Goldfinches 2024 - 2025

Welcome to Goldfinches Class 

                                                    Our class teacher is Miss Charlton and our teaching assistants are Mrs Taylor, Mrs Turner and Miss Bowyer. 

                                                                      We can't wait to go on an exciting adventure together this year!

Phase 1 (September-February)

Writing

This term we will be focusing on two lovely texts to inspire our writing. Firstly, we will be focusing on writing a narrative based on the book 'Gorilla' by Anthony Browne. During this unit of work we will be using expanded noun phrases and using fronted adverbials. 

We will then be reading 'Leon and the place between' by Angela McAllister. We will be using this exciting adventure book to write a diary entry. We will be focusing on using a range of conjunctions to extend a range of sentences and using the possessive apostrophe to indicate possession. 

Thirdly, we will be reading 'Escape from Pompeii' by Christina Balit. We will use this text to write a creative historial narrative from the point of view of the little boy in the story. Our focus skills for this unit will be to use a variety of verb forms, organise paragraphs around a theme and to use and puncutate direct speech. 

                                                                      

 Maths

During the Autumn Term we will be working to consolidate our maths learning from Year 3 and introduce new Year 4 concepts. We will be focusing on Place Value of numbers within 1000, the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and measure (perimeter).

History and  Geography

This is our class theme for the year. We will consider the Legacy left behind by the people of Ancient Greece and Rome and the Legacy we would like to leave to our future ancestors through our impact on the world and people around us.                                                               

We will learn about who and where the first ancient civilisations in the world were and understand the changes and developments since the people of the Stone, Bronze and Iron age. We will move on to a more in-depth study of the Ancient Greek civilisations and the Legacies they have left. Look out for details about the Ancient Greek workshop which will visit Goldfinches for a day. 

Science

Our Science focus this half term begins with sound and understanding how sounds are made and travel. After half term we learn about teeth and the digestive system, food and making healthy choices. 

RE   

This half term we will learn about Islam and how Muslims worship. We will then be moving on to exploring comparative worldviews, focusing on the character and nature of God. 

PE

PE will be on Monday and Wednesday this term.

On PE days your child will come to school wearing their PE uniform and remain in it all day. If the ground is wet, please send your child in to school with spare socks and shoes/trainers for them to change in to after PE.

Please remember all long hair must be tied back and earrings are removed. 

Phase 2 (February-May)

Writing

Firstly, we will be reading 'When the Giant Stirred' by Celia Godkin. During this text we will be solidifying our knowledge on using expanded noun phrases by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and prepositional phrases, choose nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion to avoid repetition, use and punctuate direct speech and use commas after fronted adverbials. We will then use this knowledge to write our own version of the story from the point of view of the boy in the story.

Secondly, we will be exploring various fantastic texts to write a zoo information board.  Firstly, we will be investigating the importance of conservation through the fiction text 'Where the Forest Meets the Sea' by Jeannie Baker and 'Rainforests in 30 seconds' by Dr Jen Green. In this unit, we will be learning to build a varied and rich vocabulary, use pronouns accurately, using paragraphs to organise around a theme and indicate possession by using the possessive apostrophe with plural nouns. 

Maths

This term we will be furthering our knowledge on multiplication and division, length and perimeter, fractions and decimals.

History and Geography 

During Phase 2, we will embark on our whole school topic 'Exceptional People.' Throughout this unit, Goldfinches will learn about Wangari Maathai and the exceptional things she achieved during her life.

Science

During this phase we will be learning about Living things and their habitats and States of matter. 

RE

During our Christianity unit we will be exploring 'How does/did Jesus change lives?' and 'A story of betrayal or trust? What can Christians learn from the Easter story?' 

Phase 3 (May-July)

Writing

During this phase we will be exploring the text 'Blue John' to learn about cave formation. We will then use the knowledge we have learned to write an explanatory letter. The skills we will learn in this unit include building a rich and varied vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures, using a variety of verb forms including the progressive and the present perfect tense and using paragraphs to organise information and ideas around a theme.

Maths

During this phase we will be futhering our knowledge on decimals, money, time, angles and 2D shapes, statistics and position and direction.

History and Geography

We will be learning about the seas surrounding the UK and the longest rivers within the UK. We will be investigating where rivers begin and end, the stages of a river and reflecting on how we can protect our rivers. Finally, we will be learning about the importance of the water cycle.

Science

During this phase we will be learning about electricity. We will be learning to identify common appliances that run on electricity and constructing circuits using cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers. 

RE

Firstly we will be asking the questions 'Are all churches the same?' and 'Are all places of worship the same?'. We will then be learning about Hindi Dharma and asking the question 'How does having faith affect a Hindu person's life?'.

                                                                                                                  PE

                            PE for your child will be on a Monday and Wednesday. Your child should come to school dressed in their PE kit on this day.

Homework

Timestables

Year 4 is a key year for times tables, with the government expectation being that children will know all of their times tables to 12x12 and the related division facts by the end of Year 4 when they will sit the online National Multiplication Tables Assessment. We will use the time first thing in the morning to practise and learn our times tables. This term we will begin with a recap of the 2x, 10x, 5x, 4x, and 8x. We will regularly send home timestables activities for your child to practise at home. Other fun ways to do this include Times Tables Rock Stars and Hit the Button. You will find your child's login for TTRS stuck in their homework diary.

Reading and Spellings

Your child will bring home a book from school to enjoy reading at home. When your child reads at home, either independently or with you, they should record this in their homework diary and have it signed by an adult. Children should spend 20 minutes reading each evening. 

Spellings will be stuck into homework diaries on a Friday and tested the following Friday. Please spend 5 minutes daily practising your child's spellings with them. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Miss Charlton x