Why did the Romans invade Britain?

Literacy

We will begin the term by looking at diary entries based on our class book of Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit.  Then, we will look at play-scripts, discussing the main features that are used, before writing our own short play-script.  Our grammar work will focus particularly on the use of paragraphs, apostrophes for plural possession, adverbs, fronted adverbials and trickier conjunctions. Daily reading will take place and there will be regular handwriting, phonics and spelling ‘zappers’ work, with spelling assessments taking place on a Thursday.  Our weekly spellings will focus on words containing the ‘-ssion’, ‘’inter-‘ and ‘ous’ patterns. A new half-termly, Year 4 statutory word list will be sent home in week 1, to be tested in week 5.    Please encourage your child to regularly work on daily reading and spellings at home.

Numeracy

We will start the half term by consolidating our knowledge of fractions and decimals.  We will then focus on money and time. Throughout the half term, we will be continue to reinforce the four written calculation methods and applying them to a range of problems and reasoning tasks. There will be continued daily work on times tables in preparation for the Year 4 Multiplication Times-Tables Check in June and the mental maths ‘SMIRF’ facts, with weekly SMIRFs assessments on a Tuesday. Please encourage your child to regularly work on these at home, as it will greatly support their maths work in class.

Science

This half term, our topic is ‘Animals including humans’, where we will be looking at the different types of teeth  we have, how they are used and how we can take care of them.

History

We will start off by placing the Iron Age, Celts and Roman periods of history on a chronological timeline.  We will identify reasons why Romans invaded Britain and where they settled, before looking at what life was like in Roman times, drawing comparisons throughout,  with life in Britain today. We will visit the Craven Museum to take part in a Roman workshop and examine Roman artefacts.  We will also look at key characters from these periods of history, such as Queen Boudicca and Julius Caesar.  A mini Roman’s project will be set to make a board game.

Geography

This will be covered next half term, although we will look at some maps from Roman times and Roman settlements.

Computing

We will explores the concept of repetition in programming using Scratch and look at the difference between count-controlled and infinite loops.  We will then use this knowledge to modify existing animations and games using repetition, leading to creating a game of our own.

DT

Linking to our history and Maths topics, we will be looking at money containers to plan and make a Roman drawstring purse.  This will develop our design and drawing techniques.  We will then study Roman mosaic designs to decorate onto our fabric.

Art/Design

This was focused on last half term.

PE

This half term, we will be developing tennis and athletics skills.

RE

Our focus will be on ‘What is the Trinity?’ where we will be looking at the Gospels and making links between some of the texts and teachings about God in the Bible and what people believe about God in the world today,

French

Our topic is ‘Je Suis Le Musicien’, where we will learn the French names for some common instruments.  We will be able to say which instruments we play, which ones we do or do not like and give our opinion on a musical performance. We will sing a musical instrument themed song and together we will use the language and rhythm to write and perform a rap.

Music

Our main focus will be the pentatonic scale and ostinatos.  We will experience a range of pieces that are based on the pentatonic scale, with opportunities for improvisation and composing using classroom percussion instruments. Then we will compose ostinatos to accompany one of the first films ever made - ‘The Horse’ from 1878.

PSHE

This half term, our focus will be on ‘Becoming an Active Citizen, where we will look at both school and British values, knowing why they are important and recognising what they mean in society.  We will also demonstrate respect and tolerance (both on and offline) towards people who are different from ourselves, and their points of view.