Guiseley Primary School

Year 4 - Amber Class and Coral Class

Year 4 Welcome Booklets

Curriculum overview

Summer 2

What a busy, fun (and wet) summer term it has been for year 4.

In English, the children studied the popular book ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ by Lynne Cherry. They enjoyed drawing story maps and inventing their own animal speeches, before writing their own version of the story. There was even time for a bit of drama as the children took on animal character roles to persuade the main character not to chop down the tree. We were very proud with their published pieces.

In maths, the children finished their unit on money before moving on to their units on time, shape, statistics and position and direction. This included learning about the difference between 12-hour and 24-hour digital times, different types of polygons and their features, parallel lines and symmetry, reading and analysing data in bar charts / line graphs and plotting coordinates on a graph. The children have really enjoyed these sessions and been very successful in their learning.

The children loved their summer geography topic about rainforests. We started by looking at maps and examining the equator and the tropics. We learnt about biomes before studying their layers of the rainforest. We learnt about the animals that live there.

In computing, the children loved doing their second programming unit of the year, using scratch to make repeating loops and adapting games. They have worked cooperatively with their peers and shown resilience when it has been tricky to solve problems. Some children really enjoyed helping their peers and this was lovely to see.

In art, the children enjoyed discovering the artwork of Henri Rousseau. They studied his life and style of art before creating their own jungle animal drawings. They experimented with colour swatches and how adding black or white changes the tone or tint before creating their own piece of artwork inspired by Rousseau.

In science, the children have been learning about living things and their habitats. As part of this, the children enjoyed learning about food chains and created some of their own.

The weather was on our side for our visit to Ilkley Tennis Club for our fantastic end of year trip. The children loved their tennis workshops and they behaved brilliantly. They were so respectful of the players and moved around the site so quietly. They loved watching a match and we reluctantly left our front row seats to have our lunch. On the way back, we visited the park where the children let off some steam before the journey home. Various members of the public commented on their excellent behaviour and conduct which was lovely for the staff to hear. Well done year 4 – you should be really proud of yourselves!

Towards the end of our summer term, the children enjoyed visiting their new classes and taking part in transition activities.

It has been a pleasure teaching the children of year 4 this year. It has been a rollercoaster ride with no day the same and we will miss them when they go to year 5. Well done for an excellent year! We’ll miss you!!

Miss Clark, Mrs Dixon and Mrs Newsome

Summer 1

Year 4 have had some fun experiences this half term. After many, many weeks of practising, some of the children were chosen to represent the school at a skipping festival held at Leeds Trinity University. The children were brilliant at demonstrating their skipping skills and there were smiles all round as they enjoyed the afternoon and supported one another. We came away with quite a few certificates and were extremely proud of all the children. Finally, we put on a skipping assembly to inspire the younger children to take up some skipping in the summer term.

In English, the children learnt about persuasive writing techniques and produced a leaflet all about the Parthenon, in Greece. The children worked incredibly hard on these using their most persuasive writing they could. Many of them made it tempting to book a trip to Athens just to visit. Well done children – mission accomplished!

In Maths, the children finished learning about fractions, completed their unit on decimals before applying this to work with money. We had great fun using the orienteering cards outside to help us round decimals and multiply them by 10 and 100. The children were quite competitive and loved the practical outdoor lesson. With good weather, hopefully we’ll get to do some more this term.

In Geography, we consolidated our knowledge about compass points and we learnt all about physical geography by looking at the ‘Guiseley gap’. We have also learnt about Santorini in Greece and made comparisons to Guiseley.

In DT, we have been busy with two projects this term. Our first was to design and create a book sleeve. The children chose what they wanted to have on their sleeve then practised their sewing skills by sewing on fastenings. Finally, the children spent time decorating their sleeves using fabric pens and fabric glue. They also enjoyed using the hot glue guns again! Building on our prior learning from the cars unit, we used lolly sticks and straws to make building structures. After designing their own pavilion, the children were challenged with creating a lolly stick version of the Parthenon. The children practised with matchsticks and plasticine before creating their final product. We learnt about the purpose of cladding and how it is used on buildings. In Summer 2, the children will complete their Parthenon before deciding which group member gets to bring it home!

It is safe to say the children have enjoyed having some creative freedom in Computing. We had a fantastic time taking photos with a summer theme. Our mission this half term was to learn how to edit photos. We used paint 3D, a Photo collage app as well as Apple photo app to crop and alter images. Their final brief was to complete an edited photo based on one of three themes: Harry Potter, football or attending a concert of their choice. There were some great final outcomes, amazing teamwork and excellent resilience. Who knew there were so many ‘Swifties’ in year 4!

Well done children for another fantastic half term.

Spring 2

There’s been all sorts of excitement this half term in year 4 and every week has had something different happening.

In RE, we completed our unit all about Islam. The year 4 children had a visit from 'Equilibria experience' a non-profit organisation who run workshops about Islam. We had a fun and interactive introduction to the Islam faith and also discussed what it meant to be a Muslim. We got to look at a lot of artefacts and played memory games with them before learning more about their significance in the Islam faith. Back in class, we learnt more about the 5 pillars of Islam and made some lovely posters to remind us what they were.

In DT, we completed a new project and made a slingshot car involving lolly sticks, cardboard and lots of masking tape and glue gun work! The children designed and evaluated their work then we tried them out (with mixed success). It was a fun experience when racing them and the children learnt some valuable life skills involving collaboration and resilience. Even the staff were tested on their resilience at times!

In Computing, the children completed a topic on data logging. We loved using the Science journal app as a data logger. Once the children knew how to log data, we went around school to investigate. 'Which class in the school is the loudest?' Unsurprisingly, when we analysed our data it was a Reception class. The children were all very busy learning through provision. However, year 1 PE in the hall came a close second. The UKS2 corridor was the quietest but year 6 being out for the day definitely helped with that.

In History, it was time to learn about the Vikings! An exciting visitor came to launch the topic. Tempus Fugit Educational theatre came to work with us and the children loved learning about the Vikings through drama. There may be some future thespians among year 4!! Back in class, we explored artefacts and asked questions about what they might tell us about Vikings. We were particularly interested in the drinking horn! We learnt about King Alfred the Great and did some research about him.

In English, we focussed on non-fiction texts and produced some fantastic newspaper articles about the Viking Raid at Lindisfarne. We also focussed on a heading and subheadings and wrote a fact file about Viking life.

In Maths, we completed our learning on length and perimeter and started our next unit on fractions. The children’s prior knowledge on fractions has been very impressive and the children are becoming confident at adding and subtracting fractions as well as solving problems involving them.

Playtimes and lunchtimes have been busy with many of the children rehearsing and organising their Guiseley’s Got Talent auditions and the teachers were inundated with questions about it on a daily basis. When the auditions finally happened, the staff were blown away with the high calibre of auditions. It was a fantastic display of varied talents across the year group. Well done to all the children who auditioned.

British Science Week was a big hit with the children as they got to complete a range of different science experiments across the week and learn about five different scientists and the important attributes they have to be successful in their job (collaborative, observant, hard-working, resilient, open-minded, organised, passionate, create, self-motivated, patient, tenacious, curious, committed, good communicator). Each day, children were nominated by their teacher to receive a ‘scientist of the day’ sticker for demonstrating one of these attributes.

Very well done children, a very busy but super half term which finished with the Guiseley’s Got Talent final. Bring on the summer term!

Spring 1

What a busy start to 2024 year 4 have had!

The children have really enjoyed learning about Coco Chanel in art. They learnt about her life, career and jewellery designs. They enjoyed practising their sketching techniques by drawing some of her designs then took inspiration from her to design their own jewellery. Finally, after learning about why Chanel jewellery became so popular and a lesson on sustainability, the children brought their visions to life. Excellent effort from all involved. Each piece was unique and personal to the child. Well done to everyone!

The children have been on a multiplication and division adventure in maths this half term. They have learnt how to multiply and divide two and three digit numbers in a range of ways from practical methods to more formal, written methods. The children’s perseverance was excellent during some trickier lessons. We are all looking forward to moving on to something different in maths next term!

In English, the children have been learning about legend stories. They studied King Arthur and Robin Hood in English and read Beowolf as their class novel. The children loved creating their own hero characters and developed their writing skills by focusing on direct speech, fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases. They then planned their own legend story. The children took editing their work very seriously and this is shown in their published pieces.

In history, we enjoyed learning about Anglo Saxons. We loved doing some drama and played reporters, interviewing several Saxons about why they decided to settle in England.

Our science focus was states of matter. The children had lots of fun pretending to be particles in solids, liquids and gases! We enjoyed several experiments involving water and changing state. The children were fantastic at observing over time and made some good predictions and conclusions from our experiments.

We had two visits from the MindMate team in our PSHE lessons this term. The first session focused on understanding emotions and zones of regulation. The children spoke articulately about a range of emotions and shared strategies they used to support them. This was fantastic to see. They learnt about how the brain works when under stress and how we might ‘fight, flight or freeze’ and how we can support ourselves instead of ‘flipping the lid.’ The second session focused on worries, how they are normal and how we can overcome them. We discussed the ‘circle of control’ and how we can’t worry about things outside of our control. This led nicely into our Children’s Mental Health week focus where the children shared who they talk to when they are feeling worried and some brave children shared what worries them. It was a lovely, open and respectful discussion to have and the children listened to each other really well.

In computing, the children have been learning about programming. They have successfully programmed basic commands such as forward, left and right, then moved on to draw basic letters and shapes. They finally learnt how to write a repeat loop and used this to create some amazing patterns. The children worked collaboratively with their partners but also supported their friends and peers (and even the teachers) on a couple of occasions.

Outdoor PE has been focused on fitness this term. The children have been completing circuit training activities as well as other activities to test their endurance and agility. They set their benchmark on week 1 and the aim was to have improved in all areas by week 5.

A big well done to all children for a busy but successful half term of learning.

Autumn 2

It’s been a busy and fun filled second half to the Autumn term, here in Year 4.

In English, the children enjoyed watching an animation about a little shoemaker called ‘Le Petit Cordonnier’.

https://www.literacyshed.com/littleshoemaker.html

We used this clip to explore diary texts this half term. The children produced some entertaining diary entries in character as the shoemaker.

In Maths, we completed important units about calculating. We covered addition and subtraction methods including column methods. Following the maths mastery format, the children did some brilliant work using practical and pictorial methods to support them, when adding and subtracting. The children showed us that they could exchange confidently.

In Science, we looked at the digestive system. Starting with the teeth, we found out about different types of teeth and what roles they play in breaking down the food. We followed the journey of food through each part of the system.

In Geography, the children impressed us with their map skills, using OS maps to look at Guiseley and the surrounding areas. The children learnt about 4 digit grid references and used ‘digimaps’ to find grid references for places near our school.

In RE, we looked at logos and symbols for our school and local clubs that we attend. We then looked at the symbols associated with faiths. As part of our map work, we found places of worship in our local area and across Leeds. We recognised the symbols for each faith on google maps.

In DT, the children enjoyed a new topic where they made biscuits and then edited the original recipes to be their own design. The children were given criteria to design a Christmas biscuit and they thoroughly enjoyed getting to eat them, at the end!

We had a fantastic time getting ready for Christmas, in school. The children in Year 4 demonstrated brilliant performing skills when preparing for our Year 3 and 4 carol concert. They even choreographed some of their own dance moves! Well done children for a superb performance. We were all very proud of you. Have a good rest and we will see you in the Spring term.

Autumn 1

What a fun filled first half term we had in year 4. When we arrived in our new classrooms, there was a mysterious box labelled 'Do not open...' The children found it very hard to ignore and for days they were tempted to open it. Eventually, and like Pandora, they opened the box. Luckily, no evil came flying out but it was an exciting way to start our topic all about Greek Myths!

We started the half term with a focus on our whole school programme ‘Zones of regulation’, completing a variety of tasks to begin categorising our feelings into 4 colours or ‘zones’. We revisit these daily in class and the colours are great for provoking conversations about ‘big feelings’ and what to do about them.

In English, the children produced some wonderful writing about mythical creatures and wrote their own chapter based on 'Theseus and the Minotaur'.

In maths, we revised place value as we do each year and the children were able to use the Maths Mastery approach to represent 4-digit numbers in a variety of ways. We then began our calculation work, completing the column methods for addition and subtraction.

In PE, Amber class have made a start on their weekly swimming lessons and they have done some fantastic work so far, with their instructors. Coral class made a start on their gymnastics skills, working on rolling skills and cartwheel skills.

In history, we learnt about ancient Greece and some of the significant achievements e.g. Olympic games. We finished the topic with a debate about which one the children felt was the most significant.

In art, we designed and made Greek theatre masks, using mod roc. They are designed to be bright and have exaggerated facial expressions. In ancient Greek times, this was so that they could be seen from far away! We also had a fantastic time learning about the life and art of Frida Kahlo, throughout art week.

In science, we loved learning about sound and completed a number of experiments, this half term. We particularly enjoyed testing what happened when you put varied amounts of liquid into glass bottles and tapped them.

In computing, we learnt about networks and the internet this half term. We brought this to life by passing messages between computers, switches and routers.

The children have settled really well and it’s been a fun half term. Well done, children.