Writing and Reading Adventures

This half term, we will be reading 'Kensuke's Kingdom'. I don't want to give any of the story away, but I will say that Michael Morporgo has a wonderful way with words and his rich vocabulary thoroughly engages the imagination. During this unit, the children will focus on non-fiction writing opportunities: instruction and explanation texts, as well as, script writing and persuasive letter writing. 

Maths

In maths, we will be developing our understanding of four digit numbers and the place value of each digit. We will be ordering and comparing numbers, rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000 and using formal methods to add and subtract, to name but a few. In readiness for our times table check, please practise your times tables daily - Please see the times tables tab https://www.berkswichceprimary.co.uk/times-tables-1/ and https://www.berkswichceprimary.co.uk/times-tables-support/  

We will be enhancing our maths with some texts to support and develop our understanding of a concept. For example, during our place value unit, we will be delving into the following two books: 

       Number and place value:

· Find 1000 more or less than a given number.

· Recognise the place value of each digit in a four digit number (thousands, hundreds, tens and

· ones).

· Order and compare numbers beyond 1000 Identify, represent and estimate numbers using different representations.

· Round any number to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000.

· Solve number and practical problems that involve all of the above and with increasingly large positive numbers.

Addition and subtraction:

· Add and subtract numbers with up to 4 digits using the formal written methods of columnar addition and subtraction where appropriate.

· Estimate and use inverse operations to check answers to a calculation.

· Solve addition and subtraction two step problems in contexts, deciding which operations and methods to use and why.

Religious Education

Creation and Fall 

What do Christians learn from the creation story?

This half term, the children will be studying the creation story and discovering what Christians can learn from it The children make clear links between Genesis 1 and what Christians believe about God and Creation. . They place the concepts of God, Creation and the Fall on a timeline of the Bible’s ‘Big Story’, offering suggestions about what the story of Adam and Eve might show about human nature, their relationship with God and how to act, including how and why Christians may pray and worship God. During this unit, the children consider guidelines that Christians may live their lives by there is opportunity for pupils’ own ideas about how people should behave to be explored.

Computing

The children will apply their knowledge and understanding of networks, to appreciate the internet as a network of networks which need to be kept secure. They will learn that the World Wide Web is part of the internet, and will be given opportunities to explore the World Wide Web for themselves in order to learn about who owns content and what they can access, add, and create. Finally, they will evaluate online content to decide how honest, accurate, or reliable it is, and understand the consequences of false information.

Physical Education

Tennis coach, Chris Proud will be teaching Year Four tennis at Walton Tennis Club. This will be supported by Mrs Ennis or Mr Lilley. This is a great opportunity for the children and they will learn both skills and improve fitness levels. As well as tennis, the children will be taking part in fundamental skills:

Stability, locomotion and object control are the three foundations of fundamental movement knowledge. They need to become automatic so that students can move without having to think about it, much the same as decoding while reading needs to be automatic before fluency and comprehension is possible. Without mastery of fundamental movement knowledge, students will have little working memory to think about strategy and tactics, key components of physical education. Fundamental movement begins as generic knowledge then develops into sport-specific knowledge.

History

The children will discover: who lived in the UK during the Iron Age; what the settlements were like and how they were built; beliefs and druids; conflict; farming and much more.

Science and Design Technology

The children will be learning about what electricity is and how it was discovered. They will identify which appliances use electricity in their homes and how to keep themselves safe and they will construct circuits. 

After learning about how circuits work, they will be using their knowledge in DT to create paper circuits. They will be considering the user, to create a product just in time for Christmas!

PSHE

An introductory lesson will outline the subject and explore how to create a successful learning environment for these lessons.

Families and Relationships

Within this unit, the children will learn that families are varied and differences must be respected. They will consider physical and emotional boundaries in friendships, explore the roles of a bully, a victim and a bystander and gain a greater understanding of how behaviour affects others, manners in different situations and learn about bereavement.

Art

Perspective - Exploring the impact of perspective when done well and not so well. The children will compare artists styles in bringing 2D to life. They will experiment with tints and line to create the illusion of depth and use a vanishing point to create perspective.

Music

Children will take part in the first of two Year Four units learning to play the recorder. They will continue to develop their understanding of notation and rhythms. They will develop their technical skills through repetition and eager evaluation, and will enjoy simple compositions. Please see the Bring Me page to find out more about when the children will need to bring their recorder in each week (we will send their recorder that we kept from Year Three). The children will also listen to compositions by Motzart as part of their learning about music history. 

Spanish

In Spanish, the unit is titled, ‘My Town’ and, in keeping with this, the children will be learning how to say where they live and how to write their address. They will describe some features of Stafford and compare these with those in Spanish cities. After revising their number learning from last year, they will be extending this to saying, reading and writing numbers to a hundred. Spanish/English dictionaries will be used to extend the children's vocabulary and introduce them to further ways to check spellings or translations. Do let us know if you have any expertise in this area: we’d love to hear from Spanish speakers in our community.