Year 4 - John Clifford School

Welcome to Year 4

Miss Padhiar - Clover Class
Mrs Colt - Heather Class
Miss Helme - Year 4 Teaching Assistant

Spring 1 - 2025

Welcome back, we hope that you have all had a good break and are ready for an exciting first half of Spring Term. We have lots of engaging learning planned for the weeks to come and are sure that the children will be just as excited as we are to start our new topic on Volcanoes and Earthquakes. This half term, our topic question is:

"Volcanoes: Why did Pompeii’s sky darken?"

Volcanoes and Earthquakes

We will be using our geographical skills to locate volcanoes using atlases, learn about their structure and the causes and effects of volcanoes and earthquakes. We will learn about the role of tectonic plates and how they are a key element in the cause of earthquakes, as well as studying volcanic eruptions, including that of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii and what happened to Pompeii.

In English, children will be writing a diary entry as a child living in Pompeii at the time of Mount Vesuvius's eruption. We will then move on to writing a narrative, focusing on setting description. Maths will continue to focus on multiplication and division, before moving on to measurement, area and perimeter. We will continue to work on consolidating our knowledge of times tables in preparation for the end of year multiplication check.

Our science work will focus on Sates of Matter: we will consider the properties of solids, liquids and gases; compare and group materials and research, observe and measure changes in states of matter. We will also consider the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle.

Our class texts this half term are:

‘Escape from Pompeii' by Christina Balit and The Secret Explorers and the Smoking Volcano' by S.J. King.

English WAGOLLS S1

To introduce the Spring term, we will be learning about:

Maths - Multiplication and Division; Measurement, Area and Perimeter
Science - States of Matter
Computing - Image Editing
Geography - Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Art - Story-telling through drawing
Spanish  - My Town
PSHE  - Living in the Wider World
PE - Handball and Tag Rugby
RE - Hindu Worship at Home and in the Mandir
Music - The Doot Doot Song

Key Dates

Please note the following dates for your diary:

Monday 6th January - Return to School

Tuesday 7th January - TTRS Battle Y4 vs. Florence Nightingale School

Thursday 16th and 17th January - Y4 Bikeability

Monday 17th February - Friday 21st February - Half Term Break

Monday 24th February - Return to School

Knowledge Organisers

Below you can find our knowledge organisers for our subjects this half term. These can be used to quiz at home about topics or to revise key concepts.

PE & Outdoor Learning

In the Spring term, PE takes place on TUESDAYS (alternate weeks) and WEDNESDAYS (every week). Outdoor Learning takes place on TUESDAYS (alternate weeks). See below for details.

PE kits consist of PLAIN black shorts or jogging bottoms, PLAIN white t-shirt, and trainers. Please pack an extra warm top for outdoor PE lessons.

W/C:	06.01.25	13.01.25	20.01.25	27.01.25	03.02.25	10.02.25
Clover	Tues - PE	Tues - OL	Tues - PE	Tues - OL	Tues - PE	Tues - OL
	Weds - PE	Weds - PE	Weds - PE	Weds - PE	Weds - PE	Weds - PE
Heather	Tues - OL	Tues - PE	Tues - OL	Tues - PE	Tues - OL	Tues - PE
	Weds - PE	Weds - PE	Weds - PE	Weds - PE	Weds - PE	Weds - PE

Outdoor Learning is on alternate Tuesdays.

Outdoor Learning kits consist of:

Warm clothing
Black jogging bottoms or leggings
John Clifford jumper, cardigan or warm plain jumper
Waterproof coat, trousers or all in one
Extra layers
Warm socks
Hat, scarf, gloves
Wellies or old trainers (brought to school in a named bag)

Please ensure that all kit is clearly named and in a bag which can be hung on your child’s peg on the day. Please could we ask that outdoor learning kits are not left in school. Children have the opportunity to build dens, explore the mud kitchen, look after our animals and can get messy. Please send in clothes that you do not mind getting messy or wet.

Homework in Year 4

Homework Books:

Continuing from last term, each week we will ask the children to complete one section from each homework book (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling homework book and Maths homework book) as practise for the work we are doing in class. Homework is due in on Wednesday for marking and new homework will be assigned on Friday, due back the following Wednesday. We would ask for your support with this new initiative. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.

Reading:

Each week, we ask that all children read with somebody at home at least three times a week. This could be any adult or an older sibling or friend. Please sign their diary and add a comment. Every little bit of reading really does help children with their learning and enjoyment.

Spelling:

We also ask that children practise their weekly spellings which can be found inside the Communication Diary. We conduct a spelling quiz each week as part of a dictation lesson and children are encouraged to use the words in their writing each week.

Times Tables:

A vital aspect of Maths is that the children have a secure recall of times tables up to 12x12, so we ask that they spend some time each week on TT Rockstars practising these. Log in details can be found in your child's Communication Diary. PLEASE note the Year 4 Multiplication Check takes place in the Summer Term.


Year 4 Multiplication Check Information for Parents
Clover Class Passport
Heather Class Passport
Year 4 Curriculum Meeting Presentation