Ashurst Primary School

Year 4 class 

'Excellence Everyday'

'Learn, Live, Laugh and Love Ashurst'

Learn to be inspiring and make a difference to this world, we know how amazing you are,

Live with understanding and compassion for others, knowing we are all different and special in a community where equality stands tall,

Laugh and listen to the enjoyment of learning and excitement of everyone celebrating their achievements,

Love Ashurst, our special school and the hub of supportive staff, parents and children who aim high to be the best they can be.

About the class...

Class Teacher - Mrs K. Crampton

Learning Assistant - Mrs J. Williams

Learning Environment

Year 4 is a safe, caring learning environment where where children’s individual talents and achievements are recognised and built upon. We aim for all lessons to be interactive, exciting and engaging. Throughout Year 4, children are always encouraged to strive for excellence both independently and as part of a team. With support from teachers and family at home, the children work hard on their goals. Mental health and well-being are high priority in Year 4.  We work hard to support the children to be happy and free from worry and anxieties.  We promote positive self-talk and resilience and guide children through any difficulties they face. 

All individuals

Each child enters Year Four at a different stage. Therefore, we treat every child as an individual and plan to cater for their individual needs. We understand that every child learns in a different way and has different interests and it is our aim to adapt our teaching to suit the children. We encourage their independence throughout, allowing them to take ownership of their learning and achievements and to understand how to solve problems on their own.

Rules and Routines

 At the beginning of the year, children are encouraged to contribute to our class rules and vision. This runs alongside the schools  policies and procedures and is expected to further improve the learning environment for all and in turn develop strategies for 'Behaviour for Learning'. Conversation and discussion are encouraged in Year 4 and is balanced with dedication to learn and succeed through quiet and independent work.        

Routine

• Doors open 8:45am
• Registration for year 4 takes place at 8:55 am and the school day ends at 3:15pm 

Important things to remember: -

• You may wish to provide a healthy snack for your child to eat at playtime.
• Each child can have their own water bottle on their desk, please provide these with their name on.
• We have P.E. every Monday and Tuesday– please ensure that your child attends school on these days in their PE kit. Please see the school uniform website page for details of P.E. kit.  https://ashurstps.sites.schooljotter2.com/parent-zone/school-uniform
• Homework is set on Fridays and should be completed by the following Friday– please ensure that you complete online tasks on time. 
• Spellings and multiplication tables are included in homework every Friday and multiplication tables are tested the following Friday - please ensure that your child learns these at home.  We recommend little and often and a multi-sensory approach can help children to learn.
• Topic webs will be uploaded onto this class page in the first week of each half term. Topic webs will inform you of the learning taking place.
• Reading books are changed on Fridays. - Please ensure your child brings their reading book on Friday, if they want to change it.

What do we learn?

We have daily maths and English/SPAG lessons.  Our mastery approach in maths develops mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem solving. We work hard to rapidly recall multiplication and division facts to 12 x 12. We produce some accomplished writing linked to our text.  We have reading lessons to help us work on year group reading objectives, including finding evidence in reading to prove our points.  We have daily opportunities to read across the curriculum. In addition, we read frequently at home and complete our reading records, which are commented on by staff. We learn to read then read to learn!

We have a broad curriculum with lots of exciting lessons on a range of topics including: The Ancient Greeks, Rivers, Electricity, Coding, Textiles, Roman Printing, and Lean On Me.  We aim to grow scientists, historians, geographers, artists, linguists, musicians and much more!  We make links with different subjects across the curriculum and aim to apply our maths and English skills in different contexts. Click on the Long Term Plan for more information.

Year 4 Long Term Plan 2023-2024

Year 4 Topic Webs

Book recommendations for Year 4

Follow the link below to view a wealth of recommended books for your child in Year 4. 

You will never be short of book suggestions with this site. Children we hope you find something you love.

'The Reader Teacher' - Visit this site to view 100 'must reads' for YEAR 4  https://www.thereaderteacher.com/year4 

Learning 2023-2024

Geography - The children enjoyed working practically to decide if they wanted to live in Caatinga (North of Brazil) or Rio de Janeiro (South of Brazil). They listened to statements about the areas and made decisions based on what they thought. At the end, they then made an informed decision about where they would prefer to live. The children decided they wanted to live in Rio de Janeiro because there are more job opportunities, land is more fertile for farming, more hospitals and medicine etc. 

English- In English, we follow talk for writing to help us with our writing. This means we use actions to help us learn a story and be able to retell it. We know the key to success is by promoting learning from a language rich and stimulating context, immersing children in the language of story, lots of modelling and scaffolding and ensuring quality is captured and celebrated at all times.

Black History Competition- Last year, we entered the Black History competition of being able to show on a poster what it means to be black and proud. The most amazing news is we won the competition and also had a runner up entry that will be displayed in the slavery museum. The winning artwork is displayed on the side of a police van and we had the privilege of viewing this as a school. The artwork was outstanding and we were all so proud of the winning entry. 

Science- In Science, we have learning about classification and classification keys and played the classification game in order to make us more aware of how to use them. 

Big Schools Winterwatch

 Year 4 joined BBC 2 Winterwatch live lesson in partnership with the RSPB Big schools birdwatch. They learned to construct and interpret a variety of food chains and webs while exploring relationships between animals and plants in a habitat,  identified producers, predators and prey and identified how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment. Then they continued learning at home while taking part in the Big Schools' Birdwatch.

Art

Children have been learning all about light and tone. They have explored making a variety of marks with pencil, charcoal and chalk and selected appropriate marks to use in a picture. Look at the wonderful drawings produced from direct observation of a pieces of fruit. They have carefully considered light, tone and negative space in their drawings.

Science

We constructed a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers. We identified whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery. Then we recognised that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associated this with whether or not a lamp lights.

Music

Year 4 have loved learning to perform Mamma Mia. They can sing the song from memory, improvise using repeated patterns and play a simple part on the glockenspiel. 

World Book Day

We loved dressing up as characters from our favourite book and different words. The children made a superb effort with their costumes and all looked fantastic! We joined a BBC Live Lesson where we met authors Kevin and Katie Tsang and Michael Rosen. This lesson helped us to develop our knowledge of genre and plan our own characters and plot. We even entered a National Book Tokens competition by designing our very own book tokens!

Maths - Multiplication and division

Children in Year 4 have been learning to multiply and divide. They have been introduced to factors for the first time. They created arrays using counters to develop their
understanding of factor pairs. They explored equivalent calculations using different factors pairs, and then practised calculating with them to identify which factor pair produces the easiest calculation to complete mentally. When using formal methods, the use of base 10 encouraged children to partition the tens
and ones and unitise the tens, laying the foundations for later work. Part-whole models are used to illustrate the informal method of partitioning. When dividing, place value counters are used to explore the sharing structure of division.

Computing - Spreadsheets

Year 4 pupils have learned to use spreadsheets to plan for a party. They used the currency formatting tool in 2Calculate and managed a budget to plan their own party. They also used the functions of allocating value to images in 2Calculate to make a resource to teach place value and used a series of data in a spreadsheet to create a line graph.

Climate Change Workshop

Students from The University of Liverpool delivered a climate change workshop. Children considered the ways in which
we use water in our day-to-day life and to be conscious of how much water we use daily. They can define water pollution and explain the effects of water pollution. They discussed methods of preventing water pollution and made their own pledges.

Art - Printing

Pupils have researched and explored Roman patterns. They created a relief print by drawing in foam and explored monoprints. Children know how to print a clear image so that the depth of colour is consistent.

King Charles III Coronation celebrations at Ashurst

Children in Year 4 had a wonderful celebration to mark King Charles III's coronation. We learned all about what a coronation is, sang 'To the sound of trumpets' and enjoyed a street party and buffet. It was certainly a day to remember!

Science

In science we have been learning about 'Animals including humans'. We know the basic parts of the digestion system and their functions. Then investigated which drinks can cause tooth decay and how to prevent it. Following on from this we learned about food chains. 

Visit to Grosvenor Museum Chester - Roman Britain

We took part in a workshop about life in Roman Britain and explored artefacts to learn more about the Roman legionary fortress of Deva (Chester). We became Roman soldiers and discovered more about a soldier's life followed by a tour of the Amphitheatre.

PATHs

Take a look at our fantastic PATHS display. This year we have become more confident at identifying and talking about our feelings and the feelings of others and how to solve problems. We enjoy discussing compliments when completing 'Pupil of the day' activities and celebrate our individuality and how special we all are.

P.E. 

 In athletics we have developed our understanding of throwing for distance and how to throw a primary school javelin using our bodies to throw with greater distance. Also, explored how we can use our bodies to jump as far as possible.

Author Visit

Pupils in Year 4 had the amazing opportunity to meet the author of The Hooters, Amy Watson. We learned: how to write with descriptive language, how to create an image in the reader's mind, how to write from different points of view and how to become an author. Amy then delivered a question and answer session. We have further inspired our incredible authors in Year 4.