Dewhurst St Mary C of E Primary School

Year 4 Autumn Term Review

Maths

In maths we recapped our knowledge of place value; we extended this to 4 digit numbers. We then started to look at different mental methods of how to calculate bigger numbers. As a class we also enjoyed playing games involving shapes and looking at properties of them in more detail. We looked at different units of measure and how to multiply numbers by 10, 100 and 1000. We are now confident in rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. Roman numerals were one of our favourite things to learn this term, we manged to do it for numbers even beyond 100! We also looked at negative numbers and how the number system does not stop at 0.

English

In English at the beginning of the term we looked at Greek myths which tied into our History topic of Ancient Greece. We enjoyed learning about famous Greek myths and then adapting them to make our own. After half term we came back to find that our PSHE Jigsaw Jaz teddy had gone missing. We immediately got on the case searching for clues as well as writing newspaper reports. During our family assembly Jaz was safely returned to us! It was in fact Mr Waite who had borrowed him to show his children in Scotland.

Science

In Science we learnt all about the states of matter which include solids, liquids and gasses. We learnt how the particles move as well as how they can change with temperature, for example if you heat solid chocolate it changes to a Liquid! We also learnt about the water cycle in great detail and can now use terms such as evaporation, condensation and precipitation. We made our own mini water cycles using a plastic cup, soil and some cress.

History

In History we learnt about Ancient Greece, this included looking at and making Ancient Greek pots and temples. We also looked at the Greek Gods and can therefore now tell the story of the Trojan horse. After half term we learnt about the Mayan empire; the Mayans were very clever indeed and invented things such a number system, the writing system and the calendar amongst other things.

Art

During art week we focussed on shading and looked at techniques such as cross hatching and stippling, this helped us to create effective pictures using charcoal. We also made mosaic masks that linked in with our history topic about the Mayan empire; the masks were worn in battle or at celebrations such as weddings and births.

Music

We have started to learn to play the violin on a Wednesday afternoon which then allowed us to perform to the school at the end of term. We were the first class to start using the bow this early on!

Religious Education

In R.E we learnt about Hinduism and how they have many different Gods, we set up our own Hindu shrine in the classroom and decorated it with fruit as part of a Hindu celebration.

French

In French our topic was all about transport we labelled forms of transport, and said how we get to school. We also used adjectives and conjunctions to give opinions on different transport methods.

Computing

Our new computing topics allowed us to become software developers and toy designers. We learnt how to use the program scratch in more detail and enjoyed inventing educational games and toys using the computers.