Year 4 Spring

Misty Mountain, Winding River

Geography

In the Misty Mountain, Winding River project, your child will learn about the characteristics and physical processes of rivers, including how they shape the landscape over time, their significance around the world and the impact of flooding. They will learn how to use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and a key to locate and plot geographical places and features on a map, as well as how contour lines are used to show the topography of an area. They will have the opportunity to learn about the stages of the water cycle and about mountains and their different formations, studying mountain ranges in the United Kingdom and around the world. They will also learn about habitats and how human and natural influences can have an impact on the environment.

Science

States of Matter

In the States of Matter project, your child will identify and classify solids, liquids and gases. They will learn the properties of solids, liquids and gases and discover that some materials have properties of more than one state. They will learn that particles make up all matter and how their arrangement determines whether the material is a solid, liquid or gas. They will find that materials can change from one state to another and learn about how materials can change state. They will use thermometers to measure the temperature of water and observe what happens when water changes state. They will investigate melting ice and record their data on graphs. They will also learn about melting and boiling points, researching various materials' melting and boiling points.

Grouping and Classifying

In the Grouping and Classifying project, your child will learn why we sort and group things and the important classification skills of observing and questioning. They will learn what classification keys are and how they identify living things. Your child will learn the characteristics of the five vertebrate groups and the six main invertebrate groups. They will learn how to identify vascular and non-vascular plants and sort vascular plants into the three main groups. They will also examine and classify real plants and create a classification key based on their observations. They will learn about some newly discovered plants and animals and use a classification key to classify each discovery.

Art and Design

Vista

In this project, children revisit the theme of landscape from Year 3.  They explore and discuss examples of famous landscapes and learn how to isolate a viewpoint.  They work outdoors to practise the technique, finding interesting perspectives to sketch.  They study mountainous landscapes through drawings and paintings and discussing their similarities and difference.

Animal

This project teaches children about the historical and cultural portrayal of animals in art. They study the visual qualities of animals through sketching, printmaking and clay modelling.

PE

This term we will be following our PE Planning scheme. This term our focus will be around Dance and Badminton.  Our PE sessions are on Wednesday mornings and Friday afternoons. Children can come to school in their P.E kits on these days. The school P.E kit is a white t-shirt, black shorts and trainers (outdoor PE).  A school sweat-shirt or cardigan and plain black joggers can be worn for outdoor PE. We would kindly ask that children do not wear football shirts or strappy vests.  Spare PE kit will provided in school for those that do have the correct kit.  Girls’ hair should be tied up and jewellery removed at home where possible.

Home Learning

Each week your child will have:

·         10 spellings to learn,

·         A short maths or SPaG homework task.

These will be sent home on a Thursday and will need to be returned to school by the following Thursday.

In line with school policy, Class 4 have a reading challenge encouraging children to read at least three times a week for ten minutes to an adult. Reading can include your child's school book or any online books or book at home that they enjoy reading. Reading diaries will be checked each week on a Monday morning.

Project homework task will also be sent home termly for the to complete at your leisure. Home learning projects will be celebrated in class using our Dojo rewards system.

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas break and are ready to get stuck into this new topic as much as I am.  LET’S GET EXPLORING!

As always thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Mrs Allott and the Class 4 team.