Class teachers - Miss Lincoln, Mrs Morcom Lewis and Miss James
School Values for the Term:
May - Co-operation and being a good citizen within society
June - Showing Gratitude, Care and Generosity
July - Taking and managing risks
Language, Literacy and Communication
For the final term in Year 4, we will continue to build on the skills learned from the Literacy Tree scheme and develop new skills. We will start the term reading ‘Until I met Dudley’ by Roger McGough and Chris Riddell—a story where fantasy meets real life. Pupils will write their own explanation texts for everyday objects, inventing their own imaginary responses to the question of how they work, before researching and describing them properly. They also write letters to a fictional ‘Dudley’ character asking for his help to get to the bottom of some more complicated items. Throughout this unit, they will develop their online research skills, identifying how to use varying question structures and styles to gain the most relevant information.
After ‘Until I Met Dudley’, Year 4 will move onto their final text of the year, ‘The Mermaids of Zennor’ by Charles Causley. This fictional fantasy story will allow pupils to bring together all the skills they have learned over the year. They will begin by exploring the story and language of the book before making predictions and creating some letters to characters in the story. They will then go on to create guides to Zennor, retelling the story from the mermaid’s perspective and finishing by creating their own merfolk characters to include in a legend-style story that could be set in Cornwall or elsewhere.
On Mondays, pupils will continue participating in spelling sessions. Each week, they will continue reading for pleasure daily and take part in carousel-run guided reading sessions, with associated comprehension tasks. We encourage children to read to an adult at home, allowing them to broaden their reading genres, building larger vocabulary banks that they can apply to their published writing.
During Welsh sessions, pupils will build on their knowledge of adding information to sentences using ‘achos’ and ‘ond’, learning about Gwersylla ( camping) and the associated vocabulary.
Mathematics and Numeracy
This final term is focused on applying and transferring skills learned. Pupils will develop their retrieval skills and apply them to more project-based work. At the beginning of the final term, pupils will engage in consolidation lessons to refresh their memories of the skills learned over the year in preparation for their Welsh Government tests. Afterwards, they will complete weekly themed projects, developing independent and collaborative learning. The themes will include: budgeting. Holidays. Olympics, enterprise, inventions.
Towards the end of the year, we will return to multiplication and division, a skill that will be the foundation of work covered in Year 5. Pupils will be encouraged to practise their times tables, recalling them in and out of order, and offering knowledge on division and known facts.
Our application of numeracy will be continued during our Threads of Fashion work. Pupils will use chronology skills, ordering, budgeting (rationing coupons), data collection, data analysis, graph interpretations and measuring in readiness for their final term’s outcome.
Health and Wellbeing
Our health and wellbeing sessions will continue to take place on Fridays and will be on a rotation basis between physical PE, tennis, outdoor learning and theory. During the theory lessons, pupils will focus on remaining safe online and how to protect their emotional well-being. In the physical sessions, they will begin the term practising for sports day. This year will be their first time using the track - an exciting time for all. We will then focus on summer sports such as rounders and cricket. Tennis will continue to be held at Bridgend Tennis Club in the dome. Outdoor learning will continue to build on their orienteering knowledge, planning local walks and how to put up tents. Pupils will be encouraged to build confidence leading a group, develop communication skills, and take managed risks.
Other Areas of Learning and Experience
During our challenge sessions, Year 4 will combine all their literacy, numeracy, voice 21, creativity, and digital skills. Pupils will learn about Threads of Fashion and how fashions have changed throughout history. Pupils will first examine the chronology of fashion before comparing social classes and their associated fashions. After learning about the Industrial Revolution, pupils will link with VE Day 80 and learn how and why rationing was poignant during the war. With regards to inventions, pupils will link with their literacy book ‘ Until I met Dudley’ and learn how a sewing machine works. As time goes on, pupils will become aware of influential designers in fashion, how colours and material patterns have changed over time, and they will finish by becoming more aware of fast fashion and how it affects society today.
Our outcome will be a fashion show, where pupils will adopt the ‘make do and mend’ ethos and create new clothing from old donated clothing. They will learn how to sew and the design process required for creating new outfits.
Things to remember
PE will take place on Fridays, and children should wear their PE kit to school on this day. In some weeks, Year 4 will work on outdoor learning; these sessions may require pupils to wear appropriate footwear. Parents and pupils will be notified in advance of this.
Children should bring a water bottle with them each day.
Children should bring their reading books to school every day.
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Please look out for our weekly newsletter issued via The School App and available on our website on a Friday afternoon. The newsletter contains all forthcoming diary dates for the school.