Year 4
Please support in ensuring your child reads at least 5x a week and encouraging them to use Doodle regularly at home.
Homework will be sent out on a Thursday, to be marked together as a class the following week.
Autumn 1
Equality vs Equity
This project is aimed at reigniting children’s enthusiasm for reading and writing, using Roald Dahl as our inspiring author. Year 4 will explore the renowned children’s book, ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’, by Roald Dahl. Focusing on the Manor Field attribute ‘confidence’ along with the importance of being ‘principled fruits’, the children will become familiar with Roald Dahl’s classic characters and the choices that they make during the story, including the consequences of these behaviour choices, and whether they are principled and rights-respecting. They will discuss and reach their own conclusions about which of the characters deserve to inherit the factory, debating our central idea: ‘Only principled children deserve rewards.’
Autumn 2
Relocation, Relocation
During our History-led topic this half-term, the children will explore the impact the Anglo Saxons had on Britain today, answering the key question: Were the Anglo-Saxons the ruin of Britain? Throughout the topic, there will be many opportunities for children to be resilient, curious and reflective about how the Anglo-Saxons lived. Children will develop their understanding of chronology by placing key historical dates and periods of history they have studied. We will be using our knowledge of the Anglo Saxons to write an encyclopaedia extract that will be collated together to form a book. Within English, we will also complete a book study on a text called Moving looking at our wider concept of relocation.
This half term, there will be a large focus on PSHE. During this, we will be focusing on key social and emotional skills which the children encounter on a daily basis.
Spring 1
Monsters vs Manor Field
Throughout the half term, the children will be investigating the monster invasion at Manor Field, and the consequences of this. Do the monsters ‘belong’ here?
There will be many opportunities for the children to be curious, by asking questions, hypothesising and discussing ideas about the monsters and why they may have invaded Manor Field in the first place.
After the MFJS monster invasion, we will explore journalistic articles and the children will produce their own news report. To continue their learning journey, the children will explore the characters in the film, ‘Monsters vs Aliens’. This will guide them to create their own monsters and settings, before writing and performing entertaining narratives, which they will share with their class. Furthermore, the monster invasion will give them the opportunity to discuss what it means to ‘belong’, and to explore their own feelings, alongside those of the monsters, further developing their RRE.
Spring 2
Ancient Egypt - A lasting legacy?
Throughout the half term, the children will be investigating whether ancient civilisations have influenced the way we live our lives today.
After our topic hook, we will explore the fascinating civilisation that existed in Ancient Egypt. Children will explore Ancient Egyptian lifestyles and discuss whether they believe they left a lasting legacy. We will be using our knowledge of Ancient Egypt to write Horrible Histories style instructions on how to make a mummy. Our English learning will then move on to looking at fairy tales that have been presented in a modern setting. We will discuss and debate the existence of stereotypes in the main characters of some of our favourite and most well-known stories!
Finally, all of the children’s learning will be collected together to create a Manor Field Museum experience that children in the school will be invited to visit and learn about this fascinating period of history.
Summer 1
Land of Fire and Ice
This half term, the children will be learning about Iceland, with Geography being our key focus. After revisiting their year 3 learning about The Lake District, children will develop their knowledge of Iceland and be able to describe where it is geographically, compared to the UK; developing their map skills, as well as understanding compass points. They will learn about physical and human features, including; volcanoes, hot springs and glaciers. In addition, children will discuss the positive and negative effects of tourism.
In English, the children will create a persuasive wanted poster to recruit a crew for the ‘Endurance’. They will then design a story- board inspired by Shackleton Adventure about a perilous journey.
Within Art, children will explore the techniques of colour mixing to create the illusions of fire and ice. They will develop their understanding of illustrations created by William Grill in his book Shackelton’s Journey and explore how to create different effects through pencil drawings.
Summer 2
Land of Fire and Ice
Throughout the half term, the children will be exploring who lives in our Woodland Walk. This will be the basis of the topic and will provide the children with a context for the English. They will start the topic by exploring “Bog Baby” as a book study. Following this, they will write a descriptive piece on their chosen minibeast using inspiration from “The Big Book of Bugs”. Finally, the children will write a non-chronological report on their minibeast where they will include their knowledge about habitats.
Furthermore, the topic will give children the opportunity to discuss what it means to respect the environment and wildlife, and explore their own and others’ feelings responses to the proposed changes to our environment, further developing their knowledge of RRE. There will be many opportunities for the children to be curious, by asking questions, hypothesising and discussing ideas about minibeasts and their habitats.
Year 4 Galleries
Year 4 Spring 2
