Year 4

Welcome to Year 4

Class Teacher: Miss Wainwright

Teaching assistant: Miss Ellams

A very warm welcome to Year 4 children, parents and carers. I am delighted to be teaching Year 4 this year as there are so many exciting learning opportunities and experiences ahead. After speaking to the children, I know they are very excited about swimming lessons! I look forward to seeing each an every child grow and achieve their potential.

If you have questions or queries, please don't hesitate to contact me. 

Miss Wainwright 

Year Four welcome prayer

Lord,

Thank you for the gift of education in every form. 

As our children prepare to start a new year

may confidence be their foundation, 

May grace be their guide and

may hope be their compass toward a bright future. 

I pray they show empathy and understanding to others

and a heart full of love.

May they face each day with positivity

knowing that no matter

what comes their way,

they do not have to face it alone. 

Amen

General school information

• School starts at 9:00am with the school gates opening at 8:35am
• Breakfast club starts at 8:00am and the gates will be closed at 8:15am for breakfast club attendees.
• Please inform the office if your child is absent. 
• All children need to be in the correct school uniform each day, including black school shoes. 

Year 4 key information

►Reading - Reading is at the heart of all our learning at Holy Family. To support this at home, please could all children ensure that they read their school reading book every night and that the planner is signed by an adult. Children will need to bring their reading book and planner back to school each day. 

►Spellings - Every Monday, all children will receive a new spelling list based on spelling rules/patterns which will have been our focus in class. Please can all children learn the given spellings ready for our Friday spelling tests. 

►Homework - All children will be given weekly English or maths homework. This is to be completed and returned to school as required. 

►PE - PE will take place every Monday and Thursday. All children must have the correct school PE kit of white t-shirt and black/ Navy shorts and trainers. (Track suits may be worn as the weather turns colder). Please ensure that all children have trainers to enable them to fully participate in this key subject. 

The above information has been produced by the DfE and has information about the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) for 2024. If parents or carers have any questions about the up coming MTC, please see Miss Wainwright. 

Year 4 have recognised the importance of D-Day. They have marked 80 years since the event by writing a diary entry and creating silhouette charcoal drawings. 

In PE, the children have developed overarm and underarm throwing and applied these to a cricket game. They have also developed batting techniques and understood where to hit the ball.

In PE, children have developed their knowledge and skills in tennis. They have developed racket and ball control using bean bags and tennis balls. They have also developed forehand and backhand techniques and knowledge of when to use each one. 

In Year 4, the children have focused on fitness. The children have been taught exercises that will build their strength and stamina. 

Year 4 have performed rhythmic breaks within the samba piece. 

Year 4 have composed a basic rhythmic break and performed as a class. 

Year 4 have played syncopated rhythms through clapping and performed this as a class. 

In history, Year 4 have explored the culture of the Ancient Maya people. They have used sources to investigate what they think happened to them.

Year 4 have been studying fractions in maths. Take a look at their learning journey!

Earlier this year, Year 4 wrote a persuasive letter to David Cameron about the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest. The children were very excited to get this response. 

Year 4 have used complex carving strategies to created soap carvings. They used a variety of tools to create shapes and patterns for their sculpture. 

Year 4 have developed ideas for 3D work through drawing and visualisation in 2D. They created their artwork on a large scale using chalks that was inspired by Magdalene Odundo. 

Year 4 have created prototypes of their mindful moment timers. 

In Design and Technology, the children have developed coding to program and control a product. 

Year 4 have made cartoon flip books so they can understand what an animation is and how they use to be created. 

Year 4 have programmed a virtual robot to move and draw.

Year 4 have amended an algorithm to change the size of a shape. 

Year 4 have programmed Turtle Art with a set of statements that perform a specific task.

Year 4 have used Turtle Art to program a turtle icon to execute a sequence of statements. 

In RE, the children have studied the importance of giving and receiving. They have understood that the Eucharist challenges and enables living and growing in communion. 

In Year 4, the children have learned how to send an email, create a subject and add attachments.

Throughout this topic, Year 4 have investigated what happens when a circuit has multiple bulbs and one battery and when a circuit has multiple batteries and one bulb. The children have then used this knowledge to create their own burglar alarm.

In Year 4, the children have studied decimals and solved problems using their knowledge of place value.

In Year 4, the children have written their own Ancient Maya recipes. They have recreated traditional recipes for chilli hot chocolate and corn tortillas!

Year 4 have studied the Amazon Rainforest and investigated why it is so important to our planet. The children have studied what life is like for the indigenous people of the Rainforest and why this needs to be protected. 

Year 4 dressed up in the French national colours to celebrate French Day. They also practiced ordering food in French and created their own French menus!

Holy Family had a visit from the school nurse who spoke to the children about the negative effects on a person's body after consuming lots of energy drinks. 

In Year 4, the children have developed ideas through computer-aided design for their mindful moment. 

Year 4 have read Harley Jones and the mystery of the Mayan King in Summer 1. The children have worked really hard to provide evidence from the text when answering inference questions. 

In Year 4, the children have cooked corn tortillas and made spicy hot chocolate to inspire their instructional writing for an Ancient Maya recipe.

In this topic, Year 4 have developed knowledge of habitats and how the environment must be cared for. The children have built on their knowledge of food chains from Year 2 by looking at food webs in Year 4. The children have also explored what organisms are and their characteristics.

Year 4 have studied states of matter. They have investigated how changing the temperature can change the state. They have also explored the water cycle. 

In this topic, Year 4 have built on their knowledge of self-discipline and how important it is. The children have recognised how celebrating growth of new life occurs through self-discipline. 

The children in Year 4 enjoyed learning about the Islamic faith. They were able to understand the the name of the Islamic God and how Muslim people worship their God. 

In Year 4, the children have studied 'body percussion'. They have created simple tunes about each layer of the Amazon Rainforest. Then, they have then built and improved their compositions through peer feedback. 

Year 4 have taken part in a fitness circuit this week. They have worked on squats, sprints, sit ups and press ups. The children also learned how to stretch after exercise and the importance of this. 

Year 4 have studied the names for different items of clothing in French. They have used these words in spoken and written French.

Year 4 have a new spotlight author this half term! Our author is C.S Lewis. The children have been ‘getting lost’ in one of his famous fantasy narratives, ‘the lion, the witch and wardrobe!’.

The children have also recommended books to one another and given reasons for their recommendations.

During the season of Advent, Year 4 have learned that God’s gift of Jesus is a gift of love to all people and that Jesus reveals God’s love for humanity.

Year 4 have explored how they can make music with their bodies. They have worked in teams to compose and perform musical rhythms about the Tropical Rainforest.

Year 4 have rehearsed and performed ‘boom, snap, clap’ to their peers.

Year 4 have listened and appraised pieces of music made through body percussion. The children have identified the structure of the music and identified the number of layers they heard in each piece of music.

In PE, Year 4 have developed control in performing and landing rotation jumps.  

Year 4 used the knowledge they had gained last lesson in tinting and shading, to paint an object. The children used tint and shade to create a three dimensional appearance.

In PE, Year 4 have  developed individual and partner balances.

Year 4 have been using atlases to locate the capital cities of countries in South America.

Year 4 celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as their favourite characters.

Year 4 have created persuasive presentations using PowerPoint. The children had to use persuasive vocabulary in their presentations so that the audience would be swayed towards their point of view.

Year 4 have continued to learn about fitness in PE. They have developed their balance through standing reaches, stork stands and alternating floor oblique twists. 

Year 4 have found out how and why percussion instruments can be used in Calypso music. The children have played a four-note repeating pattern and then progressed to playing this in time as a class. 

Year 4 have used the glockenspiels to perform quavers from staff notation. The children were able to listen and perform for each other and offer helpful feedback to improve their performances. 

Year 4 took part in an author event with Matt Lucas. The children heard Matt Lucas reading aloud his latest book, 'The boy who slept through Christmas!' Matt Lucas asked the children for ideas of what could go wrong at Christmas and Matt loved our idea so much that he read it out to the other schools! 

Year 4 have focused on developing speed and strength. They have practised squats, sits ups, press ups and bridges. The children also put their strength to the test by chest passing a ball as hard as they could and then testing their speed through running relays. 

Year 4 have inputted data from record cards to a database so that they can understand that information can be stored as numbers, texts and choices (yes/no). 

Year 4 have attended an inter-school basketball tournament. They performed well and showed great sportsmanship. Great work Year 4!

During Enterprise Week, Year 4 have conducted product research, assessed their budget, created a projected profit and created products for a purpose. The children created Christmas bookmarks and Christmas tree decorations that were sold at the Winter Fair. 

Year 4- Anti Bullying poetry, Year 4 wrote their own creative poems about friendship. The children then performed their poetry to others Please take a listen to the children's amazing poems!

In computing, Year 4 have sorted record cards using field names. 

In DT, Year 4 have prepared and baked cookies. The children weighed out their ingredients and combined them to create cookies. Next, they will adapt this simple recipe to create their own cookie recipe. 

Year 4 have tested out their speed, strength, agility and balance through different activities. The children have shown:

• Speed through sprinting on the spot with high knees.
• Strength through controlled squats.
• Agility through sitting on the floor and standing up as quickly as possible.
• Balance through standing on their tip toes.

The children have applied these different skills in shuttle runs, stork stands, chest throws and beanbag flicks.

In Year 4, the children have created explanation presentations using powerpoint. They have then presented these to the class. 

Year 4 held a Remembrance Day Service in the Prayer Garden where they paid their respects to those who sacrificed themselves during the war. The children joined together to pray for peace and held a minutes silence. 

In computing, Year 4 have looked at binary codes. They have discovered that computers represent data as numbers and count using switches of 'on' and 'off' (0 and 1). Children have then encoded their own names! 

In this topic, Year 4 have learned that through Baptism and Confirmation people are given the gift of the Holy Spirit and are called to respond in their lives. 

In French, we have learned how describe a person's height, personality, eye colour and hair colour. 

During Black History Month, we have learned about famous black athletes and we have celebrated their amazing accomplishments. 

Year 4 worked collaboratively to plan a Roman shield design. They then worked together to print their design using different printing techniques. 

In art, Year 4 have created their own compositions. The children have used wax resist to create shading using pattern and contrast. 

During iProgram, Year 4 have detected errors and debugged them. They have also used the 'backpack' feature to recreate and remix codes, which then create new codes. 

In computing, the children have learned how broadcasts can be used to change scenes in scratch. 

In computing, we have learned how to synchronise actions on scratch. 

In computing, we have created blocks on scratch. In this lesson the children discovered the need to reuse code in programming. 

Our first RE topic is 'people'. In this topic we have learned about our own family and Jesus' family. In this topic, we have studied confirmation and the response to being chosen. 

Year 4 have immersed themselves in the topic of Rome. They have analysed the features of diary entries so they understand the genre and it's purpose. The children have learned key skills and then applied this to write their own Roman diary entries. 

The children acted in the role of a Roman solider and took it in turns to interview the 'soldiers'. We used this first account of a battle for our Roman diary entries. 

In history, we have learned about who ruled Rome and how Roman life was. We have also learned about how and why the Romans invaded Britain. 

In Year 4, we have used the skills and knowledge taught and applied this to a competitive game of basketball. 

In PE, we have developed the attacking skill- shooting. 

In our topic ‘People’, we explored what family means to us and that all families are different. We discussed and explored scripture explaining how God is a loving parent and we are his children.

Year 4 have learned all about human's teeth and animal's teeth. They have learned how to look after their teeth and what could happen if we don't! The children have enjoyed investigating the digestive system and explaining what happens at each point. 

Year 4 have used materials to replicate the digestive system. The children were able to describe what was happening using scientific vocabulary.

Year 4 have visited Stainforth Library where they explored different text types. They read to their peers and listened to library staff read a chosen text to them. 

Year 4 took part in #Take10ToRead. The children listened to wordsmith, Suzie Dent, who discussed how taking time out to read can be beneficial for our mental health as well as our reading miles. 

Year 4 have discovered that our teeth are made from a similar material to an eggshell. Therefore, the children have set up an investigation with eggs and different high sugar and acidic liquids. Over time, they have made observations on what has happened to the eggshell and concluded why they think. 

Year 4 have developed skills in protecting the ball when dribbling against an opponent and they have 

developed passing skills so that they keep possession of the ball. 

In PE, the children have developed attacking skills through dribbling a basket ball. 
 

The learning below is for the Academic Year 2022-2023

Year 4 have taken part in Sports Day 2023! They showed great sportsmanship throughout the afternoon, particularly when blue team won. The children also enjoyed playing on an inflatable assault course. 

Year 4 had a lovely visit from the Music Hub! We listened to live instruments being played and we even had the opportunity to ask lots of questions. It was great fun and we even had the opportunity to dance to some of our favourite songs!

During our topic on New Life, we retold the story of Penetcost through art. The children used water colours and annotated the story with speech bubbles and captions. 

Year 4 have learned about what New Life means to a Catholic at this special time of the year. The children read and discussed key scripture and discussed how this influences our way of life. 

Holy Family celebrated the coronation by writing biographies about King Charles III life and creating magnificent pieces of art and even a sculpture of King Charles III himself! 

Year 4 have written their own Ancient Maya recipes! They started the learning journey by playing barrier games where one partner had to give clear, precise instructions to the other partner to create a given model. Before writing their instructions, the children all made chilli hot chocolate and corn tortillas. Some children enjoyed the Ancient Maya diet... but not everyone!

Year 4 took part in a workshop from the ‘shaping Stainforth project. Ballerinas from the Royal Opera House taught the children a ballet routine where children built a ‘snowflake’ through movement.

Through the project, Shaping Stainforth, Year 4 had an author visit from Philip Sheppard. He shared books he had written and illustrated and even gave us a sneak peek into the new book he’s currently working on. The children completed a draw along with Philip Sheppard, which shows we may have some future illustrators at Holy Family.

Year 4 have shown their creative talent when completing our geography unit- What is the Amazon, why is it significant and should it be protected?

Year 4 worked scientifically during Science Day as they focused on chemical reactions.

Experiment 1- The children built and decorated their own rockets, added vinegar and bicarbonate of soda and saw their rockets fly into the sky!

Experiment 2- The children discovered that when bicarbonate of soda and lemon juice are combined together, they release carbon dioxide. This gas then blew up their balloons!

Year 4 have completed a unit of work on classification and environments and produced amazing work!

Year 4 have drawn and printed their own Easter card design. They have then used water colours to create a mixed media piece of art. 

Children in Year 4 planned and delivered a prayer liturgy about our whole school virtue 'love'. They wrote their own prayers, which they shared with the class and took home to their families. 

We created 3D portraits of famous books that we have enjoyed reading. Can you recognise some of the famous titles? 

Year Four have planned and delivered their own Liturgical Prayer. They decided how they wanted to gather, what word they wanted to share, how they wanted to respond and what the mission was. The Prayer Leaders then shared a prayer they had written.  

In English, Year Four have started to research what impact Romans had on Britain. Soon, they will create their own Roman Non-chronological reports. 

In art, Year Four have created sculptures of Roman soldiers using wire and modroc. They have carefully considered the stance of their sculpture so that they can convey an action. 

In English, Year Four have interviewed a Roman solider so that they can fully understand what life must've been like while battling on the front line!

Our topic is ‘People’ and we have explored what family means to us and that all families are different. We have discussed and explored scripture explaining how God is a loving parent and we are his children.