In the Autumn term, Year 4 will be studying the author Roald Dahl. We will focus on Roald Dahl day on Friday 13^th September, a day on which the children can bring in their favourite book by this significant author. We will encourage children to read lots of great stories by Roald Dahl, such as the BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to make comparisons and pursue themes.

His first book, ’James and the Giant Peach ‘, published in 1961, is the focus and stimulus for much of our learning this half-term.

Writing:

The Roald Dahl text will be a stimulus for a range of writing genres including:

• Narrative
• Instructions
• Diaries
• Letters
• Non - chronological reports
• Poetry

Reading:

We have three reading sessions throughout our week. The three sessions are: Book Talk, Demonstration Comprehension and Independent Comprehension. In addition, the children have a D.E.A.R session (Drop Everything And Read) when they are encouraged to read material of their choice. They also have access to the school library during this time. Short 'protected reading' sessions are also timetabled so that the children can listen to the teacher read.

In Mathematics during the Autumn term, we will be covering the following topics:

• Number, place value
• Rounding and estimating
• Securing addition and subtraction mental fluency
• Securing formal written addition and subtraction fluency
• Counting in multiples of 6,7,9,25 and 1000
• Multiplication and Division facts (Times Tables)
• Factor pairs, Integer Scaling and Correspondence Problems
• Problem solving including measures to apply place value
• Multiply and Divide a One or Two-digit Number by 10 and 100
• Measures – Conversions of units, compare, estimate and calculate
• Roman numerals
• Data handling
• Perimeter

Morning Skills:

The children have a 20 minutes session of mental arithmetic at the start of each day, which will develop fluency within number skills.

Timetables:

The children will have 'Multiplication Masters', regular weekly timetable tests, to reinforce their rapid recall. These are the timetables they should know and will have been taught; KS1 - 2s, 5s, 10s and Y3 - 3s, 4s, 8s.

In Year 4 we will extend our timetables knowledge and will focus on 6s, 7s, 9s, 11s and 12s.

During Autumn 1, we will be following a Gospel Unit of work which explores the question, ‘What kind of world did Jesus want?’ The children will be able to:

Identify this as part of a ‘Gospel’, which tells the story of the life and teaching of Jesus.

Make clear links between the calling of the first disciples and how Christians today try to follow Jesus and be ‘fishers of people’.

Offer suggestions about what Jesus’ actions towards the leper might mean for a Christian. Make simple links between Bible texts and the concept of the ‘Gospel’ (good news).

Give examples of how Christians try to show love to all, including how members of the clergy follow Jesus’ teaching.

Make links between the Bible stories studied and the importance of love, and life in the world today, expressing some ideas of their own clearly.

As we approach the festive season, we will consider, ‘Does the Christmas narrative need Mary?’ The children will explore the role of Mary in Christian life and in the Christmas story in particular. They will know that Mary is considered to be the mother of Jesus and that God was his father, although Mary was married to Joseph; they will know the key events from Luke’s gospel that involve Mary; they will have thought about their significance to the Christmas narrative; they will be able to interpret some of the symbols usually connected with Mary; they will know that different denominations vary in their treatment of Mary and they will have considered their own response. 

In addition, the Autumn Term also has a focus on Harvest and Advent.

This term, our Science topics consist of the following:

• Living Things and their Habitats including classification keys (Autumn 1)
• Electricity (Autumn 2)

Living Things and their Habitats, including classification keys:

Within this topic, children will focus on grouping and classifying living things according to their shared characteristics. They will learn about the taxonomist role and will model this by sorting and organising data in a variety of ways, including Carol diagrams, Venn diagrams, pictograms and classification keys. During their visit to the Roald Dahl Museum, children will further discuss the characteristics of insects and explore the invertebrate collections.

Electricity:

In this unit, children will explore how to construct a circuit and what makes it work. Children will learn about the varied power supplies for electric appliances and their roles, referring to renewable and non-renewable energy sources. In addition, children will learn about the safety measures around electricity.

The children will be involved in investigative work and will follow lines of enquiry.