Welcome to Year 4 !

This page will contain important information about our class and will give you an overview of what we are covering in our class.

Who are the teachers?

The teachers in Year 4 this year are Miss Gormley and Mrs Cresswell. 

When will we be doing PE?

Our PE days are a Tuesday and Friday. On these days you will need to come in your PE kits ( black/blue shorts and a white top). 

If you have an questions through the year please email us on - year4@st-marymagdalene.sandwell.sch.uk

Homework and spellings- 

Homework books will need to be returned to school during the last week of each half term. Spellings will be handed out on a Monday and spelling book should be returned to school by Friday, ready for our weekly spelling test. 

What does a typical day in Year 4 look like? 

Topics for this year- 

Autumn - The Romans 

Spring - The Mayans

Summer - Brazil

The Romans- 

This term we will be looking at the Romans and investigating their invasion of Britain. We started off our topic with an amazing drama filled day, below are some pictures of the day. 

What else have Year 4 been doing outside of class? 

Litter Pick- 

On Thursday 23rd September we took a trip to Gayton Road, whilst we were here we collected litter from the area and discussed the impact this was having on the environment. We were shocked as a class to see how much litter we found in such a small area! Well done Year 4 for your amazing litter finding skills. 

Black History Month

On Monday 4th October we were lucky enough to take part in a Black History Month workshop. During this we were able to learn about Rosa Parkes bravery on the bus, standing up for what is right and making a change. We also heard about other influential members of society that have made a change.

The topic linked well to our display in class 'we all fit together' no matter how different we all appear to be, we all fit together in society and in our class. 

Science

Solids, Liquids and Gases- 

Ice cream in a bag experiment- 5.10.2021

Our topic for Science has been States of Matter. This week we were investigating the processes of changing matter, such as boiling, freezing and solidifying. We conducted an experiment today where we turned cream, sugar and vanilla extract into ice cream. This was done purely using ice, salt and sandwich bags, we got brilliant results from a number of groups. Well done year 4 for your determination and perseverance as it took quite a while. 

The Water Cycle- 

Water Cycle Song - this is a link to the water cycle song we have learnt in class. We have all found it very catchy and cannot stop singing it !

Making our own water cycles- 14.10.2021

In Science this week we have been focusing on the water cycle. We have leant about how the processes we learnt about during our solids, liquids and gases lessons also work in the real world, everyday.

We have made mini water cycles, this was done by planting cress seeds into soil in a plastic cup and covering with water. Once the soil was wet, we covered the plastic cup with clingfilm. This should then start the water cycle processes of evaporation and condensation, which will then overtime water our cress seeds and allow them to grow. 

Below are some pictures of us making the mini water cycles and I will post progress pictures once the processes are in full flow. 

DT- 

During DT this term we have been focusing on the history of Warburtons and bread making. The final product we are aiming for is, the class making their own bread, using inspiration from what the Romans ate. 

Last week, we made some designs for our final product out of salt dough. Here are some of our classes amazing creations, I am looking forward to seeing and smelling the final product in a couple of weeks! 

Bread making - 

On Thursday 21st October we turned Year 4's classroom into a real life bakery! Everyone showed their amazing skills and created some brilliant bread. It smelt amazing! Well done Year 4. 

Marvelous Middle- Roman Baths trip. 

On Friday 5th November, Year 4 traveled to Bath to spend a day at the Roman Baths. We had an amazing day deepening our understanding of how the Romans lived. Whilst we were there we took part in a number of activities, including- shopping in a Roman shop, dressing up as Romans, creating our own mosaics, building bridges and investigating Roman artefacts. After we had completed our workshops, we took a walk around the entire baths and museum - it was amazing !

Remembrance day - 

In our worship this week we have been looking at Remembrance. We looked into why we wear poppies and their importance. We learnt about the different colour poppies and their different meanings. Year 4 then went on to create some poppy drawings, poppy wreaths and 3D poppies for our worship area. 

Computing- Making a website- 

In computing this term we are focusing on creating a website. This week we created websites based on our favourite topics in pairs. They look brilliant, well done Year 4! I can't wait to see them once they are completed. 

Here are some examples, so far- 

Maths Problem Solving Day!

We were fortunate enough to take part in a maths problem solving day in school. During this time we worked together in teams to build a structure, only one of the group was able to look at the structure at a time and bring back information about what they saw. Year 4 worked exceptionally well as a team and were able to rebuild the structure. 

Science- Sound

WB 10.01.2022

Our science topic for this half term is Sound! We have had a lot of fun investigating vibrations so far during our topic. 

We also created a role play for an educational TV programme, there were a lot of creative ideas and they were amazing to watch!

WB 31.01.2022

This week we were investigating how sound changes over distance! We spent some time on the playground and moved across the area whilst listening to music, we then listened carefully to any changes in volume. 

We then created string telephones, these allowed us to send messages to each other in a different way!

Problem Solving Friday in Year 4!

Each Friday we have an alternative maths lesson. During this hour we spend time working in groups to focus on word problems and physical problem solving activities. Our class are throughly enjoying having this time to expand their problem solving skills and working as groups. 

Science- Digestive System- 

In class we have taken the time to recreate the digestive system. We had a lot of fun during the lesson!

Comic Relief- Superhero Day!

To raise money for Comic Relief we all dressed as superheroes and modern day heroes! Year 4 made a brilliant effort, well done!

Maths- Area-

We started our new topic of Area today in Maths. To allow us to visualise what is meant by area and how to work it out by counting squares, we completed a practical lesson! We used masking tape to create shapes on the tables and used post it notes to work out the size of the area, if one post it note represented 1cm².

Everyone participated well and gained good base knowledge of Area! Well done Year 4!