Year 4

Easter Competition!!

Published on Monday 7 April 2025 by Miss Lee.

It is competition time!!

On Friday 11th April, at 3.15pm The battle is on!!

TT Rockstars Battle of the Bands

4G vs 4L!!

Let's see who can complete the most games, earn the most points, and help their class reach the top of the leaderboard! On Monday 28th April, we will award certificates to the top three children and a prize to the person who comes first in the competition!

    Year 4 Science

    Published on Friday 21 March 2025 by Miss Golightly.

    During our Science unit, the children learnt how to classify living things into different groups. They learnt about the different groups of vertebrates and invertebrates, and they were able to create classification keys to show an understanding of their differences. The children also explored our local environment and considered what threats there are to habitats and microhabitats in our local environment and across the world. They discussed how these threats could pose dangers to living things.

    Year 4 ScienceYear 4 Science

    Within our two week unit, the children also constructed and interpreted a variety of food chains and were able to identify producers, consumers, predators and prey. We looked at what might happen to a food chain if a living thing was removed and how this would impact the number of the living things within the food chain.

    Year 4 ScienceYear 4 Science

      World Book Day!

      Published on Thursday 6 March 2025 by Miss Golightly.

      The children have had a fantastic day today celebrating World Book Day! We started the day with a World Book Day quiz in our house teams. The children had great knowledge of different books and their authors! The children then shared a book with a friend before creating some of their own paper plate characters.

      World Book Day!World Book Day!

      We have loved seeing all of the fantastic costumes today! Well done to all of the children, and to those who won prizes!

      World Book Day!World Book Day!

      World Book Day!World Book Day!

        Year 4 Design and Technology

        Published on Friday 21 February 2025 by Miss Golightly.

        In design and technology, the children have been focusing on cooking and nutrition. We have learnt about seasonality, and we have discovered where and how ingredients are grown, reared and processed. We have also focused on the principles of a healthy and varied diet, and we have applied this to ensure the ingredients of a cottage pie provided a balanced meal.

        Year 4 Design and TechnologyYear 4 Design and Technology

        The children then used skills such as peeling, chopping, grating and mashing to work as a team to create a cottage pie to feed a family of 4 for under £5. They successfully met their design brief and showed great listening skills and team work when cooking.

        Year 4 Design and TechnologyYear 4 Design and Technology

        Year 4 Design and TechnologyYear 4 Design and Technology

          Year 4 Art

          Published on Friday 31 January 2025 by Miss Golightly.

          During our recent art unit, the children learnt about the artist Henri Matisse. They learnt about his art style (fauvism) and how he would 'draw with scissors' to create collages as he became older.

          Year 4 Art Year 4 Art

          The children studied a piece of post-impressionist art and they created their own piece of impressionist art based on this. They used Henri Matisse's skill of 'drawing with scissors' to recreate their version of the art.

          Year 4 Art Year 4 Art

          We love their final pieces of art!

          Year 4 Art Year 4 Art

            Happy New Year!

            Published on Friday 10 January 2025 by Miss Lee.

            Happy New Year and welcome back!

             

            What a way to return to school and start 2025 with the weather this week! Thank you for your patience with the icy conditions around school. Hopefully it begins to warm up and disappear next week!

             

            Happy New Year!

            Please can children ensure they have an appropriate PE kit in school on a Wednesday and Thursday until half-term please. We have secured an additional PE lesson with coach Joe.

            After February half term, all children in year 4 will attend swimming lessons on a Tuesday and will require swimming kits. No jewelry is allowed in the pool and earrings need to be removed.

             

            My first challenge to those of you have have their ears pierced is to learn how to remove and replace earrings independently - if you can do this by the time swimming lessons take place you will be awarded some diamond power gems for independence!

             

            My second challenge to all children is to learn how to put on a swimming hat. This is what takes the most time in swimming lessons and they must be worn to enter the pool. The quicker that swimming hats are on, the more time children spend learning how to swim!

             

             

            For children in 4L reading longer books, Miss Lee has set them a reading challenge! To be finished and changed reading books by Friday 17th January in order to move up the levels and have a wider choice of reading book.

              The Year 4 Team

              Miss Lee
              Miss Lee

              Miss Golightly
              Miss Golightly

              Times Table Fluency

              What does it sound like to be fluent in times tables?

              What does it mean to be fluent in times tables?

              • Your child can answer the question back to you, with automaticity, within 3 seconds. 
              • They do not need to think about the answer or hesitate to think about the answer.
              • They may make a little mistake but very quickly correct themself. 
              • They can answer questions which are out of sequence and in no pattern of times tables. 
              • Children do not count on fingers. 

               

              Why do children need to be fluent in times tables?

              • It reduces cognitive load - children can think quicker because they don’t have to spend time counting their times tables. 
              • It saves energy in the brain allowing greater focus on the problem - reading the question, processing what it means, carrying out 2 or more calculations in a problem.
              • It saves time in calculating in multi-step problems. 
              • It unlocks a world of maths in the wider curriculum. 
              • It provides the opportunity for children to reason with numbers and problem solve.
              • It builds confidence & reduces mathematical anxiety - grows independence, reduces the feeling of being overwhelmed by the problem. 

              Reading at the Expected Standard

              What does it sound like to be reading at the expected standard in Year 4?

              What does it mean to be a fluent reader? 

              Reading fluency - a combination of the following components:

              • Accuracy - word recognition and pronunciation 
              • Automaticity - rapid word reading without conscious decoding (breaking down/sounding out words)
              • Prosody- expressive, phrased reading
              • Comprehension - processing text & understanding meaning 
              • Inference - reading between the lines 

              What to look out for:

              • Reading with varied volume and expression.  
              • Your child will sound like they are talking to a friend with their voice matching the interpretation of the passage.
              • They will read with good phrasing.
              • They will adhere to the punctuation used in the text - taking a breath at commas and pausing at full stops. 
              • They will read smoothly - they may have some breaks and will self-correct any slight mistakes. 
              • They will read at a good pace. 

              How many words per minute should your child be reading?

              The following figures are based on the child reading this amount of words in an age appropriate text. Some examples of age appropriate texts can be found below. 

               

              End of the Autumn term (by Christmas)

              End of the Spring term (by Easter)

              End of the Summer term (by Summer)

              Year 4

              110

              120

              130

               

              Year 4 texts:

              • Matilda
                Matilda
              • Silas and the Marvellous Misfits
                Silas and the Marvellous Misfits
              • The Boy Who Biked The World
                The Boy Who Biked The World
              • The Chronicles of Narnia
                The Chronicles of Narnia