For our DT unit, the children had to design and make a biscuit with packaging for someone who has previously taught them in school. They learnt a lot of different skills linked to baking and design.
Category: Y4
This is our Year 4 related news. You can find this along with more Year 4 related information on the Year 4 page.
Art – Andy Warhol
In Art, we have been learning about Andy Warhol. Here we are practising the blotting technique to create various images just like Warhol would have done.
Geography – the Americas
In Geography, we have been learning about the Americas. We used google earth to locate various place in the Americas and found out about where it is located compared to other places.
Outdoor Education unit
In our Outdoor Education unit, we have been practising our orienteering skills. We used maps of the school to find different markers to solve clues.
Outdoor Adventure Activities
In PE, Year 4 have been doing Outdoor Adventure activities. Part of this is to work together. Here we have been making letters together. Can you guess what letter we are making?
Y4 Treetops
Year 4 enjoyed their trip out to the Tree Top nets in Heaton Park on Wednesday. They bounced and climbed ’til they dropped and then some. They were an absolute pleasure to take for a day out and were a real credit to the school and parents – I was so proud of them. What a lovely end of year experience!
Virtual Author
Year 4 and Year 6 enjoyed a virtual author visit with Robin Scott-Elliot as part of Tameside’s Ready Steady Read festival. The children enjoyed listening to what inspired Robin to become an author and found out about his latest release – Hide and Seek. They were even treated to an exclusive cover reveal of his future book – Sweet Skies. It was great to see the children so engaged in the session.
Preparation for our Celebration of Writing in 4P
4P have peer revising and editing their writing before they share their journey stories with F2 this week as part of their celebration of writing. The children ensured they followed our writing success criteria and made changes to their writing to make it entertaining for others.
Y4 Prayer and Liturgy
This week 4P had their class liturgical prayer. They explained ‘The Feast of Presentation’ to the school community. The children read from the gospel of Luke and discussed the importance of how Simeon and Anna recognised how special baby Jesus was when he entered the temple. The children shared their ideas and ways we can find something special in each and every one of us.
Y4 Christmas
Wow! We can’t believe it is the end of Autumn term! It has been such a fun week full of Christmas cheer with children sharing their understanding of Advent and taking the crib home to share with their families, delivering Christmas cards to our local community and enjoying our class party on Thursday. We also completed our Christmas stockings and these have gone home and we hope you enjoy hearing about how they made these and what thought they put into their designs.
Y4 Advent
This week the children have been engaged in learning about Advent. They have been excited to open the CAFOD Advent Calendar each day to read the associated scripture and to discuss what this means to them and what they can do. Children have begun taking home a crib to share with their families and to record their shared experiences. We have also been reading Christmas stories and tales to learn about the different Christmas traditions and their origins.
Y4 Christmas Jumper Day
Year 4 – Christmas stockings.
This week has been an exciting week for 4P as we get closer to making our Christmas stockings as part of our Design and Technology unit of work. The children have researched the tradition behind Christmas stockings and made links from this to their own Christmas traditions. They have explored different designs for Christmas stockings and analysed these before coming up with their own design. Next week, we will begin to practise sewing and how to thread a needle before making our own Christmas stocking in the last week.
Y4 – Americas
This term, we are learning about the Americas as part of our Geography curriculum. The children have used Google Earth and atlases to locate North and South America and to describe its location. They have had to identify the equator as well as using compass points to do this. We have begun exploring some of the countries in South America and their capital cities as well as find out key information to complete a fact file on their chosen country. This led to a discussion on what information was important such as population, geographical features and important buildings and monuments. Next, we will be focusing on North America and answering some of the questions they have about North America.
Y4 History Trip the GMP Museum
Year 4 enjoyed a trip to the GMP Museum on Friday, where they were able to extend their learning of crime and punishment, which is the topic that they are focussing on in History. At the museum, through looking at historical documents and photographs, we were introduced to Owen, a real Victorian thief and followed him through the charge office, cells and courtroom on a justice journey. We learnt about what would have happened in a Victorian Police Station, how it might have felt to spend a night in a cell, and finally followed the case to court, working together to decide on the sentence. We also discovered more about Victorian policing and investigated the life of the ‘Peeler’. The children had great fun trying on different uniforms and handling different artefacts that would have been used by police officers! As a class we were then judged by the museum staff on whether we would be good enough to join the Victorian police force.
Y4 History – Crime and Punishment
In History, Year 4 have continued to look at crime and punishment. In class this week we learnt all about what this looked like during the Tudor period. The children found out lots about common crimes that were committed during this time and enjoyed learning about some of the gruesome punishments that criminals received! They then compared this to their knowledge of Victorian crime and punishment and as a class we debated over which period we thought crime and punishment was most just.
Y4: Science – The Wonderful World of Bees
This week in Science, Year 4 have been learning all about bees and how important they are to our world. We have learnt about the different types of bees that there are, how they help to pollinate flowers and crops and how they make honey. We have even had a chance to taste some local honey! The children then researched some more into how bees help us and how we can help bees. Once they had gathered all their information and research, the children made a fact file all about bees to consolidate their learning.
Class Dojo – Years 2,3 and 4
This week Class Dojo has been rolled out to parents and children in years 2, 3 and 4. Year 5 have been trialing the app for the past week and it has proved extremely successful. It is an excellent tool for communicating between school and home. Teachers are able to answer questions and queries relating to home learning and children can also upload their work to their own portfolio so teachers can have a look and provide feedback.
All parents in years 2,3,4 and 5 should have now received an invitation to join Class Dojo and have also received a QR code so the children are able to set up their personal portfolios. Follow the instructions, download the app and you are ready to go. If you haven’t received your invitation or QR code please contact the school office.
Mixing colours and magical maths
Olly and Faith have both been hard at work at home. Olly has been keeping up with his maths whilst Faith has been mixing colours in her artwork.
Hard at work
Carragan has been hard at work keeping up with her school work. Well done.
VE day poem
Year 4 have put together a wonderful video to celebrate VE day last Friday. The children performed the poem VE Day by Angel Barrow. It was beautifully read and put together and was an excellent tribute. Well done to all involved. All the staff at school are very impressed with your efforts and are very proud of you all.
Brilliant Home Learning
Isabella and Jasmine continue to be busy keeping up with their home learning. Isabella has produced a fantastic report all about St. George, whilst Jasmine has been finding out where our food comes from. Well done girls and keep up the hard work.
Plants, seeds and St. George
More brilliant examples of home-learning from the children of St. Mary’s who are getting thoroughly involved with the work set on the school website. From planting and observing seeds, looking at the differences between leaves and also finding out about our patron saint to celebrate St. George’s day. Fantastic work by all of you. Keep it up and keep the pictures coming in.
Home Learning
Home learning for all year groups is now available on the class pages. Some of the work may need downloaded to look at but the majority should be able to be completed within the children’s home learning books.
For maths there are also links to both the Power Maths scheme of work which we follow in school and has been adapted for use at home and also the White Rose Hub which is very similar, easy to use and navigate.
Please continue to use Times Tables Rockstars (we can see who has been using it regularly) and reading on a daily basis.
Finally, don’t forget to keep fit and active with PE with Joe Wicks each morning.
Advent in Year 4
During Advent, Year 4 have thinking about how to prepare and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Our class collective worships have been based around this and we have been counting down using the CAFOD calendar., thinking about how we can help others and be less selfish. In our RE work, we wrote instructions for the Year 3 children, explaining how to prepare properly. Each child has also had a turn at writing a prayer at home with our travelling crib and created Christmas cards to deliver to the locate community, spreading joy at this important time of the new liturgical year.
KS2 House Book Quiz
Our 4 houses at St. Mary’s battled it out to become the Book Quiz champions yesterday afternoon. It was excellent to see the pupils’ fantastic knowledge of books, characters, titles and authors so a big well done to everyone who took part. The competition was very close and in the end, all came down to a tie-breaker question between 2 of the teams. With their brilliant book knowledge and great teamwork skills, Arrowsmith pipped Ward at the post and became this year’s winners. Congratulations Arrowsmith!
Year 4: Learning about living things
This term Year 4 are learning about living things. With millions of different plant and animal species in the world, we have starting learning how to sort according to a range of criteria and ask appropriate questions to create classification keys. This week we began building our skills by classifying biscuits and thinking carefully about the question we ask.
Year 4 Stay and Learn
Year 4 had a great morning showing their parents how their maths skills have developed through the mastery programme that we use in school. Using comparative bar models, the children demonstrated how to solve some tricky problems and reason to support an answer given. It was a great turn out and we thank all parents who came along- and were brave enough to join in!
Year 4 learning how to cook and make Roman bread
Year 4 had a fantastic time learning how to make and cook Roman bread- and an even better time tasting their final products with traditional Roman ingredients.
After researching the types of foods that Celts already ate in England and founding out what the Romans introduced, they learnt how bread was made and how the actual process hasn’t changed too much over the years. They then used their maths skills to follow a chosen recipe, kneaded, proved and baked their bread before evaluating how it turned out. I think they did a great job!
Year 4 Gymnastics
This week in gymnastics, Year 4 have been practising different types of rolls: egg, pencil, teddy, forwards and shoulder. They supported and evaluated each others’ performance to improve their posture and each specific skill needed to develop. Next week, they will be working on sequencing a series of rolls and balances.
Year 4 Collective Worship
On Thursday, Year 4 led us in a very reflective collective worship which focused on God’s chosen people in the old testament. They took us through some of the stories in Genesis and Exodus, looking at the key figures Abraham and Moses. With their acting and singing, they also asked the school to think about how the stories can help us today by placing our trust in God. Have a listen to their song: all though history!
Roman Workshop
On Monday, Year 4 were extremely lucky to have a Roman soldier visit their class to tell them all about what life was like over 2000 years ago. With a classroom full of artefacts and many thrilling tales, the soldier had them enthralled by describing what the Romans were actually like and how they invaded and took control of over 30 countries. They learnt how the Roman empire was formed, about different types of soldiers, the jobs they did and what armour they would have worn. They had a fantastic time!
Year 4 Roman Day
Year 4 Trip to Standedge Tunnel
On Wednesday, the children enjoyed a trip to Standedge Tunnel. They learnt about the different features of a river, and constructed their own river model. The children also learnt about how canals were made and made their own canal models. Lastly, they really enjoyed a boat trip through Standedge tunnel which is the highest, longest and deepest tunnel in Britain.
Year 4 Standedge Canal Trip Letter
Year 4 Collective Worship
Year 4 lead the school collective worship on Thursday. They shared their knowledge of Jesus’s early life and explained the importance of belonging to a family. The children also reflected on what it means to be part of a church family.
Year 4 Collective Worship
Year 4 retold the story of the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the beginning of the Early Church. They reminded us of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly courage and led a reflection on times when they might ask the Holy Spirit for courage too
Year 4 Trip to Bramall Hall
Year 4 went back in time to Tudor Britain when they visited Bramall Hall. The children wore traditional Tudor clothes, they enjoyed playing Tudor games, Tudor dancing and making Tudor nosegays. 
Year 4 – Roman Day
As part of the Year 4 Roman Topic the children were visited by a Roman Soldier who told them all about what it was like to be in the Roman Army.
National Poetry Day 2017
St. Mary’s ended National Poetry day with each class performing a recital of a famous poem. The poems ranged from, ‘The Ning Nang Nong’ by Spike Milligan to ‘Macavity – The Mystery Cat’ by T.S. Elliot. Enjoy our videos below.
Tudor Day – Bramall Hall
Before the half term holiday, Year 4 enjoyed an exciting trip to Bramall Hall where they became Tudors for the day. Dressed in Tudor costumes they took part in many different activities which helped them understand how the Tudors lived. These included: making a nose gay, playing Tudor games, dancing and learning about the musical instruments of the time. All the children entered into the spirit of the day by replacing their usual lunch with bread, cheese, ham and water. Not a packet of crisps or chocolate bar in sight.
Science Week – Year 4
During Science Week, Year 4 have been learning how shadows are formed. By drawing around the shadow of one of the children at different times during the morning, we could see how the position and size of the shadow had changed. We are learning that this due to the fact that as the earth rotates the sun appears to change position in the sky.
Year 4 – Fun in Science
Year 4 had fun in their final science lesson, making circuits to light up Rudolph’s nose.
Year 4 – Alien Models and Roman Day
Year 4 put their trust in each other and God
During R.E. Year 4 have been thinking about how they put their in God and in turn how we can put our trust in each other. They performed a little experiment to see if they could trust their fellow class mates. Thankfully, everyone in Year 4 is very trustworthy and no-one was hurt.
