Welcome to Year 4

Sound: How does sound make us feel?

We start our year with sound, learning about how sounds are made and investigating how sound travels. We learn about the different purposes of sounds and how they can affect our emotions. We explore changing pitch, volume, and create our own instruments. We also look at the timbre (type of sound) that instruments make and how that can be used to convey parts of a story or mood.

Electricity: Why is electricity so important?

In our second topic, the children explore the different uses of electricity in everyday life and investigate which electrical items are mains or battery powered. We learn about electrical circuits within torches, and make our own. After discovering different sources of electricity, we spent time trying different combinations of electrical components to explore the effects the changes would cause. We experience a ‘no electricity day’ to explore the impact that electricity has on our daily lives. We also have our Christmas performance, with the children working hard or rehearsing their lines and singing.

London: Why is London such a cool place to live?

During the spring term, the children find out about our capital city of London. They look at the development of London as a cultural hub and at the cultures of its inhabitants. The children discuss which parts of life in London they consider ‘cool’ and from this research developed their own point of view on life in London. We also use London tube maps to navigate virtually around the city, discovering the best tube lines to take when visiting landmarks and destinations. Throughout the topic, we also create pieces of art linked to cityscapes and children create wonderful watercolour paintings with charcoal skylines. The highlight of our spring term is the visit to LEGOLAND to identify the features of a city in the mini-world developments as well as have some fun on the rides!

Romans: Veni, Vidi! Vici! I came, I saw, I conquered!

In this topic, we explore the impact the Romans had on Britain. The children look at the reasons the Romans came, how they lived here, and why they eventually left. We explore what life was like in the Roman army and discuss why they were successful. We find out about Boudicca and her rebellion and investigate what remains of the Roman occupation by asking ‘What did the Romans do for us?’ Finally, we have our Roman Day where we put on a Roman banquet and made Roman amulets!

Rivers: The journey of a River

In the summer term, we look at rivers in the UK and where they are located. We then explore the features of rivers focusing on formation of oxbow lakes by erosion and deposition. We also have fun investigating the water cycle and demonstrating it in a plastic bag. Finally, we looked at the uses of a river and the causes and impact of river pollution. In DT, we learn about the engineering of bridges, looking at strong shapes, different types of bridges and finishing off with a challenge to design a strong and good looking bridge that fills the design criteria. Whilst in music, we experiment with building the texture (layers of sound) in a river song.

Anglo Saxons- What happened when the Romans left?

Our final topic of the year is What happened when the Romans left? The children learn about life in Saxon Britain up until 1066. They look at how British culture changed after the Romans left and what the daily life of an Anglo-Saxon was like. We become archaeologists by examining the artefacts found at Sutton Hoo to see what they can tell us about the past and also discovering the links to the Saxons in the place names all around us. In English, we look at the story of Beowulf and create our own version. Whilst in music, we compose a soundtrack to part of the Beowulf story. The children have the opportunity on Anglo-Saxon Day of experiencing the real flavour of Saxon England, handling replicas of household objects from the time, looking at food, medicine and clothing.

If you have any queries with regard to the curriculum for this year group, please contact Miss Kim Price, Mrs Helen Buchan or Miss Olivia Frost (Year 4 teachers).

Should you have any queries or would like to make a complaint with regard to any of the Year 4 team, please contact Mr Mark Morris or Miss Adele Tashdjian (Assistant Deputy Heads) or Mr Glen Golding (Headteacher).