Year 4
Welcome to Year 4’s class page. Throughout the year, we will use this page to keep Year 4 children and adults up to date with our fantastic learning, photos and other important information. Our team consists of:
4S: Miss Sale (class teacher) & Mrs Kaluza
4L: Miss Lyimo (class teacher) & Mrs Hallen
Reading is a core part of our curriculum here at St Thomas. Your child will read every day in guided reading sessions. We also have whole-class story time at the end of every day. We expect your child to read at home every evening and sign their diaries with a short summary. Books will be changed every Tuesday and Friday.
In autumn term, to link to our history topic, we are reading a fictional novel that is based on the Ancient Egyptians - 'The Time-Travelling Cat and the Egyptian Goddess' by Julia Jarman. Ka, the time travelling cat, returns to Ancient Egypt and is to be sacrificed by an Egyptian Goddess. Will Topher save him in time? What problems will he encounter on his journey?
This term in maths, the children are looking at Place Value to 10,000. We have been making numbers up to 10,000 and rounding to the nearest 10, 100, and 1000.
Battle of Times Table Rock Stars! Year 4S are currently in the lead...4S 174 and 4L 144!
Year 4S love to improve our maths skills on ‘Times Table Rock Stars’
During our Stewardship topic, both Year 4 classes have been discussing ‘How can we be a steward of God’s earth?’. Year 4 were quite inspired by the work of Greta Thunberg and decided to hold their very own environmental protest. At playtime, the children took to the playground to share the important message about how vital it is to look after our common home.
This half term, our topic is family. We identified what a family tree is and what it looks like. We discussed who is part of our own family tree and recognised that they are not always accurate as stories grow around people. We discussed siblings, relations, ancestors and different generations. We then looked at ‘The Royal Families’ family tree and Jesus’ family tree. Abraham is the first person mentioned in Jesus’ family tree.
In Science, we have been learning about the states of matter (solids, liquids and gases) and the water cycle. Please take a look at our photos on measuring temperature.
In History, we have been learning about the ancient Egyptians. We have learnt a lot about Ancient Egypt and some other ancient civilisations: Ancient Sumer, Shang Dynasty and Indus Valley.
The children began by recapping the 7 continents and 5 oceans which is how we learnt to divide the world up in Years 1 and 2. Now we are looking into the lines of latitude to deepen our understanding of global geography. Parents, why don't you ask your child some facts about the equator? Or year 4, tell your grown ups everything you have learnt so far! What are the 2 Tropics we have learnt about? What is a hemisphere? Can you remember compass directions and use a compass?
In Art, we have been looking at Suzanne Valadon’s artwork. We have practised our painting skills to produce a painting of flowers inspired by Valadon’s work.