We are a dedicated and hard working team at Finlay and all our staff contribute to the children’s learning and well-being, offering many activities to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but also to enrich the children’s cultural capital and develop our school SMILE values. 

The adults working in our class are: Miss Clare Moncrieff, Mrs Tracy Leavy, Mrs Arooj Khalid and Mrs Kirsty Lambourne.

 

If you need advice on any information below, get in touch by calling us on 01452 530310 or email: Clare.moncrieff@finlay.gloucs.sch.uk

 

What are we learning about in the Autumn Term? 

 

Our theme for the Autumn Term is Horrible Histories: The Romans. The children will be learning about The Roman Era, looking at The Celts as a tribe, how the Romans invaded and how their Empire grew. The children will then be looking at the Roman legacy, including what the Romans left for us – straight roads, hot water systems, the calendar etc. The children will spend time focussing on Glevum (Gloucester) as a Roman town too. This theme is rich in historical knowledge, and will see the children building on the prior knowledge in Year 3 of pre-historic eras including The Stone Age and Iron Age. 

Within this theme, we will also have opportunity to develop our Art and DT skills, by making some Roman clay pottery and preparing a Roman banquet! Throughout this unit, we will be rewriting the myth of Romulus and Remus, as well as writing a biography on Julius Caesar. 

In Science, we will be learning about The Digestive System and teeth, exploring what happens to our food as it enters our mouth. This block of learning will include an exciting opportunity to investigate the effects of different drinks on our teeth. We will then be learning about electricity, applying our scientific knowledge to DT, where we will be making a chariot with moving parts. 

In RE, we are exploring two big questions from the Gloucester Agreed Syllabus: ‘What is The Trinity and why is it important to Christians?’ and ‘What do Hindus believe God is like?’
In PE, we will be developing the skills required to play football and netball, which we will then apply to mini invasion games, whilst in Jigsaw/PSHE and RSE, we will be learning about ‘Being Me in My World’ and ‘Celebrating Difference’.

 

What are we learning about in the Spring Term?

 

Our theme for the Spring Term is ‘Come Sail With Me’ – a Geography based theme. During this theme, the children will be locating rivers in the UK as well as famous rivers around the world. The children will be learning more about how rivers work, from source to mouth, as well as understanding some of the natural disasters that can occur (flooding) due to extreme weather. The children will be thinking about the human impact of plastic pollution as well as coastal erosion, and the impact that this has on humans, the environment and wildlife.

 

In Art and DT, the children will be developing their still-life sketching skills, sketching sea shells, considering their detail. They will also be using watercolour paints to create watercolour washes to portray the sea.

 

Our learning in Science will see us develop our understanding of chemistry and physics, with a particular focus on sound, states of matter and reversible/irreversible changes. The children will: identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating; recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear; find patterns between the pitch of a sound and the features of the object that produced it; find patterns between the volume of the sound and strength of the vibrations that produced it and recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.  During the ‘states of matter’ unit of work, children will: compare and group together materials, according to whether they are solid, liquid or gas; observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius; identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle, and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

 

 

 

In RE, we will be exploring another two big questions from the Gloucester Agreed Syllabus, this time answering: ‘What does it mean to be a Hindu in Britain today?’ And ‘Why do Christians call the day Jesus died Good Friday?’

 

In PE, we will be developing our practical skills in gymnastics, as well as refining our invasion game skills when playing hockey and tag rugby.

 

In Jigsaw/PSHE and RSE, we will be learning about ‘Dreams and Goals’ and ‘Healthy Me’.

 

Home Learning 
Please see a copy of our home learning activity sheet for the Autumn Term (Glorious Glevum) and Spring Term (Come Sail With Me). These grids includes a range of activities for children to complete at home. Evidence of these home learning tasks can be uploaded to Seesaw or completed in home learning books.

The children should also access Times Tables Rockstars and Spelling Shed at least three times a week using their individual log ins.

 

They also are required to read their reading book to an adult at least three times a week, and record this in their reading logs. 
 

Home Learning – Glorious Glevum

 

Home Learning – Come Sail With Me

 

Useful links

 

Year 4 - useful links for learning from home

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Oxford Owl

Reading books are available from

 

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

Email Kerry.davies@finlay.gloucs.sch.uk for the login details for Year 4

 

Times Table Rockstars: 

Children will need their username and password to login from home. https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student 

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Scholastic: 5+ days of reading texts and activities.

Reading levels of the texts can be changed. There are also comprehension/follow up questions for the articles provided. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome/grades-3-5.html

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Wild about reading!

If you have a library membership you can borrow ebooks and emagazines for free: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/libraries/ebooks-eaudiobooks-and-emagazines/

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TTS Booklet Covering all Core Subjects and foundation subjects

KS2: Can be downloaded and uploaded to website or printed as a hardcopy.

 http://www.tts-group.co.uk/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-TTSSharedLibrary/default/vaea75f5663a038b8658d258fd198e57ce70b35d6/images/homepage/My_Activity_Book_Yrs_7_11.pdf?version=1,584,037,589,000

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Classroom secrets Home Learning Packs:

Maths, Reading, SPaG and Practical Ideas – booklet can be downloaded or printed. Worksheets accessible at three different levels: WTS, EXP and GDS 

https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/free-home-learning-packs/

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Twinkl School Closure Home Learning Packs

These can be printed or uploaded as a pdf online.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/year-4-school-closure-home-learning-resource-pack-t-e-2549913

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Spanish! Learn languages for free.

https://www.duolingo.com  

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BBC Bitesize has a host of materials for KS2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/zbr9wmn

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Educational online games

 https://toytheater.com/

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Digital enterprise award scheme you can complete online

https://idea.org.uk   

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Blockly - Learn all about computer programming.

https://blockly.games 

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Learn all about computer programming. Scratch 

https://scratch.mit.edu/explore/projects/games/

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More Useful Sites

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers 

 

https://www.mathematicsmastery.org/free-resources

 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games