories in groups. All the children had a lot of fun and showed great perseverance; the teachers were really proud of them! 

Monday 20th May 2024

We have been working independently and with learning partner to solve problems in maths this week. We used resources to solve place value problems and to create some of our own. We used base 10, counters and place value charts. 

Monday 13th May 2024

This week in English, we have been looking at poetry. We worked in pairs to write down adverbs, adjectives and verbs on the theme of friendship; we thought about all the things we like to do with friends and how we feel when we are with them. We used our notes to write a Haiku poem which had to contain personification.

Monday 6th May 2024 

In Geography, we have been learning about environmental regions in Europe and how some continents have more than one environmental region. We looked at ways in which plants have adapted to the conditions in their region and we compared the features of different parts of Europe.

Monday 29th April 2024

In Science, we have been learning about states of matter and the differences between solids, liquids and gases. This week, we carried out an experiment to discover whether we could weigh a gas. We poured 3 fizzy drinks into cups and weighed them. We then stirred them to encourage them to go flat and left them for a period of time. We weighed them again to see if they were lighter and recorded our results. We are going to continue to weigh the glasses for the next week. 

Monday 22nd April 2024

This week in French, we have been learning how to say which pet we have in French. We learned the question As-tu un animal? which means Do you have a pet? We practised using the question and the answer with a partner. We also learned that some nouns in French use Un and some nouns use Une.

Monday 15th April 2024

This week in music, we have been revisiting pulse and rhythm. We learned that the pulse is the heartbeat and that we can change the rhythm over the top of this. It was challenging to create different rhythms and to keep the pulse going. 

Monday 22nd January 2024

In Science this week, the children continued to explore living things. They investigated how living things can be classified using closed questions and used this information to create their own classification keys.

Monday 15th January 2024

In English this week the children worked collaboratively to explore and locate a range of persuasive techniques. They used existing example adverts to find these techniques, before discussing how each one impacts the reader and evaluating their overall impact. 

Monday 8th January 2024

In Science this week the children undertook a practical investigation, in which they applied their existing knowledge of minibeasts. They explored the school grounds, looking for microbeast and minibeast habitats, before recording their findings.

Monday 18th December 2023

This children were very lucky to attend a virtual reality experience this week. They dived into various oceans and explored life under the sea which included ducking away from sharks, getting to see turtles up close and watching seals on land and as well as under water. They were extremely energised throughout!

Monday 11th December 2023

In 

Monday 8th December 2023

Year 4 were very lucky to have a local priest visit. Father Coker explained and answered lots of questions about the church and being a Christian. The children were able to explore the Bible, rosary beads and many other religious artefacts. They all showed respect during the visit. 

Monday 1st December 2023

In English, the children have been exploring narrative poetry and the poetic devices included in these types of poems. They used what they found through this to come up with their own narrative poem based on The Santa Trap. The children showed determination to create rhyming couplets as well as move the narrative on in their poems. 

Monday 27th November 2023

In Science, the children have been completing an observation over time all about tooth decay! They have set up an enquiry to observe eggs that are immersed in a range of liquids including: coke, water, orange juice and blackcurrent. The egg shell acts as tooth enamel and the children have predicted which of the liquid will cause the most tooth decay and why. They are all very excited to see how the egg changes each day.

Monday 20th November 2023

In geography, the children have been comparing Stevenage in the past with Stevenage today, focusing on changes to human and physical features and how this has impacted the economy and employment in our town. The children used sources to identify changes and were energised when working collaboratively to do so.

Monday 13th November 2023

This week, the children were exploring religious symbolism in RE. They focused on Hinduism and Rangoli patterns. Using rice and paint they then created their own Rangoli. They showed lots of perseverance when painting over the rice! 

Monday 6th November 2023

This half term in Science, Year 4 are learning about the digestive system. This week the children brought the digestive system to life in the classroom using their drama skills, food, hula hoops to represent the oesophagus, plastic bags to represent the stomach and socks to represent the intestines. All of the children showed energised learning during this and will hopefully remember the journey of food through the digestive system forever now! 

Monday 29th October 2023

Year 4 enjoyed investigating different types of non-chronological reports to compare the key features and purpose of each. They worked in groups and recorded examples from each. 

Monday 16th October 2023

We are extremely proud of Year 4's determination, energy and pride in their steel pans this half term. Everyone worked well in groups or on their own to perform some fantastic pieces of music. The children could show me how the different parts of their pan produced different notes and pitches and could perform the notes using excellent pulse and rhythm. 

Monday 9th October 2023

This week, year 4 researched the different ways in which Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians worship. They cross-linked their learning to computing by using websites to find facts and videos. The children then shared this knowledge with each other and recorded it. We participated in some very engaging and respectful discussions about each other's religious or secular backgrounds.

Monday 2nd October 2023

Year 4 worked with amazing energy and determination this week to create their landscape wash backgrounds for the Stonehenge linking back to their history learning. We were particularly proud of their mixing of different colour combinations, their skills with using different brush strokes and the realism of creating different skies. 

Monday 25th September 2023

This week, we had the exciting opportunity to bring the circus to Round Diamond. Year 4 particularly enjoyed learning to spin plates on sticks in which they showed brilliant energy and resilience. The students also learnt how to perform different juggling tricks using circus flower sticks. Their hand-eye coordination was super impressive! 

Year 4 loved watching the circus show, especially seeing the circus performers swallowing an entire balloon and even seemingly consuming fire! 

We all have also enjoyed completing cross-curricular learning in our other subjects including finding the area and perimeter of different circus items; interpreting circus related timetables and writing fact files on circuses. 

Monday 18th September 2023

Year 4 showed fantastic energy and responsibility whilst performing scenes from Peter Pan this week. The children practised to re-enact the dialogue from the scene where Peter Pan teaches Wendy and the Lost Boys how to fly. They then incorporated this into their writing using inverted commas as well as ensuring they used alternative words to said to enhance their learning. 

The students also really enjoyed learning about how pitch is created in science this week. They learnt that sounds that create faster vibrations create a high pitch whilst sounds that create slower vibrations create a low pitch. Year 4 enjoyed experimenting with different instruments to see this in action. 

Monday 11th September 2023

Year 4 worked systematically and methodically to work out problems in place value this week in maths. They used digit cards and mental strategies in groups to find target numbers and work their way through a challenge. 

Monday 4th September 2023

Year 4 have had an exciting new start to the year and impressed their new teachers with their enthusiasm and PRIDE behaviours.

In science, the children took part in a sound walk listening out for different sounds around them and identifying the cause of the vibrations for each.

In maths, the children identified place value and ordered and compared numbers up to 1000. 

Monday 10th July 2023

This week in science, year 4 created their own switches which could be used within a circuit. The children were provided with options of materials that they could use and they had to use their knowledge of conductors and insulators to ensure that the switch would be on when they wanted it to be but also was able to be turned off. 

Monday 3rd July 2023

During maths this week, the children enjoyed using the laptops to support with their statistics learning. They were provided with a table of data and then created their own tables on Google Sheets using skills previously learnt in their computing lessons on Excel.

Monday 26th June 2023

This week was the year 4's camping trip! It was great fun.

We want to thank the children for being a great representation of Round Diamond and allowing the teachers some sleep!

We hope they had a well-rested weekend after all the activities. 

Monday 19th June 2023

Over the past couple of weeks the children have been enjoying the text 'The Island'. The text is all about a man who turns up uninvited to an island and the people of the island have to decide whether he should stay or not. The children put their debating skills to the test but with an interesting twist - the debate had to be silent. The children did a great job of communicating through written sentences using conjunctions and connecting adverbs to expand or go against each other's ideas. 

Monday 12th June 2023

The children enjoyed some practical science learning this week. They were given pictures of a range of electrical circuits and they had to use their knowledge of complete and incomplete circuits to work out whether the bulb would light. The children then created the circuits to see if they were correct.

Monday 5th June 2023

The children had a great couple of days this week meeting some inspirational people. They completed a range of different learning including creating art on inspiring scientists who made discoveries about electricity. They also had a great basketball masterclass with Paul Sturgess - UK's tallest man.

Monday 22nd May 2023

Times tables fun!

This week children have had the opportunity to compete against the speed of different celebrities during Times Tables Rock Stars.

Some of the celebrities whose times they tried to beat included:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Peter Crouch
Karen Carney
Andy Robertson

Monday 15th May 2023

During our maths learning this week, the children have been focusing on the skill scaling. We applied this skill to our learning by heading outside and scaling up shapes by using our knowledge of area and perimeter.

Monday 8th May 2023

This week in music, we spent some time learning more about the percussion instrument, the glockenspiel. The children had the opportunity to practise playing notes from sheet music and performing to each other.  

Monday 1st May 2023

In RE this week we explored a religious story called 'Duni Chand and the Needle of Heaven'.

The children listened well to the story and then in small groups retold the story using pictures for support. They then discussed the morals and lessons that can be learnt from the story. See the learning below to see some pictures and pupil voice.

Monday 24th April 2023

In science today, we explore the different states of matter and their properties. Children demonstrated what the particles look like in a solid, liquid and a gas. This then supported them to sort and classify different materials into the different states of matter.

Monday 17th April 2023

This week we started our new French unit which is all to do with being able to have a conversation about pets in French. The children learnt a new song and were able to start identifying the French terms for French pets and saying them with accurate pronunciation.

Monday 27th March 2023

The artist who has been coming in and visiting year 4 spent this morning on Friday doing some enjoyable Easter activities to generate some lovely Easter vocabulary. The children had a lovely time!

Monday 20th March 2023

It has been an exciting week of baking! On Monday, the year 4 children made some Italian bread. They had the opportunity to either observe or participate in the measuring of the different ingredients and discussions were had about the purpose of the different ingredients within the bread. They then went on to mix, roll and shape some risen dough ready for baking. On Tuesday, they either grated, chopped or sliced a range of vegetarians ingredients which they put into their bread. We hope they enjoyed eating it!

Monday 13th March 2023

This week the children went on an 'emotions journey' through the Alice and Wonderland story. They inferred how Alice felt at different points in the story and then they completed an emotions graph to show her changing emotions. This supported them to write postcards home from Alice to family members.

Monday 6th March 2023
During Spring term, children in year 4 have been lucky to have some opportunities to do activities with an artist called Jenny. These activities have been to support with their use of vocabulary and also to support them with developing their imaginations. This week, Jenny set up a very exciting Mad Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland. The children had just spent the week writing their own version of this chapter and on Friday it was a lovely opportunity for the children to share their knowledge of speech by becoming the characters and acting out what they might say! We look forward to more learning opportunities with Jenny over the next few weeks.

Monday 27th February 2023

This week we've been enjoying learning the pronunciation of new words in French. We started our new topic learning about different foods that we may eat and drink for breakfast. We practised saying aloud all the phrases and in our next French lesson we will have a go at putting them into a sentence to show what we eat for breakfast.

Monday 20th February 2023

This week year for had a lovely school trip to the Celtic Harmony Camp to experience life living in an Iron Age village. They had the opportunity to experience how the Iron Age people would trade goods, make bread, and make clothes and bracelets. This trip has prepared our year 4 historians for summer term where their history learning will travel through the Iron Age.

Monday 6th February 2023

This week we had two very exciting cross curricular days linked with Times Tables Rock Stars! 

The children loved coming in dressed as rock stars and making their own times tables games on the Friday. They had to make sure it would be appropriate for a KS1 child to play and enjoyed trying out each other's games and giving feedback. It was lovely to see some children feeling confident to battle against some of the teachers in the hall.

Monday 30th January 2023

In Science this term, the children have been learning about living things. This week, they went on a hunt outside to find invertebrates such as: spiders, woodlice, snails, slugs and worms. They identified different types as well as the habitats they found them in. 

Monday 23rd January 2023

In maths this week, the children have been representing and plotting integers on a number line. When given different ranges of numbers, they were able to plot the half way points, quarter points and estimate where other numbers would be on that number line. To support their learning, they used border roll to fold and find the different points.

Monday 16th January 2023

In music this term, we have been learning to sing in unison with increasing confidence when it comes to maintaining pitch. We sang Three Little Birds in pairs with another child. We had to careful listen to our partner and match their pitch throughout all of the song.

Monday 9th January 2023

In Geography this week, the children began their topic which focuses on the Alps. They researched the location of the Alps, the countries they cover and the closest seas. At the end of the lesson, the children used ‘Peak Visor’ to transport themselves to the Alps and find additional information such as: the elevation of different mountains, the weather in each country and what the Alps look like on a map.

Monday 12th December 2023

Over the week in maths, the children have been learning all about 2d shapes. We named a range of shapes compared the shapes based on their properties. The children presented their knowledge on Google Classroom using Google slides.

Monday 5th December 2023

In this week's DT lesson, we were finishing off our Christmas table decorations. We sewed on a base which would allow our products to fit the specification and stand on their own. There was a lot of success with this and some lovely learning outcomes.

Monday 28th November 2023

During English this week, we had the opportunity to evaluate each other's learning. We looked for strengths with their writing. We looked at where they had relevant details and where they ensured they had grammatical accuracy. We also provided areas for improvement.

Monday 21st November 2022

During religious education this half term, the children have been learning about Hinduism. This week, they focused on Diwali and the beautiful patterns created as part of the celebration. They made their own Rangoli patterns using rice and food colouring. 

Monday 14th November 2022

This week in Mrs Hooper's English group we were summarising information by taking notes. Children were taking notes on sabre-toothed cats from a range of different sources. They watched a video, read texts and used the iPads to find the relevant information.

Monday 7th November 2022

We had a really exciting visitor this week! Bea, a microbiologist, visited Round Diamond to introduce our exciting new topic, the human digestive system. We carried out different enquires to explore the length of the intestines, to help understand how our teeth breakdown the food, and then how it continues to breakdown in the stomach. A very fun day was had by all!

Monday 31st October 2022

In history, we explored a primary source. It was a Stone Age headdress. The children deduced what they thought this artefact would be used for and made their own to reenact its purpose. Some children thought it would be used as camouflage when hunting whilst others thought it might have been used in ceremonies or rituals.

Monday 17th October 2022

This week we had a very exciting couple of cross curricular days where we learnt all about space! The children carried out a range of activities including making top trump cards, used pastels to create a piece of art of the solar system which had a 3d effect and they also had a chance to go into a planetarium. 

Week commencing Monday 10th October 2022

In Science this week, the children applied their knowledge of sound by creating pan pipes. They carefully measured their paper straws to ensure each pan pipe was shorter than the one next to it and then used cellotape to wrap them together. When they had finished, they explored and practised playing the instrument to see how the length of each pan pipe changed the pitch.

Week commencing Monday 3rd October 2022

In maths this week, children started the week by exploring various multiplication strategies which would aid them when we move onto grid method. They reviewed the strategies considering whether they were time efficient, age appropriate and whether they would ensure accuracy or whether they were too complex. The children enjoyed reflecting on the effectiveness of these strategies.

Week commencing Monday 26th September 2022

In year 4's music learning we have been enjoying the song Step Back Baby. The children have created their own performances to accompany the song. They have had to be aware of their audience, incorporate facial expressions and collaboratively sing.

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Week commencing: 19.09.22

On Thursdays, Year 4 are now extremely lucky to receive British Sign Language teaching in the classroom. This week, they learnt the alphabet, some common phrases including “good afternoon”  “my name is” and “how are you” as well as the signs for a range of emotions.  Miss Lamont and Mrs Hooper feel so proud of the children, the respect they have shown the visitors and their determination to learn BSL. Well done! 

Week commencing: 12.09.22

This week in English, the children retold the story of Peter Pan through drama. To begin with they recorded down the key events from the story using story telling language. They created a range of freeze frames for these key events. They used their knowledge of the characters and the relationship between the characters to use the appropriate facial expression and body language.

Week commencing: 06.09.22

To begin our geography topic this term ‘Eastern England’ the children used the atlas’s to explore the United Kingdom and more specifically, the regions in England. They were challenged to work together to find as many cities in the different regions as they could, which they did successfully. Well done on an excellent first week back, Year 4! 

2021-2022

Week commencing: 11.07.22

In English this week, we are learning about poetry. We are looking closely at the poem ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me’ by Maya Angelou. We have all thoroughly enjoyed exploring the text so far. We learnt about how to perform a poem and followed some top tips from Michael Rosen. Below are some clips and pictures from our performances. Enjoy! :) 

Week Commencing 4th July 2022

Year 4 were delighted to perform at the music festival. We performed the song 'Count on Me' as a year group trying out vocal harmonies. We also performed alongside the Year 5 and 6 children singing 'Eye of the Tiger, The Ugly Duckling and 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. We hope the audience enjoyed the festival as much as we did!

Week commencing: 27.06.22

This week we took part in cross-curricular days with the theme of Animals. We researched a range of animals such as hamsters, guinea pigs, ferrets and scorpions. We completed an assortment of activities with the focus of our chosen animal. For example, animal origami and designing an animal enclosure. We also were given the opportunity to take part in an animal experience. We were able to pet and hold some really interesting animals. Below are some pictures from our animal experience. 

Week beginning: 20.06.22

This week in maths, we have been learning about fractions. We have found fractions of quantities, fractions of amounts of money and fractions of measures. To deepen our understanding, we took part in a problem solving activity where we had to discuss and give reasons. We were given an assortment of cards with either a fraction on it or a representation of a fraction. We had to group the cards in different ways making sure to explain our reasoning using our understanding. We used vocabulary such as equivalent, numerators and denominators. 

Week beginning: 13.06.22

In English, we have been exploring the text ‘The Island’. In the story, the islanders want the stranger to leave the island. We discussed our viewpoints and opinions on whether or not the stranger should stay on the island. We then split our class into two groups: for the stranger remaining on the island and against. Each group were given time to prepare their arguments and counter arguments. They had to infer reasons from the text as well as use evidence from the text in their debate. When the debate began, everyone put forward excellent arguments and showed fantastic energised learning! Well done at completing a great debate year 4! 

Week Commencing 6th June 2022 

The children in Year 4 went for a walk in the local area and were encouraged to take in their surroundings (not being told they were going to draw a map). When they returned to the classroom, they sketched a map of their route. They will then go for a walk again to compare their sketch with the route so that they can edit and improve their maps.

Week commencing: 23rd May 2022

This week we celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We completed a wide range of activities to help us celebrate. We created our own portrait of the Queen and created our own posters of key events that happened in England and around the world from our assigned decade of 1993-2002. We were also tasked with creating a special gift for the Queen. So we decided to choreograph our own changing of the guard routine. We had a great time learning the commands and trying to replicate the movements of the Queen’s guards. Enjoy watching below! :) 

Week commencing 16th May 2022

This week in maths we have been learning about integer scaling. We have been looking at different amounts and scaling the amounts up or down. For example, scaling up the ingredients necessary for a recipe or scaling down the size of a baby tree frog from its parent. We have had to use multiplication and division skills to support this learning. We have completed some challenging scaling problems that we really enjoyed! 

Week Commencing Monday 9th May

In Year 4, we have been looking at using Excel to help us manage data. We looked at how to format cells in different ways with colours and boarders. We used our cross-curricular knowledge from Maths to help us find cells using coordinates. We even played a class game of ‘Battleships’. 

W/C Monday 2nd May 2022

This week the children looked at historical early Britain artifacts and sources, discussing if the sources were primary and secondary and what they could deduce about the time period. 

W/C Monday 25th April 2022

This week for our Science learning we did a child-led investigation on 'What material and/or substance will reduce an ice-cube melting the best.' The children experimented with wrapping the ice in foil, a white cloth, and submerged the ice in cold water, salt and put the ice-cube on a metal tray. We weighed the ice cube before and after for 10 minutes to see the results in weight, the children all did beautiful learning and are excited to share their results with their grown-up!

Week Monday 18th April 2022

This week in RSHE we discussed healthy lifestyle choices and how we can look after our mental and physical wellbeing. 

Week beginning 28th March 2022

This week, we finished our DT project. Take a look at the video below to find out which skills and vocabulary we learned along the way in making our soup. 

Week beginning 21st March 2022

This week in Science, we have been looking at food chains. We were able to label the living things using vocabulary such as: producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, predator and prey. 

Week beginning 14.03.22

In our history lesson this week, we looked at different secondary sources to make comparisons between the Ancient Egyptian and Early Britain religions. We found out that both groups of people believed in the afterlife and were buried with their valuable possessions, 

Week beginning 7th March 2022

In our class assembly this Thursday, we continued our learning on life skills by looking at British Sign Language. We built on our prior knowledge of the letters and learnt how to sign the days of the week. We also learned how to sign words and phrases such as: 'today', 'yesterday', 'tomorrow', 'last week' and 'weekend'. Watch the video below to see what we have been learning. 

Week beginning 28th February 2022

This week, we practised using compasses in Geography. We then used the 8 compass points to describe the position of countries in Europe in relation to each other. 

w/c Monday 21st February 2022

This week, we took part in 'Wellbeing Wednesday' where we did activities relating to the NHS 5 steps to wellbeing: connecting with others, being physically active, learning new skills, giving to others and practising mindfulness. 

We thought about what values we look for in friends, took part in some Winter Olympics-inspired sports activities, used Chrome Music Lab to compose our own music and practised some guided meditation. We also bought in donations for the local food bank to help those less fortunate than ourselves. 

w/c Monday 7th February 2022

This half term, we have been learning about cave paintings in our art lessons. We have developed our drawing skills, learning how to create texture with a range of pencils and pastels. We learnt how people in the Stone Age added pigments to their drawings and used charcoal to add shadows and tones. 

w/c Monday 7th February 

This week in English, we have been reading the poem ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ by Lewis Carroll. We analysed the poetic devices in the poem and then planned and wrote our own versions. On Friday, we performed our poems with actions and clear voices to the rest of the class. 

w/c Monday 31st January 2022

In computing this week, we have been making our own quizzes on Scratch. We have experimented with changing the sprite, changing the colour of the sprite depending on correct or incorrect answers and practised debugging our algorithms when things haven’t gone as expected. 

w/c 24th January 2022

In Science this week, we went outside onto the playground to do an invertebrate hunt. We were very careful to treat the environment with respect and looked closely to see if we could find anything. We saw a range of invertebrates such as spiders, snails, ants and caterpillars. 

w/c 17th January 2022

In English, we have been writing setting descriptions based on our book 'Cloud Tea Monkeys'. We worked together to edit and improve our learning, making sure our vocabulary choices were ambitious and that our writing was grammatically accurate. 

w/c 10th January 2022

In maths this week, we have been learning about Roman numerals. We learnt how to write numbers with up to 4 digits.

Have a go at this game to revise what you learnt. 

ABCya! | Learn Roman Numerals • ABCya! 

w/c 3rd January 2022

Cross Curricular Days

On Thursday and Friday, our Spring Term learning commenced with our termly cross-curricular days. This time, they focused on life skills. In Year 4, we took part in a range of practical activities to enhance our learning in this area:

First aid - we learnt how to contact the emergency services for a range of scenarios. Some of us also looked at the recovery position.

Gardening - we learnt about the advantages of growing our own vegetables and successful planted our own seeds - we are looking forward to watching them grow!

Recycling - we looked for symbols on a range of containers and learnt how to sort our rubbish at home.

Making drinks - we learnt how to make tea, coffee and squash and wrote our own clear instructions.

Tying shoe laces - we made our own cardboard shoes to practise threading and tying our laces.

Table manners - we learnt how to correctly hold a knife and fork and how to act politely when at the table enjoying a meal.

w/c 15th November 2021

This half term, we have changed from Art to D&T lessons. Our focus this half term is sewing skills and we will be using these to make our own Christmas decorations.

To begin this topic, we practised our running, back and over stitches which we will use in our final product.

We had some excellent sewers in both classes!

w/c 8th November 2021

In our RE lessons this term, we have been learning about ways of worship in Hinduism, Christianity and Sikhism. Last week we explored key festivals, so this week we looked at Diwali in more detail and learned all about rangoli. We looked at what rangoli patterns are, why they are used and what they can be made from. The children then used coloured rice to create their own patterns.

w/c 1st November 2021

This week, we had 2 cross curricular days which focused on learning about Parliament.

We practised writing a letter to our local MP on an issue that was important to us, watched a Youth Parliament debate, chose a debate topic for our class debate, made campaign posters and ballot slips, learned about the 4 main political parties and voted for our favourite party, wrote our debate speeches and then held our class debates and votes!

w/c 18th October 2021

We have just started our new RHSE topic of "A World Without Judgement". In our previous lesson, we spoke about how different groups of people are judged, how we are judged positively and negatively and how we can judge others too. This week, we were proud to be able to share with a group of Year 5 children how we ensure that everyone has equal opportunities to learn at Round Diamond. Ansh collected the children from their classrooms and took them to see how he accesses his learning and some resources we have used on our most recent displays! The Year 5 children then returned to their classes and spoke about what they had learned from Ansh.

w/c 11th October 2021

This week in History, we imagined we were Stone Age children! We used our new knowledge from the past few weeks on what people in the Stone Age ate, how they hunted and what they wore to write a diary entry describing a day in the life of a Stone Age child. 

w/c 4th October 2021

In our Computing lessons so far this term, we have learned about staying safe online and the differences between networks and devices. This week, we learned about the differences between the Internet and the World Wide Web! The children created tables on Google Classroom to present their new knowledge.

w/c 27th September 2021

This term in Science we have been learning about sound. In this week's lesson we made our own panpipes out of straws and played them, practising with making high and low pitches. We noticed that the shorter straws made higher pitch sounds than the longer straws!

w/c 20th September 2021

This week in our English learning we discussed the effectiveness of vocabulary. We explored new adjectives like malevolent and vindictive, and in groups, ranked these in order of their effectiveness when describing Captain Hook.

As a class, we agreed that malevolent was one of the most effective words as it isn't used a lot so helps to show a lot of emotion. Some children thought that mean and unkind were the least effective words as they are not as powerful, and the children have been using them for a few years now.

The Year 4 teachers are looking forward to seeing some of this new vocabulary in the children's learning soon!

w/c 13th September 2021

We started learning about sound by exploring how we hear. We learned all about the different parts of the ear, what the purpose of each part is and finally, how we actually hear the sound - by little, tiny hairs sending signals to the brain that we are hearing a sound! Both classes then presented their understanding of the process to the rest of their class, including information we had gathered the previous week.

w/c 6th September 2021

In Art this half term we will be painting our own landscapes. To begin this topic, we spent this week's Art lesson exploring a range of brushes. We chose appropriate brushes to create different strokes and varied textures!

w/c 30th August 2021

This week, the Year 4 teachers welcomed all the children back to school. The children learned about their class artists (Georgia O'Keeffe and Pablo Picasso) as well as writing about their summer holidays, practising spelling and playing times tables games to engage everyone in this year's learning.

We are looking forward to sharing more Year 4 learning with you soon!

2020-2021

Teaching Team 

Mrs Herbert (Picasso class)

Miss Blundell (O'Keeffe class) with Miss McLintock (student teacher)

Mrs Herbert ( Target group teacher)

Mrs Mason ( Teaching Assistant)

Class information

Year four PE lessons will be on Thursday afternoons.

Home learning

Home learning tasks (spellings, my maths and maths fluency) will be set on a Friday. We encourage children to read daily and this can be recorded in their reading records. 

Year 3/4 Statutory Spellings: 

In the link below, you will find the National Curriculum Year 3/4 Statutory Spelling List  document. On page 16 of the document, you will find the Year 3/4 spelling list. The previous pages of the documents also explain the spellings rules that we teach in our weekly spelling practise. Each week, alongside a spelling rule, we send home two statutory spellings from the list to keep children practising them regularly.

Children are assessed on all the words from the list each term, throughout the years. The document also contains the Year 5/6 Statutory Spelling List and rules which children will move onto next year.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239784/English_Appendix_1_-_Spelling.pdf 

05.07.21

In our maths learning this week, we have been building our confidence with time. In Miss Blundell's class we did one of her favourite time activities, MUSICAL CLOCKS! We danced around the room to the music and then when it stopped we had to read the time off an analogue clock. Year 4 also explored 12- and 24-hour conversion later on in the week and they should be really proud of themselves, as this is challenging learning.

28.01.21

We hope everyone has recovered after the excitement of the school sleepover. We wanted to say a little message to thank the children for some of the lovely manners we saw when we were handing out food and drinks, and the general appreciation from some children for the experience. 

It was definitely an early night for the teachers on Saturday!

21.07.21

In this lesson, we made pulleys. We use string, a little plastic pot, a magnet and a paperclip. We attached the pulley to the chair and attempted to pull the paperclip up with the magnet attached to the bottom of the pot. This skill will be useful to help us when we go start our DT project of making a ski lift.

14.06.21

Cross Curricular Days for PE!

We have had some fun days this week linking our lessons to PE. On Monday, we practised some first aid and we learnt and tried bandaging each other. We then went onto explore the history of the Ancient Olympics. In the afternoon, we did our learning outside. There was various different food and drink packaging around the playground and we went on a scavengers hunt to find food with certain contents. Some of the things we had to find included:

• A product that contains no fats
• A food high in sugar
• A food containing around 10g of protein per 100g
• A food that has an amber salt label

07.06.21

We started our new D&T unit this week where we are developing skills to move towards creating a ski lift. This week we looked at various pulleys and how they work. We learnt some important vocabulary including axle, wheel, force and motor. We then explained the process ourselves so that we are reading to make our own pulleys in our next D&T lesson.

24.06.21

This week we enjoyed a lovely art morning. Firstly, we did a contrasting sketch of the Stonehenge. On one part of the page we used charcoal and the other half we used sketching pencils and colouring pencils. Our focus was to create the appropriate textures on the stone structure and also to use tones to show where the light hits the stone from the sun.

We then evaluated our previously made Stonehenge structures. We considered the strength of our design and the areas that needed improvement. We thought about the skills we could use next time to achieve better results.

17.05.21

In maths, we have been spending some time building our confidence with our times tables. Miss Brooks group practised with games such as pairs, around the world and finding patterns on a 100 square. We started to feel more confident with our 3 and 4 times tables.

During out art learning journey, we have explored the different textures of materials you would find at the Stonehenge.  We used sketches (we had drawn in a previous lesson) to collaboratively create a model of this structure. We used various tools to mould our clay and show the different textures. We had to consider how we could ensure our structure would remain stable.

During our art learning, we created scaled up versions of our Stonehenge sketches. We used our learning from maths to make the measures of a sketches ten times bigger. We then used chalk to sketch them out on the playground.

19.04.21

This week in science we began our new unit on states of matter. We sorted different materials into either solids, liquids or gasses. We then considered what properties they would have if they were in these groups. We discussed the particle formation of these materials and demonstrated how the particles would look in groups.

15.03.21

This week we started our playscripts unit. We practised reading Alice in Wonderland as if we were characters performing. We had to consider our tone and intonation when reading to ensure we were expressing the correct emotions.

08.03.21

For our maths learning we created human grids and plotted shapes. We discussed the various polygons that we created on the grids and their properties. We also completed shapes by identifying what the missing coordinates were. 

01.03.21 

This week we read various blurbs of different genres of texts, including playscripts. We then used our VIPERS skill of prediction to make sensible predictions of these blurbs and justified our views. We recorded our ideas on post it notes and placed them on the covers. This allowed us to share a good discussion at the end of the lesson and compare our thoughts.

22.02.21

This week we started our new unit in D&T all about food technology. It will lead onto the children using skills such as chopping, slicing, grating and peeling and then planning their own soup.

For this lesson we explored how food is sourced and we conducted research and presented our finding in a leaflet.

01.02.21 - Mental Health Awareness Week
 

We are all going through a challenging time in lockdown, so it is more important than ever to ensure we are staying happy and healthy.

Do you remember our "Take Notice" assemblies last term? Taking notice of the world around you and what you are grateful for is one way that you can improve your happiness every day.

There are so many benefits to practicing mindfulness, you can feel happier, less stressed or anxious, calmer, more focused, be kinder and even sleep better!

Explore this link - hopefully it will keep you healthy, happy and have a little fun along the way!

Please check with an adult that they are happy for you to access this.

25.01.21 - A holiday to the French Alps would be nice right now, wouldn't it?

This week the children used their English learning of persuasive writing and their Geography learning all about the French Alps to create a holiday brochure.

7.12.20

In our assembly this week we practised using Makaton to sing a Christmas song.

Year 4 had great fun this week in science! Miss McLintock and Miss Blundell demonstrated the human digestive system with some biscuits, a banana, orange juice, a sandwich bag and a pair of tights. 

After that, the children went outside and we had a cross-curricular link to PE. Mr Beeson had set up a fantastic circuit of exercise for the children to carry out which represented different parts of the digestive system.

2019 - 2020

English 1

For learning your spellings this week you could...
- Write them in melted chocolate or shavingfoam
- Write them on a family members back using your finger
- Create a rap using as many of them as you can

- Write silly sentences with them in 

English 1

For your spellings you could do the following activities...
- Write them in sentences

- Rainbow writing

- Pyramid writing

Recommended Texts

Hi Year 4,

We had a few requests for book recommendations during our phone calls so we have compiled a list of ones we love! There is a range of levels here as we know you are all on different book bands. 

Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers

The Lorax by Dr Seuss

The Day the Crayons Quit By Drew Daywalt

Slime by David Walliams

The Peski Kids by R.A Spratt

Percy Jackson By Rick Riordan 

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi