Welcome to 4B's web page! Here you can see some of our fantastic work and learning.
On World Children’s Day, we celebrated how important children’s rights are. We talked about how lucky we are that our rights are protected, but also learned that many children around the world do not have the same safety or support.
We took part in activities to learn about international aid, which means countries helping other people around the world when they are in need. Each student wrote a postcard to the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, explaining why it is important to stand up for children’s rights and why helping other countries matters.
Our work links to two UNICEF rights:
These ideas also connect to Catholic Social Teaching, which encourages us to look after people who need help and to work for the good of everyone.
Through these activities, we hope to help others understand these issues and to inspire action so that all children can have a fair and happy life.
In our recent art lessons, we learned about light and how it affects what we draw, including ideas like shape, tone, tints, and shades. We practiced these by creating a still life artwork, which helped us improve our drawing skills and be more creative. These activities also connect to UNICEF’s Right to Education, which says every child should have the chance to learn and try new things. We could also share our ideas through our artwork, which links to the Right to Participate.
Creating art like this also shows the Catholic value of respecting the dignity of every person. By encouraging everyone to express themselves, we celebrate each student’s unique ideas and help make our classroom a friendly and welcoming place.
In our school, we have been learning Spanish. We have been practising simple classroom instructions in Spanish and then using them to help program a little robot. This has been a fun way to use a new language while also learning how to think carefully and solve problems.
Learning a language when we are young is important because it helps us communicate with people from other places and understand different cultures. This links to two UNICEF rights:
These rights remind us that children should be given the skills they need to learn, take part, and make a difference. This idea also connects to Catholic Social Teaching, which encourages us to respect each person and work for the good of everyone.
By learning Spanish we are helping our students become confident, caring global citizens who can use their skills to help the world.
In geography, we have been learning about spatial sense, which means understanding where places are in the world. We have looked at the equator and the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and we have practised using maps and reading scales to help us understand distance.
We also studied our local area and how it has changed over time. This helps us learn about our community and understand the history of the place we live in.
Our learning links to two UNICEF rights:
These ideas also connect to Catholic Social Teaching, which teaches us to look after the world and work for the good of everyone.
By learning these skills, we are becoming thoughtful and responsible citizens who understand both our own community and the wider world.
In Design and Technology, we have been working on a fun project where we designed and made our own slingshot cars. We learned about a famous car designer, Sir William Lyons, who helped create Jaguar and Land Rover. This inspired us to think like real engineers.
First, we built the chassis (the main frame) and the axles for our cars. Then we decorated the sides and wheels to make them unique. With help from Ms Clarke, we used glue guns carefully to make sure our cars were strong and well built.
Our project links to two UNICEF rights:
It also connects to Catholic Social Teaching, which teaches us to value our work and use our skills to help and work well with others.
Through this project, we learned to be creative, work as a team, and think like designers and engineers.
In our Religious Education lessons, we have been learning about Jesus as the Light of the World. This means that Jesus brings hope, love, and guidance to everyone, especially when times feel difficult. We also learned about important moments in Jesus’ life, like his baptism, which began his special work of teaching and helping others. Baptism is also a reminder that we are all part of God's Family and that we should care for and support one another.
Our learning also links to UNICEF’s rights for children, especially the right to learn and the importance of having a supportive community. These ideas connect with Catholic Social Teaching, which teaches us that every person is special and that we should help make the world fair and kind for everyone.
Through these lessons, we are learning how to live with kindness, respect, and faith.
In our school, during Whole Class Reading, we learn about important topics that help us understand the world. This term, we have been reading and talking about Black History Month, Armistice Day, and Mental Health Awareness. These topics help us think more deeply about what we read and why authors choose certain words or ideas.
Our reading work links to UNICEF’s rights for children, especially Article 29, which says that education should help every child use their talents and grow in confidence. It also links to Article 31, which says children should have the chance to enjoy stories, culture, and activities that help them feel part of a community.
These ideas connect with Catholic Social Teaching, which reminds us that every person is important and that we should care for one another.
Through this learning, we are becoming thoughtful, understanding, and caring readers and citizens.
At our school, we are committed to fostering a genuine love for reading among our students. To promote reading for pleasure, children are encouraged to bring in books of their choice from home, which we utilise to create a vibrant “reading river.” This initiative not only facilitates engaging discussions about various texts but also allows students to share their literary preferences with peers. Furthermore, we actively participate in reading sessions with other year groups, thereby nurturing a community of readers.
In addition, we have developed individual reading identities to highlight each child’s interests, enabling our teachers to provide tailored book recommendations. Reading for pleasure is crucial, particularly for vocabulary development, as it exposes children to diverse language structures and enriches their comprehension skills. This initiative aligns with UNICEF’s articles on the right to education and the importance of play in learning, emphasising the holistic development of children. Additionally, it reflects Catholic social teachings by promoting the dignity of each child and the value of community engagement in nurturing young minds.
In Year 4, we have been learning a lot about multiplication and division and why they are important in everyday life. These skills help us with things like working out money, following recipes when cooking, and solving different kinds of problems.
We have been practising tricky word problems that make us think carefully and explain our answers. We are also getting ready for the multiplication check, so we are working hard to learn our times tables confidently. To make learning more fun, we have been using Times Table Rockstars, where many children have done brilliantly and won trophies for their hard work.
Our learning links to UNICEF’s rights for children, including the right to a good education and a safe, supportive place to learn. It also connects with Catholic Social Teaching, which reminds us that every child should be helped to use their talents and become the best they can be.
Through this work, we are growing as confident, determined learners.
In our second Talk for Writing unit, the students learned how to write persuasive letters in a fun and creative way. We began with an exciting scenario where our classroom chairs went on strike! The children had to write letters to convince the chairs to come back. This imaginative start helped everyone get ready to read and understand our model text, based on the book I Wanna Iguana.
The students took part in lively activities, such as creating actions for the text and learning new vocabulary, which helped them understand how the story was organised.
Throughout the unit, the children took part in short writing tasks that helped them practise using subordinating and coordinating conjunctions, as well as apostrophes in contractions. After this, they wrote their own persuasive letters to Ms Harper, trying to convince her that we should not have school on Fridays. This task encouraged creativity while giving the students a real purpose for their writing.
The children also wrote a follow-up letter linked to the model text, explaining why Alex should not have an iguana. This activity supported UNICEF’s ideas about children having the right to share their thoughts and practise important communication skills. It also reflected Catholic social teaching by helping students think about the value of each person and the importance of caring for others. Through all these activities, the students improved their writing skills and developed a stronger sense of empathy and responsibility.
Year 4 have been taking part in Aldi’s Get Set to Eat Fresh scheme, a fun programme that helps children learn more about healthy eating and making good food choices. As part of this, the children worked together to create a delicious and healthy snack, which they can easily adapt and make at home with their families. Learning about healthy eating is an important part of our faith, as it reminds us that our bodies are gifts from God and we should look after them with care. Year 4 have enjoyed discovering how eating well helps us stay happy, strong, and ready to serve others.
In History, Year 4 have been discovering the fascinating world of the Anglo-Saxons. We have explored how life in Anglo-Saxon England was very different from life today and even wrote an extended piece of writing imagining ourselves as Anglo-Saxon children. We were amazed to learn that children were considered adults at just 10 years old! This led to some passionate discussions about our UNICEF Rights, as we realised how lucky we are to have access to education, rest and play – things that children in the Anglo-Saxon times did not have. We’ve also begun learning a little about the Vikings, which will prepare us for our next exciting history topic.
In R.E., Year 4 have been learning all about God’s creation. We have explored what it means to be made in God’s image and likeness and thought about how this influences our beliefs and the way we live today. This links closely to our UNICEF Rights and our Golden Thread, reminding us to treat everyone with respect because we are all made in God’s image. We have studied key events from Scripture, such as God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and discussed how much the key figures trusted God and showed faith. To develop our writing skills across the curriculum, we imagined we were Abraham on his journey to Canaan – describing the setting and exploring the thoughts and feelings the key figures might have experienced along the way.
In Science, Year 4 have been exploring the fascinating topic of States of Matter. We have been learning about the properties of solids, liquids and gases, even role-playing them to understand how they behave and classifying them into groups. Through a variety of hands-on experiments, we are developing our ‘working scientifically’ skills. We’ve also been investigating changes of state – including a delicious experiment using chocolate buttons! This topic has been great fun and is helping us deepen our understanding of how materials change.
In Mathematics, Year 4 have been learning all about number and place value. This is a really important topic because it helps us with our next areas of learning and builds the foundations for understanding other mathematical concepts. We have been following the White Rose scheme of work and using practical resources to deepen our understanding of place value.
In English, Year 4 have been busy writing our own exciting journey tales! We are following the Talk for Writing process and using The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as our model text. To help us understand the story, we have immersed ourselves in it through story mapping and learning actions to bring the text to life. We’ve also been exploring powerful new vocabulary and writing tools, such as fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases. We’re thinking carefully about how these choices make our writing more interesting and how they affect the reader.
