Welcome to Buffaloes Class Page

Year 4

We are the brilliant Buffaloes and we are a Year 4 class. Our teacher is Mr Illsley and the teaching assistants who are in our class are Miss Watson and Mrs Cowan. 

In the Summer Term, our learning will explore the question:

What did the Romans leave behind?

Writing

Our English work this term will be based around our History led topic of The Romans. We will be looking at Roman myths and creating our own mythical beasts. From these, we will a character description, a non-chronological report and our own myth. We will continue to have a strong focus on handwriting, spelling, grammar and punctuation throughout the term. Spellings will be on EdShed and the children will have weekly spelling lessons and tests. 

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar.
 

In our Grammar learning this term, we will continue to use ‘Rainbow Grammar’ to help us construct effective simple, compound and complex sentences.  We will be revisiting how to use apostrophes for possession and contractions as well using speech punctuation.

Reading

In the first half term, we will be reading Romans on the Rampage and doing lots of work around this text. We will be making predictions, answering a range of comprehension questions, skimming and scanning, finding key information and summarising the text. In the second half term, we will be reading a range of non-fiction texts. We will be using layout features, finding word meanings, comparing fiction and non-fiction as well as answering a range of comprehension questions and using our skills to read texts. As usual, the children will have access to Bug Club to support their learning.

Our class book that we will read for pleasure will be 'The Boy at the Back of the Class' by Onjali Q Rauf.

Maths

We will begin the term by continuing our work on decimals and understanding their place value. We will also be learning about different measures including time and money. The second half term will be spent learning about shapes including angles as well as, position and direction where we will be using co-ordinates and translation. We will also look at statistics this term. As usual, we will be doing lots of work on our times tables up to 12 x 12. 

Science

In Science, we will be learning about food chains and food webs within habitats as well as learning about the different animal classes. We will also be revisiting our topic of 'Where does the food go?' to look specifically at what different animals eat. In the second half term, we will be looking at human impact on the environment.

RSHE/SRE

In RSHE, we will be exploring the topic ‘Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds' where we will look at making sensible choices and peer pressure. We will also be exploring 'Coping with Change' where will begin to look at puberty and some of the changes that happen to our bodies during this time. In both half terms, we will complete lessons on e-safety and anti-bullying.

History

Our thought-provoking topic question this term will enable us to learn all about the impact The Romans had on Britain and their influences, many of which are still around today. This topic continues from the children's work in Year 3 where they learnt about The Stone Age through to The Iron Age. During our work on The Romans we will be learning about how the Roman Empire expanded to Britain and how it changed over time. We will also be looking at Boudicca and the influences the Romans had as well as religion at the time. Finally, we will end our topic by looking at why the Roman Empire came to an end. As part of work, we will be visiting Mansfield Museum for a workshop to support our learning.

Geography

As part of our work on The Romans, we will be using maps, atlases and digital mapping to look at Rome today. We will also be looking at maps of the Roman Empire and how it changed over time. Towards the end of our topic, we will be comparing Rome, Mansfield and The Amazon Rainforest (which we learnt about in the Spring term) using atlases and globes.

Art / DT

 In our Art lessons, we will be learning about the Ancient Roman art style of mosaics. We will be looking at designs and patterns before creating our own. Our DT work this term is textiles. We will be designing and making our own Roman purse.

Computing

Our computing work will, as always, involve work around E-Safety and knowing how to stay safe online. Our main focus will be ‘Creating Media' where will be learning how to record and edit sound and audio to create our own podcast.

RE

As part of our RE learning this term, we will be studying two topics. The first is 'Religion, Family, Community, Worship, Celebration, Ways of Life'. The second half term's topic is 'Symbols and Religious Ideas'.

Music

Our music themes are 'Blackbird' and 'Reflect, Rewind and Replay' 

In ‘Blackbird’ we will focus on the song of the same name by The Beatles. In 'Reflect, Rewind and Replay'  we will consolidate all the music we have learnt over the past few terms.

PE

In Buffaloes class, our PE days in the Summer Term will be a Tuesday and Wednesday. We will be working with the coach Mr Saleh and also Express Coaching in our lessons.

Homework

There will be two pieces of homework a week, which will be given on a Friday and will be uploaded on Seesaw. Spellings will also be given on a Friday and these will be available on EdShed. Weekly spelling tests will take place every Friday.

Like always, children in Buffaloes need to read at home at least three times a week. Colourband books and red reading records need to be in school every day.

For non-urgent enquiries my email address is tillsley@crescent.notts.sch.uk