Year 4

April 2023

This term year 4 have embraced the persuasive message from Greta Thunberg in the book Greta and the Giants.  She encouraged us to be stewards of our environment and to ‘have a voice’ for the future of our planet. As a result, in English, we have written persuasive letters to Oakley and Deane Parish Council to ask that trees and hedgerows are preserved and that more trees are planted in Oakley.

We also have been reading Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.  We have enjoyed the traditional tale of Badger, Ratty, Mole and Mr Toad.  We have completed character studies and setting descriptions and we have finished the term by holding a court room drama ‘The Trial of Mr Toad’ This time the children have used their persuasive techniques to defend or prosecute Mr Toad. We also celebrated World Book Day and studied the Picture Book: ‘Tuesday’. We learnt how to write a witness statement, police reports and newspaper articles.

In science, we have been learning about electricity, creating circuits and investigating conductors and insulators. We will continue to develop our science skills by planning our own switch investigations next term.

In maths, we have been learning about fractions and song and dance moves for our multiplication times tables.

A visitor from the Rivers Trust helped us create the journey of a river in our school hall to help understand the features of a river.  We then visited Whitchurch Silk Mills to learn how man has used the river as a source of energy.  We completed a river study looking at the formation of meanders and recording the velocity of the river at different times of the day. We all enjoyed catching and sampling a range of creatures living in the River Test.

We have used our creative designing skills to plan a moving mechanism Water cycle information page for Design and Technology.  We will be making them at the beginning of next term.

For our R.E. Concept Week we have considered why Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. We have also linked our previous work on Passover to the Last Supper in the Ester Story.

We enjoyed learning and performing the ‘I Sing Pop Songs’ at St Leonard’s Church. Our Year group favourite was ‘Reach Out’.  This song starts with the amazing words:

‘Imagine a world full of love,

a place full of goodness and kindness.

To live without hurt in your heart,

Where happiness overcomes sadness.’

We all agreed that we want to try to build a world like this.

Miss Rahman and Mrs Podevin