Year 4

Year 4 Home Guide
Spring 2012
This guide contains information about topics we are covering this term, including suggestions for activities you can do with your child to extend their learning.
The spellings for our weekly Friday morning tests are provided here, as well as the multiplication and division tables that we regularly test the children on. We have also included lists of important Maths and Science vocabulary.
Please keep reading with your child every day and make sure that they complete their Literature Circle homework.

LITERACY
Spellings:
On the Spellings (Spring) link to the left, you will find the words we will be covering each week for the whole term. Please help your child learn the words that correspond to their group using the say, look, cover, write, check method as used in Years 2 and 3. The expectation is that children should not just spell words correctly in the spelling tests, but should be using these words in their writing. We suggest your child practises their spellings for ten minutes every day.
Literature Circle:
We strongly urge you to encourage your child to experience reading every night, either to an adult, to themselves or listening to an adult read aloud. We also include a list of the high frequency spelling words that all children in Key Stage 2 are expected to know.
 

Literacy Topics:
These are the topics we will be covering this half term in class, and suggested activities for parents and children.
Non - fiction: non chronological reports.
Focus books: The Spiderwick Chronicles
Following on from our work on The Spiderwick Chronicles last term, this term we will be using the text to explore non-chronological reports. We will look at the features and style of non-chronological report writing with the children and write some reports of our own based on the fantasy creatures that appear in The Spiderwick Chronicles. You can help your child by encouraging them to read non-chronological report writing such as information books about animals or children’s encyclopaedias.
 

Fiction: Stories from other cultures
Focus book: Christophe’s Story, Nicki Cornwell
The children will read ‘Christophe’s Story’ and explore the historical and cultural context. They will use discussion, drama, role play and writing in role to understand how a character’s behaviour can be interpreted from different viewpoints. The children will earn about the power of oral stories and will tell their own. They will read ‘Greedy Sebgugugu’ a traditional tale from Rwanda and explore how authors use language for effect. Finally, they will write their own stories, drawing on personal experiences.
 

Poetry: Poetic form
In this unit, the children will read poems in a variety of forms. They will discuss their impact on the reader and what makes them successful. Thy will listen to and watch performance poems. A rap poem based on a fairy tale is used as the basis for a class poem on the same theme. The children then make comparisons about the various poetic forms. After sharing poem ideas for the fairy tale theme, the children choose a poetic form, draft and finalise their own poem. They will present their poems to an audience.

MATHS
For details, click on the Maths tab, left.

SCIENCE
Our topic in the first half term is Friction and Resistance. After a brief revision of forces already studied, children investigate friction, air resistance & water resistance. There are lots of hands-on activities and investigations to hone their scientific enquiry skills.

Suggested activities:
- discuss different surfaces and whether objects would move easily over them
- take two hair brushes and move one over the surface of the other – what happens, where are the ‘push’ forces in action?
- discuss why a rainy day can be dangerous in school and which shoes it would be better to wear on a slippery floor
- think about air resistance – what happens if you use an umbrella on a windy day?
- discuss how friction is useful or not in everyday life?
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/physical_processes/
Science Glossary
air resistance – a friction force that slows down aircraft, parachutes and other objects moving through air
escape lane – a lane at the side of the road that is covered with a special material to low traffic so that it can stop safely
force – a push or a pull.
friction – a force between surfaces in contact.
increase – make greater.
Newton meter – an instrument that measures pull forces (sometimes called a forcemeter).
prediction - a statement saying what the result of an event or experiment is likely to be.
reduce – make smaller or less.
surface – the outer edge of an object.
streamlined – specially shaped to reduce air resistance or water resistance.
water resistance – the friction force that slows down boats, animals, swimmers and other objects as they move through water.
Our topic in the second half term will be Keeping Warm. During this unit the children will learn about temperature, keeping warm and cooling down and thermal insulation.

Suggested activities:
- Place a container of water into the freezer, look at it 24 hours later and discuss what has happened to it. Leave the water out of the freezer and observe it to see what happens next;
- Take the temperature of the outside air, compare it with the temperature inside;
- Discuss kitchen utensils, what they are made from and why
- Take a look at the bbc website on Keeping Warm: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/materials/keeping_warm/read1.shtml
- Discuss the words in the glossary below with your child.
Science Glossary
body temperature of human – about 37 C (thirty seven degrees Celsius).
degree – unit of temperature
double glazing – two window panes with an insulating layer of air trapped between them.
room temperature – the temperature of a room. Hot and cold things left in a room will reach room temperature.
sensor – measures temperature, connected to a computer through an interface.
thermal conductor – material through which heat travels quickly.
thermal insulator - material through which heat travels slowly.
thermometer – instrument for measuring temperature
wall cavity – space between the inner and outer walls of a house

GEOGRAPHY:
In the first half-term, we are learning about ‘A Village In Northern Ghana’, focussing on life in Yameriga. The children study the geography of Ghana, its climate, location and history, as well as gaining an impression of what life is like in a rural community. Contrasting this with life in the capital city, Accra, enables the children to appreciate some of the diversity within Ghana. Guest speakers and contact with our sister-school in Yameriga, as well as studying African music and dance in our dance classes bring this unit to life.
Useful vocabulary:
Diversity, culture, temperature, rainfall, country, continent, population, less economically developed, savannah, tropical forest, language, climate, slavery, colony.
In the second half-term, we are learning about the topic ‘Improving the Environment’. The children will use the school building and grounds to investigate environmental issues and improvements. The children will become actively involved in improving the local environment, addressing aspects of citizenship and sustainability through geography.
Useful vocabulary:
Reduce, reuse, recycle, waste, plans, planning, landfill, rubbish, weighing, environmental quality, air pollution, compost, litter, conserve, sustain, urban and rural.
 

PSHE:
We will be continuing the SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) programme, which we have found very successful. Our topic in the first half term is Going For Goals – setting targets for ourselves, and trying to achieve them. In the second half term our topic will be - Good to be me.
Other subjects:
In Design and Technology, we will be researching, designing and making covers for MP3 players, including making a raw material: felt.
In Art, we are looking at how journeys and landscapes are symbolised in Aboriginal art. Our own work will explore symbolism and texture
ICT work will use Apple Mac computers, pcs and net books to enhance work across the curriculum, researching and publishing work. We will be using data-logging equipment to support the children's work in science and geography and will be learning data handling skills using Excel.
In RE we will be looking at Sikhism. The children will learn about the origins of Sikhism, Sikh beliefs and practices and Sikh sacred texts.
The children continue to have a weekly Music lesson with Mr Morris plus a violin lesson, a weekly PE lesson with Morris and a weekly Dance lesson with Ms Robbins.
Children will also continue to learn French. You might want to discuss new vocabulary they are learning in their weekly lessons.

Appendix 1: High Frequency Spelling Words