Learning

Autumn Learning: 

Download: 2024-25 Year 4 – Term 1 – Walk Like An Egyptian 

This term Year 4 have been exploring Ancient Egypt. 

During our history unit, we researched who Egyptians were, what their roles were within the hierarchy, hieroglyphics, the pyramids and gods and goddesses. We used all of our knowledge to plan and record our very own Ancient Egypt documentary. 

We were able to use this knowledge within English as we wrote our own Ancient Egypt escape story, a newspaper report about the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

In art, we have been studying Andy Warhol and created a piece of print artwork inspired by him. 

During the term, we set up a science experiment about evaporation as this term we have been exploring changes of state and the water cycle. 

We have had lots of fun learning the rules of netball and competing in games. During indoor PE, we have created our own gymnastic sequence of balances, travels and jumps. 

At the end of term, we celebrated with an Ancient Egyptian day where we mummified an orange! 

Download: 2024-25 Year 4 Term 2 – Staying Positive

This term, our topic in Year 4 has been ‘Staying Positive’. For this, we have been exploring electricity in Science by making electrical circuits and using these circuits to make a Christmas Buzzer game in DT. During Reading and English, we have been focussing on the book ‘The Wild Robot’ where the children have enjoyed writing their very own chapter. We continued this theme in indoor PE by creating a dance routine that explored the creation of a new robot. Whilst in outdoor PE, we have been using our geographical map knowledge to develop our orienteering skills. We have really enjoyed our Rock and Roll unit in Music where we have learnt The Hand Jive and learnt how to play the walking baseline. Finally, we have been celebrating Christmas with our church service, Christmas parties and a Santa Dash. 

Spring Learning: 

Download: 2024-25 Year 4 – Term 3 and 4 – Movie Mayhem

This term, Year 4 have been learning all about film in their topic ‘Movie Mayhem’. 

To launch the topic, Year 4 watched Toy Story 1. From this they were able to write their very own film review and script for a scene in English. This has linked closely to reading where they have read a range of reviews, scripts and interviews as well as non-fiction texts about the history of cinema and jobs within the industry. In art, they were inspired by the famous sculpturer Grayson Perry to design, make and evaluate their own film awards using clay. 

Using a soundtrack from ‘Up’ in PE, the children created their own dance to tell the narrative of the journey of a balloon. For this, they learnt a motif and choreographed a solo and unison section. In outdoor PE, the children have been practising football skills including learning to defend and create space on a pitch. During Science, the children have investigated sound by exploring how sound is produced, what changes the volume of a sound and what affects the pitch. In Geography, they have been learning about the physical features within the UK. They have used map skills to locate and describe these physical features and identified the longest UK river and highest peak. This linked to music as the end of unit outcome led the children to compose and perform their own group performance using a Capella, ostinato and changes in tempo, dynamics and pitch to represent the different parts of the river. 

Download: 2024-25 Year 4 Term 3 and 4 – Movie Mayhem

In Term 4, we have continued our ‘Movie Mayhem’ topic. The highlight of our term has of course been our trip to the cinema where we really enjoyed watching a new film with popcorn!

Over the term, we have written a story ending for Finding Nemo and a diary entry for our cinema trip. In Art, we have been looking at abstract art and painting our own pieces inspired by Alma Thomas. We have been enjoying learning about ‘Animals including Humans’ in Science where we have learnt about teeth, the digestive system and food chains. For Geography, we have continued to look at the human and physical features of the UK and how these have changed over time.

In Music, we have been inspired by the Hanami Festival in Japan. We have composed melodies inspired by our own Haiku poems about the cherry blossom. We have also created gymnastic sequences and developed our tag rugby skills in our PE lessons. 

Summer Learning: 

Download: 2024-25 Year 4 Term 5 and 6 – Running Wild

This term we introduced our ‘Running Wild’ topic. We have learnt lots about animals and their habitats in both Science and English in order to write a non-chronological report. We also researched environmental concerns such as deforestation and pollution to write a persuasive letter.  Our history on Anglo-Saxons linked with previous geography learning as we located where they had settled in England and compared the human features from Anglo-Saxon times to modern day life. In music, we have explored Samba music where we have composed and performed our own syncopated rhythms using percussion instruments. For PE, we have been learning hockey skills such as dribbling, shooting and push passing as well as athletic skills such as throwing, long jump and triple jump. In DT, we had lots of fun designing and making our own health pizza wraps. We learnt how to slice and grate. Within computing we have learnt that photos can be edited with skills such as cropping, combining, cloning and adding filters. Finally, in RE we have studied different festival for Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Summer Learning: 

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This term, we have continued with our topic ‘Surviving in the Wild.

In English, we wrote a narrative based on the novel we have read ‘Mouse Bird Snake Wolf’. In this narrative, we had the opportunity to show off all the amazing skills that we have been learning throughout the year. Following on from that, we wrote free verse poems based on a creature in the wild. We really loved getting creative with our descriptive language

In geography, we have been carrying out the role as geographers by completing a fieldwork process to find out how we are sustainable at Beacon Rise! This involved planning our own questionnaires, gathering information and analysing data

Another highlight was creating our own greenhouses in DT, we even had the chance to use glue guns and saws! The exploration continued when learning about sketching in Art. We created animal masterpieces through our hatching and cross-hatching skills.

During PE, we have enjoyed the sunshine whilst learning the skills and rules of cricket and athletics. As well as this, we had the chance to use our athletics skills in Sports Day!!