Cale Green Primary School
Year 4- Theme 1- What did people of the Ancient civilisations do for us?
English Link up
English for this theme will be begin with story writing. We begin our studies by reading the Cressida Cowell ‘How to train a Dragon’ book as we prepare for our visit to Stockport Plaza to see her on Tuesday 19th September.
In addition, we will be looking at texts linked with the theme of Ancient Civilisations, for example, ‘The Firework Maker’s Daughter’.
Maths Link up
Maths for this theme will be focusing on the basics: four rules of number and place value. All children should know their times tables rapidly up to 12x12 by the end of Year 4 so this will be a priority for the year.
Linking with the theme we will be investigating Roman Numerals and measuring when making cakes.
Cross Curricular Links
Year 4 will investigate the achievements of the earliest civilisations of Ancient Sumer, Ancient Egypt, the Shang Dynasty and in greater depth the Indus Valley. They will find out where and when the first civilisations appeared and what legacy they have left for us today.
Science
The principal focus of science teaching in Year 4 is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They should do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first to talk about and to write about what they have found out.
During the first theme Year 4 will study 2 main areas: plants and forces.
PLANTS:
Year 4 will identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers. They will explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant. In addition, they will investigate the way in which water is transported within plants as well as exploring the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal
FORCES:
Year 4 will be compare how things move on different surfaces noticing that some forces need contact between 2 objects.
As ever, we will continue to have Mrs Nelson coming into school on Wednesdays to do guitar lessons and will be continuing with our French studies focusing on the weather, food and drink and animals.
Special Class Events
Tuesday 19th September Cressida Cowell author visit
Stockport Plaza
Physical Educations
Year 4will be playing lacrosse during the first part of the year. A reminder that PE kit should be in at all times: white t-shirt, black shorts/ leggings/ jogging pants and tracksuit bottoms.
Homework
Homework is handed out on a Monday to be handed back in on a Friday. This will include spellings, grammar and maths. They will have online ‘My Maths’ where the children should aim to get over 90%. In addition, Y4 will have guitar homework on a weekly basis.
Reading
Please encourage your child to read a little of their reading book each school evening. If they can read to a grown up as well, this would be an additional bonus. Don’t forget the Reading Bingo which will give Year 4 a new range of books to enjoy during the year.
Spellings
A reminder about the strategy for learning spellings: Look-Cover- Write-Check.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to find me on the playground before or after school.
Kind regards
Mrs Sarah McHugh and Mrs Dutton
Websites
- Ancient Sumer
- Indus Valley
- Ancient Egypt
- Shang Dynasty