Year 4 Team 2023-2024:

O'Keeffe Class Teacher: Miss Lamont

Picasso Class Teacher: Miss Coker

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 school 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 shelf book. Library books are 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 discussion texts, focusing on the book 'Peter Pan in Scarlet'. Later in the half term, we will be focusing on writing riddles.

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 Sound. In History, we will start our learning on Early Britain, and learn all about Stone Age. In Geography, we will be looking at Eastern England.

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

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!