Year 4

Welcome to Year Four's class page! Over the coming school year we will be using this page to give you a window into all the wonderful learning taking place, as well as for sharing any important information.   

The website will be a hub for communication all year long. I encourage you to check it regularly to see what we're working on and explore the resources. Please reach out by emailing the office at admin@olol.org.uk  if you need help with anything . We look forward to sharing our classroom adventures with you!

Warmest regards,

Miss Ashby, Mr Mitchinson Mrs Frankowska, Mrs Trenoweth and Miss Arias

The Year 4 Team

Key Information

P.E.

Tuesday will be with the Sports Coach Thursday will be with Mr Mr Mitchinson.

School start time: 8:45

School finish time: 3:15

Please drop your child off at the KS2 Entrance (the green gate, to the left of the building when facing the school.)

The gate will close at 8:55 and the register submitted by 9:00.

Home Learning

Pupils will receive their home learning on a Friday and return it on a Thursday. If you need anymore support for at home or for ideas on how to support your child on their Year Four journey, do not hesitate to contact us.

Reading 

All pupils have received their reading books and yellow reading record. Your child will have their current reading book changed on Tuesdays and Fridays. Pupils should read 5 times (for a minimum of 10 minutes) each week and at least two of these reads should be with an adult.

Ensure books and reading records come in with the children every day, as different teachers and TAs will be listening to your child read throughout the week.

Please use the 'comments' section within the reading records to evidence when reading has been completed as this helps us keep an eye on your child’s progress and helps us to know when their reading book is ready to be changed.  

Term 3

In Term 3, we will be reading 'Winter's Child' written by Angela McAlliser.  In the story a boy called Tom wishes winter would never end and he meets another boy who shares his love of snow and ice. Playing together every day, Tom hardly notices that spring doesn't come - until he realises the terrible effect of unending winter is having on the countryside and his sick grandma. 

We will be using this text to craft our own narrative inspired by Spring as well as honing the skills to write a recount about the hardships of winter in the form of a diary entry. 

In Re we will be learning about the unit, Galilee to Jerusalem, which begins with the feast of the Epiphany. After the work on Epiphany, we have a section on the ‘Our Father’. This is both to reflect on the words of the ‘Our Father’ and to begin thinking about the Kingdom of God. The prayer helps reveal what the Kingdom is like and the way we need to act. We will also be finding out more about parables and miracles.

Term 2

This term we will be using a new text to base our writing learning on.  Wolves in the Walls, written by Neil Gaiman is a books about a girl named Lucy who lives with her mother and father and her little brother. One day she hears some scratching in the walls. Lucy immediately assumes that there are wolves living in the walls, but her family reassures her that that would be unlikely. Lucy turns to her longtime pig puppet for comfort as the scratching noises in the wall become louder and louder. Until one day the wolves escape! 

We will be using the text to write our own sequel to the story, thinking about what other animals we could use for our own stories as well as writing a letter of persuasion, explaining why it is important that the wolves leave the family home! 

Our RE learning will be centred on Prophecy and Promise. By the end of this unit we will be able to understand that Sunday is a Holy day for Christians, give simple descriptions of how Christians celebrate Mass and give simple descriptions of prayers, signs and actions performed in Church and Mass. 

The Impact of Words: A Revealing Apple Experiment

In a recent school project, we explored the influence of words on our well-being using two apples. One apple received kind words, while the other faced unkind remarks. After a week, the results were clear: the apple praised with positive words stayed undamaged, while the one exposed to negativity ended up bruised beneath its surface.

This experiment aimed to show how hurtful words can affect us internally, even if the damage isn't immediately visible. The lesson is simple but powerful — the importance of creating a positive and supportive environment where words are chosen carefully, understanding that the impact of kindness goes beyond what meets the eye.

Interviewing the Wolves

We loved getting into character for our English activity today, as an interviewer and as the wolves. First, we wrote open ended questions that an interviewer might ask the wolves to find out why they had taken over the families’ home.  We then took turns to interview the ‘wolves’. We came up with some very creative and insightful ideas and had a lot of fun whilst doing so!

Characters thoughts and feelings 

For writing this week, we thought about how Lucy must have felt once she realised there were wolves living in the walls.  We came up with some fantastic adjectives, such as frightened, scared, petrified and miserable. We went on to discuss the reasons for her feeling like this which were reasons such as, the wolves are messing up the family home or it's too cold for the family to live outside. Using the drawing of a person, on the inside we recorded the adjectives describing how Lucy is feeling and around the outside the reasons for those emotions. 

Term 1

This term for English we will using the text ‘The Tear Thief’ by Carol Ann Duffy.  The Tear Thief is a heart-warming modern day fairy tale about a mystical being who comes out each night to collect the tears of children to power the light of the moon. The Tear Thief is invisible except for in the reflection of water, and makes themselves known to one small girl who has lost her puppy to take her tears of grief. The story's message is of the power of emotional truth and value of feelings. We will be using this text to support us in our writing, including diary entries, exploring characters as well writing our own extension to the end of the story.

In RE we will be focusing on Mission and Creation. Students will explain what a Steward of creation is and make links between what scripture says about creation and the responsibility of believers to show care and respect for creation. They will explain the ideas behind Laudato Si and compare their own and other people’s ideas about questions that can be difficult to answer such as why do some people have more than others, why do some people not care for creation. They will describe the story of the call of Abraham, and Abraham and Isaac explaining how this shows Abraham’s trust in God.  We will answer the question do (I, my school, my parish) put the words of Pope Francis into Action?

Tear Thief Traps

To help immerse ourselves into our new text we designed, created and set our own traps so we could find out more about the Tear Thief. Working collaboratively we used arts and craft materials to decorate the traps and make them enticing for the Tear Thief. It was lovely to see how enthusiastically the children worked together to achieve a final outcome.