Topic: China / Evolution
This half term our topic will cover a range of subjects linked to the country of China. We will be looking at Chinese history—The Shang Dynasty, the art of China and Chinese inventions such as paper. We will also examining the unique geography of the region and how diverse it is as a country. After half term we will be studying evolution. We will be looking at how living things have changed over time and look at how animals have adapted to their environment. This will mean getting out in the environment to look at minibeasts.
During school, we will be continuing to improve our calculation skills in the four operations (+,-,x,÷) and using them to help us solve problems. We are continuing to encourage the children to learn from mistakes they make in maths and to develop their perseverance when solving a tricky problem.
Helping your child learn their times tables is a vital part of home learning. By year 4, pupils are now expected to know all their times tables and quickly recall facts (In six seconds) Year 4 children will now be subject to a national test of their times table skills. You can practice for this test at:
https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/
A link for this is provided on the Class 2 webpage
Please speak to Mr Allen if you would like any help supporting your child at home with their Maths
We will be continuing to use our writing technique—The Write Stuff, to develop our writing. This structure develops the children’s sentence construction through teacher modelling. The children then take this process and write a piece independently. This term we will be writing fictional pieces based on The Magic Paintbrush, The Firework Maker’s Daughter, writing a poem based on the book Moth and a newspaper article.
Please continue to support your child at home through reading with them and helping them to learn their spellings. All children should have an ongoing reading book.
Please make sure your child has their PE kit in school at all times.
This term the children will be learning tennis skills following a LTA youth tennis program. Later in the term they will be striking and fielding games such as cricket and rounders. Towards the end of term pupils will be taking part in swimming lessons at West Buckland school run by Aquarius swim school.
We will begin this term by looking at Light. We will examine how light travels and what happens when we split light. The children will also be looking at how to plan their own investigations scientifically and how to record and interpret their results. We will be investigating: “Why do we have day and night?”, and the Earth’s relationship to the sun. Later in the term, we will be studying how our eyes work and how different species eyes differ from our own.
Religious Studies— Our topic is about Buddhism and the beliefs, what it means to be Buddhist and how this may affect someone’s life.
History— We will be learning about the Shang dynasty and it’s legacy. By learning about different artefacts from the Shang dynasty and evaluating what they can teach us about life in the Shang dynasty
ICT— We will be exploring digital sound building programs
Art — We will explore the themes, styles and colours of traditional Chinese art, including learning about the importance of The Four Gentlemen in Chinese Art.
DT— We will examine the four great Chinese inventions—paper, gunpowder, printing and the compass and how these ancient inventions shaped our modern world
Music— We will be looking at jazz, performing compositions and improvisations with increasing accuracy, fluency and control,.
French — We will continue to have fortnightly visits from Madame Jaye—a French teacher from Pilton CC. We are learning how to introduce ourselves and say what date our birthday is on.