Autumn Term 2024-25

Year 4

Teacher - Miss Barnes

Teaching Assistants - Miss Jones, Mrs Smit, Miss Faulkner, Mr Henderson

Research Question: Why were Anglo-Saxons so wealthy?

Our key concepts: Identity, power, change, care, conflict, fairness.

Identity – What do we have today which comes from Anglo-Saxon times?

Conflict – How was the UK split up during Anglo-Saxon times? How was the UK divided, and did that change?

Power – Who ruled the kingdom and how did power change hands?

Fairness– What was the impact on weaker kingdoms and citizens? What were the implications of fighting?

Change – How did life change in England?

English

Reading: Our whole class text will be Beowulf (by Michael Morpurgo), but we will also be exploring other versions of Beowulf to compare and contrast literary style.

Our other whole class text will be How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell.

Spelling and Grammar: We will be focussing on the statutory year 3/4 spelling list and the following spelling rules/ patterns as well as our word of the day. The children have the chance to practice these spellings in a variety of ways including weekly dictations to assess.

- Use the prefixes in-, im-, il-, i-r, sub, inter-, super-, anti-, auto-…

- Understand and add suffixes -ation, -ous.

- Add endings which sound like ‘shun’ spelt -tion, -sion, -ssion, -cian e.g. invention, discussion, tension, magician.

- Spell words ending with the ‘g’ sound spelt ‘gue’, and the ‘k’ sound spelt -que e.g. rogue, tongue, antique, unique…

- Spell homophones accept/except, affect/effect, ball/bawl, berry/bury, knot/not, medal/meddle, missed/mist, rain/reign.reign, scene/seen, weather/whether, whose/who’s.

- Spell words with the ‘s’ sounds spelt ‘sc’ e.g. science, scene.

Writing: – We will be comparing and contrasting multiple versions of the ancient legend, Beowulf. Children will learn how to write setting descriptions and character descriptions.

•            Read a range of myths, exploring and analysing sentence types, working together to use drama and identifying language and conventions within them.

•            Draft and edit by composing and rehearsing sentences orally and building up a rich and varied vocabulary.

•            Extending the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions.

•            Use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary.

Maths

Children will learn place value of 4-digit numbers.

• Partitioning numbers
• Comparing numbers
• Estimating answers
• Written addition and subtraction.
• Mental strategies for addition and subtraction.
• Multiplication (Times tables to 12 x 12)
• Area

Science 

States of Matter:

Children will:

Identify the differences between solids, liquids and gases and observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled.

Electricity

Children will:

•            Identify common appliances that run on electricity and recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp will light.

•            Recognise common conductors and insulators.

•            Consider what life would be like without electricity and how much we depend on it in our daily lives.

Art

Exploring the use of sketching, charcoal and painting techniques, children will work towards creating a collaborative class version of the Bayeux Tapestry. Children will explore different ways they could represent their sections of the Bayeux Tapestry to convey a different mood, considering how colour, texture and material might contribute to the overall effect of their artwork.

PE

Dance: Choreographing routines linked to our States of Matter topic.

Football: Learning agility, balance and coordination within an invasion game.

Music

Charanga - Children are learning and applying key vocabulary: understanding pulse, rhythm, note values and note names. Children will read notation and create rhythms. Children will also take part in singing lessons.

PSHE

In PSHE, learning will include:

• Our feelings
• How to maintain healthy friendships.
• Where pressure comes from.
• What is ok and what is not ok.

Computing- information technology- ( In all three terms we regularly look at the LGFL Digi safe resources to keep our knowledge and skills at staying safe online up to date). 

Children will:

• Become more confident with using technology independently.
• Using Microsoft tools.
• Use research tools.

RE

Children will discover:

Where do religious beliefs come from? (Theology focus)

Identify different sources of authority and how they link with beliefs

Give examples of different writings and different ways in believers interpret sources of authority

Identify events in history and society which have influenced some religious and non-religious worldviews

Make clear links between different beliefs being studied within a religion or worldview

Identify some of the similarities and differences between and within religions and worldviews

Identify ways in which beliefs might make a Christians think about how they live their life, how they see the world in which they live and how they view others

What do we mean by truth? Is seeing believing? (Philosophy focus)

Describe different philosophical answers to questions about the world around them, including questions relating to meaning and existence.

Begin to use philosophical vocabulary when discussing issues relating to truth, reality and knowledge

Begin to weigh up whether different reasons and arguments are expressed coherently when studying religion and belief.

Give reasons for more than one point of view, providing pieces of evidence to support these views

Describe a range of answers to ethical and moral questions, showing awareness of the diversity of opinion and why there are differences

French

Children will: 

• Revise colours.
• Describe people's appearances.
• Describe nationalities.
• Talk about activities.