Marvellous Maples Teacher: Mrs Kerry and Miss Cooke
Teaching Assistant: Miss Allison and Ms Dinsdale
Jolly Junipers Teacher: Miss O’Connor
Teaching Assistants: Miss Labuschagne
Our classrooms are well organised to promote the children’s independence and to ensure the best from all of our children. Both classrooms have working walls for English and Maths to aid the children with their work. We also have Topic boards where we proudly display the children’s work and photographs of their learning.
Every class has one school councillor that represent their class at school council meetings. They will share ideas their class have, make decisions and action change driven by the children. They will then feedback these improvements to the rest of their class.
Our Eco Councillor will work with the class to make sustainable choices within the classroom. They will remind children in class how to use the correct bins, ensuring recyclable items are placed within the recycling. They will remind others about turning lights off when leaving the classroom empty to ensure we are not using energy we don’t need.
Throughout this topic, we will learn about prehistoric time periods: Stone Age, Iron Age and Bronze Age. We will explore primary and secondary sources to understand what life was like within that time period. We will also have an Stone Age to Bronze Age workshop to explore various artifacts, understand the role of an archeologist and live life like in the past. In Science lessons, we will be understanding light and sound. In our Light topic, we will investigate how shadows are formed and how light travels. For Sound, we will explore parts of the ear and how we hear sound. In addition, we will investigate how sound travels. During RE lessons we will learn about what it is like to be a Christian in Britain today.
Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura
In History we will be learning about the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain. This will include learning about resistance to Roman rule and Boudicca’s revolt. In Art, we will be further improving our sketching skills, creating our own pictures of Roman emperors. We are really looking forward to our Design and Technology unit which is about food and nutrition. We will be investigating, designing and making focaccia bread. Our computing unit is all about technology in our lives. We will be continuing to investigate Latin, learning about verbs, word order and questions.
Beowulf, a prince, hears of the Danes’ suffering and gains permission from his king to sail to their assistance. Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot waiting for the inevitable attack. When Grendel breaks in Beowulf seizes the monster by the arm and will not let it go. Beowulf eventually manages to rip off the arm of Grendal and defeats him becoming the hero of Denmark.
To start our English sessions this half term we were given a selection of pictures of items that we could have found on our travels. We looked at these pictures in groups and we thought about where they might have come from and what they could have been used for.
In this full term unit, we will learn all about the city we live in. We will be conducting a local History study which will focus on the railways and the impact they had on Derby and Great Britain. Our Science unit will be all about plants, including their parts and how they grow. In Geography we will be developing our map skills and doing some field work, surveying traffic in different locations. In Art, we will be learning about architecture and improving our skills in printing by learning to monoprint. We will be continuing our learning in Latin, finding out about adjectives and using the main verb at the end of sentences.
Iron Man- Ted Hughes
We read and learnt this warning tale and then rewrote our own version of it, including key features of the genre.
We were given a range of random objects and in groups we had to think about possible things that we could do with them (apart from what they are actually used for). We then worked together to create an advert that would persuade someone to buy them.
This half term we had a special visitor from Robot Fun, he brought in several different robots and we got to see how they moved and what they could do. We then got to play with a robot called ‘Indi’ which looked a little bit like a car. We were able to programme it to move around using coloured cards, each card made the robot do something different. It was great fun making it move in different ways.
During this half term, we will be comparing human and physical features in Geography. We will be looking at similarities and differences between places including Derbyshire, The Amalfi Coast and the Amazon Rainforest. We are especially looking forward to our fieldwork in the Peak District. In Science we will be learning about living things and their habitats. Our computing unit is focused on multi-media, creating stop-motion animations. We will be continuing our learning in Latin.
Focus text
Matale comes to supper
This is a tale about a boy who is greedy and selfish but with the help of his Grandmother he begins to think about his behaviour.
We are going to listen to the story of the Hare and the Tortoise. We will think about the moral of the story and then attempt to write our own story with a moral.
To start off our topic on Stone Age to Iron Age we have taken part in a special workshop. During the experience we took on the role of Archaeologists and created a class Museum. We learnt about early pottery and made our own pot to take home. We also had the opportunity to learn about weaving, making bread and making string from plants.
In our History lessons, we will be learning about Ancient Greece. We will be looking at the ancient Greek city states and the impact Greece has on our lives even today. In Art, we will be designing and making a 3D box in clay. Our learning in Design and Technology will be all about levers, linkages and moving parts.
Fred, Con, Lila and little Max’s plane is on the way to Manaus when it falls out of the sky. Now, lost in the Amazon rainforest, they must figure out the basics of survival: water, shelter, food. Do they wait for rescue, or find a way to rescue themselves?
We watched ‘Adrift’…
Click the link and see what you think!
https://www.literacyshed.com/adrift.html
How important is dialogue in our writing?
We will visit Padley Gorge and look at human and physical features.
Home learning will help children to practice skills and consolidate knowledge learnt at school. Children will have a Topic Home Learning Grid where they can choose activities to complete throughout the half term. You can share pictures of these on Class Dojo.
For Marvellous Maples and Jolly Junipers, weekly home learning for English and Maths will be given to the children on Friday and must be returned to school by the following Thursday.
Home learning club is available at lunch time if your child wishes to attend or requires extra support to complete their home learning.
If children are struggling or you are unsure how to support your child, please message Mrs Kerry, Miss Cooke or Miss O’Connor on Class Dojo.
Please ensure your child comes to school with their PE kit in a bag. Children should have hair tied back if it is long enough. To keep children safe, make sure your child is not wearing any jewellery on PE days.
Here are some useful websites that you might want to visit to support your child’s learning.
Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October – Enrichment Through Archaeology workshop.
European Day of Languages: 26th September
Black History Month: October
Parents Afternoon – Tuesday 5th and Thursday 7th November.
Tuesday 10th December – Past Presents workshop for The Romans.
Anti-bullying week: W/C 11th – 15th November
Inter-faith week: W/C 10th – 27th November
Children in need: 15th November
Geography Field Work: Friar Gate and Uttoxeter Road
Safer Internet Day: 11th February
World Book Day: 6th March
British Science Week: 7th – 16th March
Comic Relief: 15th March
Tuesday 29th April – VR experience exploring rainforests.
Field Trip: Peak District
Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th July 2025 – Past productions for Ancient Greece.
Year 4 Multiplication Check: Administered during the two week period from 2nd June
Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month: June
Firs Primary School
Raven Street
Derby
DE22 3WA
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