Arundel CofE Primary School

Year 4 - Phoenix Class

 

Teacher 

Mrs Y Sanderson  

 

Teacher  

Mr J Cumming

 

with one of team of Enhanced Teaching Assistants:- 
Mrs B Burchell Miss C Richardson

Spring Term 2025

 

In the first half of the term, we will be engaging ourselves in the story of Arthur and the Golden Rope and will learn letter writing, comic strip stories, reports and poetry linked to this text. During the second half of the spring term, we will be looking at Ernest Shackleton and his expedition to Antarctica which will link to our Geography topic of ‘Who lives in Antarctica?”. We will continue using Accelerated Reader to help us with our reading skills and continuing to use DoodleSpell to support our spelling. We will also have many books available for reading for pleasure too.

The children will be developing their skills in all areas of Maths, using ‘Power Maths’. They will have the opportunity to develop a range of mathematical skills, starting with Multiplication and Division then moving on to length and perimeter, fractions and near the end of the term, decimals. The children will also continue to use Times Tables Rock Stars to help them consolidate their times tables.

Our first half term in Science focuses on ‘Sound’ we will learn to identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating. We will

  • study how vibrations from a sound travel through a medium to the ear. Notice patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it.
  • Spot patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it and also
  • recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.

The second half term of Science will involve learning about ‘Electricity’. We will learn to identify common appliances that run on electricity, construct a simple series electrical circuit - identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers. We will be able to determine whether a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery, recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether a lamp lights in a simple series circuit. Children will also recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.

 

In Religious Education, we will use our Emmanual Project unit, considering the question: ‘Why Do Muslims Call Muhammad the Seal of the Prophets?’ We will also be considering the Big Question: ‘Why Do Christians Call the Day Jesus Died  Good Friday?’

 

In History, we will look at Anglo-Saxons and Vikings and the enquiry questions: Who were the Vicious Vikings? Why did they invade the seven kingdoms?

In Geography we will learn about ‘Who lives in Antarctica?’ The children will learn about how latitude and longitude link to climate and the physical and human features of polar regions with links to the explorer, Shackleton.

In Art & Design, we will be Exploring Still Life. In this topic we will study artists working within the genres of still life, contemporary and more traditional. The children will create their own still life inspired artwork by the end of the term.

Our Design & Technology focus is Mechanical Systems: Making a slingshot car. The children will design and make a car with a working slingshot mechanism and house the mechanism using a range of nets.

In PSHE, we will have many open discussions focusing on the theme of Dreams and Goals and Healthy me.

Madame Stacey will be teaching us about Les animaux domestiques (pets) in French for the first half term and for the second half term they will learn about Les vêtements (clothes). The children will be able to talk about what they and other people are wearing.

Mr Servant will be teaching Music, developing our own responses to contemporary culture. We will also plan and execute a piece of music in the style of a pop band.  A  ‘battle of the bands’  will take place.

In Computing this term, we will be focusing on Website Design, HTML and continue Coding with Scratch.

PE will be on Tuesdays & Fridays.  (Please ensure your child’s PE kit is in school every Monday for the whole week as lessons may change.)   

What a fun and busy term it is going to be!

More information on this term's topic can be found in our curriculum booklet .

The curriculum overview for the school year is contained within our curriculum document.

Follow our guidance to help your child with maths.

End of year expectations for year 4 children.