Click here to read about what we are doing in Year 4 this term and for links to useful websites to support your child’s learning.

School value

Summer 1: Citizenship

Within communities, children at Tiverton Academy understand their responsibilities to themselves, others and the environment. Respect is at the core of every relationship in our school and our children internalise the ‘Golden Rule’ of treating others as they would like to be treated (including being a good digital citizen). Because of this, our expectations of children’s behaviour are very high, which allows everybody to enjoy their right to learn and thrive. Running through our curriculum is the importance of children’s well being physically and mentally, and they are given the tools to take care of themselves and to know where to find help if they need it.

Summer 2: Creativity

During their time at Tiverton Academy, children experience a huge range of high quality, inspirational opportunities which introduces them to a world of creative possibilities. Through our rich and ambitious curriculum, we seek and nurture talents in every child and build their confidence to explore, investigate and express their individuality in creative ways. Carefully planned schemes of work aim to equip children with a toolbox of skills, knowledge and techniques in order to do this.

Literacy

In class, we will be reading:

Cloud Busting – Malorie Blackman

One World: 24 Hours on Planet Earth – Nicola Davies and Jenni Desmond

The Promise – Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin

We learn the spelling patterns from the National Curriculum for Year 4, along with words from the statutory spelling list. Alongside this, we revise patterns learned in KS1. We will continue to secure the correct letter formation and basic joins. We work on writing clear and accurate sentences to build short paragraphs e.g. a story ending or a character description, and to create multi-clause sentences.

Reading

The library at Touchbase Pears is a great resource to use to borrow books and is free. This free online library is another great place to read.

Epic Reading online library is another great resource, which we use in class – click here and enter our Year 4 class code zwm2726.

Please read to your child and listen to them read every day. It only needs to be for 10 minutes and that time spent sharing a book and talking about it together is one of the most important ways to support your child’s learning.

Grammar

Discovery Education is a resource that your child has a log-in for as part of our school subscription.  This site has videos and activities to support their revision.  KS1 Grammar – click here.  KS2 Grammar – click here.

Spellings

Your child needs to be able to spell all of these words by the end of Year 4. In Year 4, spellings are tested on Mondays and new words are sent home on Wednesdays to practise. Try using games like Karate Kats and Spooky Spellings to make spelling fun.

Maths

We will be focused on money, shape and statistics. Your child has a school subscriptions for two excellent, National Curriculum-aligned maths sites/apps that will support the children in their learning. The log-in details for these can be found in the front of their reading record.

• Mathletics – click here
• Times Table Rock Stars – click here

Science

In Science, we will be looking at electricity and circuits. The children will be able to recall a range of electrical appliances and classify them as mains or battery-powered, explain why something is either mains or battery-powered, and explain how to test if a circuit works and identify when simple electric circuits will work.

Computing

During the summer term, we will be focusing on repetition in games via programming. You can use the Think U Know website to support your child with their learning about e-safety and becoming responsible digital citizens. Keen coders might enjoy this free club at the Central Library. Great online safety resources here. These links explain parts of computing really clearly.

Trips for the term

We will be going on a local trip to Metchley Fort to look at evidence of the Roman invasion in Selly Oak! Take a look at this website for more information.

Art and Design

This term, we will be focusing on painting, mixed media and light and dark colours. The children will share their ideas about various paintings, describe the difference between a tint and a shade, mix tints and shades by adding black or white paint, discuss their real-life experiences of how colours can appear different, use tints and shades to paint an object in 3D, try different arrangements of objects for a composition all while explaining their decisions. Why not have a go at creating your own 3D painting at home?

Design and Technology

In Summer 1, we will be learning about textiles and in Summer 2, we will be focusing on structures. The children will identify the features, benefits and disadvantages of a range of fastening types, write a design criteria and design a sleeve for a book that satisfies the criteria, make a template for their book sleeve and assemble their case using any stitch they are comfortable with. In Summer 2, the children will produce a range of free-standing frame structures of different shapes and sizes, design a pavilion that is strong, stable and aesthetically pleasing, select appropriate materials and construction techniques to create a stable, free-standing frame structure, and
select appropriate materials and techniques to add cladding to their pavilion.

History

This term, we will be learning about the Romans! We will be finding out how they built their empire, why they invaded Britain, who Boudicca was and why she lead a rebellion, as well as why Hadrian’s Wall was so important and what life was like in a Roman villa.

Test your Roman numeral knowledge with this game, and if you enjoy chess then why not play a popular Roman game called Nine Men’s Morris.

Geography

This term, we will be studying why people choose to live near volcanoes. We will name all four layers of the Earth in the correct
order, learning facts for each layer, explain one or more ways a mountain can be formed, give a correct example of a mountain range and its continent and describe a tectonic plate and know that mountains occur along plate boundaries.

You can use Google Earth to explore mountain ranges and volcanoes on our planet. Where is the longest mountain range? Where are the most active volcanoes found?

Spanish

This term, we will be continuing to practise our pronunciation and conversational Spanish skills. In Summer 1, we will learn new words to describe items around a classroom. In Summer 2, we will learn the names for popular food and drink typically offered in a Spanish cafe.

Here is a website with fun, interactive games to play that focus on practising listening and speaking Spanish at home!

Music

This term, Miss Wyatt will continue to teach the children all aspects of the music curriculum for Year 4. We will continue to learn how to sing a broad range of unison songs, understand the differences between minims, crotchets, paired quavers and rests, and listen with attention to detail.

Follow these links to explore chords in Chrome MusicLab, have a sing-a-long at home, and test your minor vs major quiz!

PE

In PE, Year 4 will be looking at invasion games (football and hockey) across the term.  They will also be looking at health-related fitness where they will compare their performances with previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best.

RSHE

In Spring, we are focusing on safety online, the changing body and economic well being.

RE

In RE, we will be looking at living by rules, being temperate, self-discipline and seeking contentment through various faiths.

These videos are a great place to start exploring the many faiths in our school.