Welcome to Class 9!
Class teacher: Miss Highfield
Teaching Assistant: Mrs O’Connell and Miss Robinson
Hello and welcome to spring term in Class 9. Since coming back to school after the Christmas holidays we certainly have been extremely busy. Our topic for spring term is ‘Early Man’ and this will take us on an adventure through prehistoric Britain exploring the footsteps our predecessors left behind! We are going to be learning about the changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
English
Our writing in English will be based on the novel ‘The Wild Way Home’ by Sophie Kirtley. We will be completing tasks such as writing a diary entry from the perspective of Charlie, creating a playscript based on a chapter of the book and designing an advert advertising Stone Age land for sale.
Maths
In maths, we are currently studying fractions, and this involves learning about fractions greater than a whole, equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting fractions. We will also move on to a measurement topic where we will be learning all about length, area and perimeter. We are still working very hard to learn all our times tables in preparation for the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check.
PSHE
In PSHE, our current topic is ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing’. In that topic, we will be thinking about our emotions and what makes us individuals. We will also be talking about how we can reframe unhelpful thinking. After the half term holiday, our PSHE topic will change to ‘Keeping Safe’. In this topic we will be talking about how we can manage risks, how to stay safe in our local area and what to do in an emergency.
Other subjects
We are looking forward to investigating levers, linkages and pneumatics in DT when creating our Stone Age tool. We are also excited to learn all about different printing techniques in art when creating our cave paintings.
In science, we are learning about states of matter and the key questions we are investigating is ‘How do some materials change state and why?’.
Important days
We have an hour-long guitar lesson on a Wednesday morning every fortnight and our PE lessons are every Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
Homework
Homework will be set every Friday on the online platforms ‘Spelling Shed’ and ‘My Maths. We ask that homework is submitted by the following Friday.
Additional activities to support your learning at home
If you are wanting to do any additional activities at home to support your learning, please use the online resources that school subscribe to (Times Table Rock Stars, Bug Club, Purple Mash). If you are having trouble accessing these resources, please email the school office.
Other useful websites filled with maths and English activities are ‘mathsframe’ (www.mathsframe.com) and Literacy Shed (www.literacyshed.com). These websites are free to use and do not require a subscription.
We must go now because our time machine is ready to take up back to prehistoric Britain … bye for now!
Year 4 Curriculum Overview
What’s been happening in Class 9?
We have had a fantastic first term in Year 4, including a fieldwork trip to the River Tees and an exciting DT project.
We have really enjoyed starting our DT projects and developing our maths skills in Year 4.
