Year 4 –Spring Term 2016

Non- fiction – In this unit, the children explore the following question “What
is the world’s most incredible sport? They read the interactive eBook
Incredible Sports, finding information and distinguishing between fact and
opinion and identifying features of journalistic news reporting and feature
articles. They will learn to use nouns and pronouns more effectively and
appropriately to avoid repetition and ambiguity. Finally they answer the Big
English
Question, planning and writing their own newspaper report.

Fiction- The children will be introduced to the Spiderwick Chronicles, where
they will explore fantasy fiction. They will read the interactive eBook, asking
questions and developing understanding of inference. The children use drama
to explore characters and suspense. They develop editing and proof-reading
skills. This will lead to the children planning, editing and drafting a new
episode of the fantasy story they have studied.

Word Detectives - Throughout these units of work, children take on the role
of word detectives to investigate spelling patterns and to generate their own
spelling rules. They will investigate the spelling rule for adding ‘in-’, ‘il-’ or
‘im-’ to the beginning of words and how to find words in a dictionary using
the first three letters of words. They will explore further the use of
comparatives and superlatives and multi- clause sentences in their own writing
Maths
and will also practise using commas in fronted adverbial sentences.
Number and Place Value Children will revisit place value in 4 digit numbers.
They will round 4-digit numbers up or down to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000
and use their place value to add multiples of 10, 100 and 1000 to different
numbers. They will also count up and back in 25s and 50s crossing over 1000.
Written methods for four operations The children will continue to refine their
most efficient method for each of the four number operations. In addition,
the children will continue to use the column method whilst becoming more
confident with the decomposition method in larger subtractions. The children
will move away from the grid method in multiplication to the expanded ladder
column method. Finally, the children will continue to become familiar with the
bus stop method in larger divisions.
Fractions and Decimals The children will find fractions of amounts and relate
them to division and multiplication. They will develop an understanding of
equivalence in fractions; 1/2s, 1/3s, 1/4s, 1/5s, 1/6s, 1/8s, 1/10s. They
will use these to begin to reduce fractions to their simplest form. The
children will count in tenths and hundredths, understanding the place value in
2 place decimals. They will round 1- and 2-place decimals up and down to the
nearest whole number.
Mental Maths- Children to continue to practice and learn their times tables
up to 12x12. They will also continue to find the most efficient method to
solve 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction calculations.
Measurement- The children to tell the time on a 24 hour clock, using am and
pm correctly; convert pm times to 24 hour clock and vice versa; use 24 hour
clock in calculating intervals of time. Also, children to convert between
different units of measure when adding or subtracting measures in word
problems. Finally, the children will measure and calculate the perimeter of
different rectangular shapes in centimetres and millimetres.
States of Matter- Children will explore the properties of solids and
Science
liquids, demonstrating what they already know. They will be able to use
key properties to distinguish between solids and liquids and will carry out
investigations planned to present and interpret data. Children will be able
to describe the effect of temperature, shape and size on how fast ice
blocks melt and will use ideas from observing melting ice to help them to
plan a fair test investigation to answer a question They they will carry out
their investigations and draw conclusions. By the end of this unit children
will have planned a fair test and will know that melting and freezing are
changes of state. They will also explore the properties of air and will know
that gases are materials with substance and weight. They will experience
evaporation in a range of contexts and will draw conclusions from the data
and use their developing understanding of evaporation to explain their
findings.
The World’s Kitchen- In this unit, the children will use maps and atlas to
Geography
locate and identify continents, oceans and countries around the world. They will
extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the local area and the United
Kingdom to include Europe, North and South America. The children will focus on
the cuisines from these continents and understand how Fair Trade has tried to
reduce the inequality of food production around the world.
In conjunction with the Geography topic ‘The World’s Kitchen’, the children will
look at the changing food habits in Britain over the last 100 years. They will focus
on how cuisines from around the world have entered into the food habits of
modern British families.
History
Computing
We are Meteorologists- Children will be introduced to spreadsheets and
Microsoft Excel this term. They will input data into the software and
represent their results in different graphs. Once confident with using
spreadsheets, the children will use these to assist in a meteorological
study of the Winter weather.
We are Co-Authors- In this unit, the children will study the Wikipedia
webpage. They will understand that anyone can view and edit this free
online encyclopaedia. The pupils will collaborate to create a ‘mini
Wikipedia’. They will then go on to add or amend content on the real
Wikipedia webpages.
This term we will be exploring Islam and the key question
What is expected of a person in following a religion or a belief?
During the topic we will explore a key question each week, encouraging
children to be empathic and respectful of the beliefs and opinions of others.
These questions will include: Why is the mosque important as the main place
of worship for the Muslim community?
Why are a prayer mat and the rituals in prayer important to a Muslim? Do I
have any use for prayer?
What do I think of the prophet Muhammad’s example and who do I choose to
copy or be influenced by?
R.E
The children will be introduced to a new PE scheme called Real PE. This new
scheme of work will provide all children the opportunity to develop their
agility, balance and coordination in a series of short term games, which will
include shuffleball, kabbadi, floor volleyball and hand tennis. As well as these
games, the children will be developing their floor and equipment skills in
gymnastics.
P.E
The children will be looking at the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldi, an Italian artist
in the 16th century. They will study how the artist produced portraits using fruit
and vegetables. After becoming familiar with Arcimboldi, the children will then
produce their own portraits using fruit and vegetables and then developing into
picture collages.
Art
MFL
Language teaching is delivered by our specialist teacher and supported by
the Class teacher. After revising and recalling simple French greetings, the
children will be focusing on terms and phrases connected towards family and
school. They will revise and practise French terms for objects inside the
classroom. The children will also visit, via the Interactive Whiteboard, a
French classroom to help with their understanding. They will learn about
France and French life and customs.
The World’s Kitchen- The children will be introduced to examples of
traditional food from most of the 7 continents. They will then prepare and make
food from one of these continents. They will use their understanding to design,
prepare and edit a savoury snack from a different continent.
Design
Technology