Welcome to Life at KPS for Year 4

Mr Sussmann and Mrs Thamu warmly welcome you to Year 4.

The aim of this page is to highlight some of the fantastic learning that has been happening in Year 4, this page will be updated monthly, with photographs and information about the learning we have completed during the month.

We hope you enjoy looking through these updates and do discuss your child’s learning with them to celebrate their success. We look forward to any suggestions you may have to make your child’s learning a pleasant experience.

May 2022

Art

Children have been looking at woodworking this half term and how they could design their own bug hotel. They will ultimately build a bug hotel and use the wood working skills they have developed to make adaptations and improvements to the hotels.  They will be using some of the materials they have collected to create different habitats for local minibeasts.

Computing

Children practised how to log on to the government website in preparation for their MTC check in June. Everyone had to use a school password and a personalised log in that changes every day.  The children also used alternative websites to practise their times tables and become familiar and confident in using numbers on the keyboard.

English

Children have been using the land of Neverbelieve by Norman Messenger; a fantastical natural history of an improbable world as a springboard for writing.  We have used images from the book to write a scary descriptive scene and a natural history of a fantastical animal.  The children have used descriptive language and similes for their scary description and formal language and technical vocabulary for their animal writing.  This has linked with factual descriptions of animals which they have been exploring in their science topic.

Maths

We have been finishing off our exploration of fractions in maths this half term and beginning to look at decimals and how we can compare and convert fractions into decimals.  Children have been slowly discovering how these different ways of representing numbers can help them solve mathematical problems.

Music

Children have been learning the National Anthem and ‘Sing’ both of which are in preparation for the Platinum Jubilee.

In addition, they have been learning a ‘Call and Response’ Song from Ghana called Oleo.

They have sung with confidence in 3 parts.

They have also begun to respond to a body percussion piece by a composer called Anna Meridith as part of the BBC ten pieces.

Panjabi

In year 4 we have been learning 6 sets of the Panjabi alphabet, we have been using our knowledge of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds to make siharee and kanaa words. We have then been constructing simple sentences using these kanaa and siharee words. As well as learning about written Panjabi. We also learning how to tell time in Panjabi. To make it more interesting children are making clocks in Gurmukhi numbers as cross-curriculum. We are more focused on speaking Panjabi.

PE

In PE, we have been continuing learning to play Kabaddi! We have been practicing the skills needed to play the sport by taking part in practice games and drills designed to improve spatial awareness. Kabaddi is a team sport in which you have to score points by invading the other team’s space and tagging a player, then returning to your own side before getting tagged back. Children will be working on quick footwork skills and teamwork to improve their game play.  These skills are transferable to many other team and individual sports and we will be discussing this further in our lessons.

PSHE

Children have been learning about mental health in PSHE.  They have looked into what mental health is and how they can look after their own mental health. Children discussed different challenges and support systems they may receive. We also pointed out how important it is to have a balance between challenges and support systems. Children identified that if a person faces too many challenges and has no or little support, he/she might find it increasingly difficult to cope.

Religious Education

Children have been learning about Judaism this half term.  They have gone into detail learning about the 10 commandments, how Jews observe Shabbat and the Kosher Jewish Dietary laws.  We have tried to allow children to experience and observe some of the traditions and the lessons have sparked much discussion and interest. Children’s final lessons focused on answering the questions, ‘’How do Jewish people show their devotion to God?’’

Science

Children have been exploring the natural world and the living things in them, specifically the minibeasts which we can find in our local area.  We started our topic with an investigation of food webs.  Children learnt how different animals were interconnected and how all living life on our planet essentially gets its energy from the Sun.  The children have also gone on two separate minibeast hunts.  The first was a worm hunt.  Children learnt about the different parts of a worm. They learnt how to differentiate between a younger worm and a mature adult.  Children discovered how some smaller worms were mature adults whereas longer ones where junior worms meaning they had observed different worm species.  Later children went on a more general minibeast hunt and observed a number of different invertebrates in their habitats, including caterpillars, ladybirds and snails.

Sikh Studies

Children this term have completed learning about the Punj Takhts (Five Seats of Authority) by learning about the 4^th and 5^th Takht of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib and Takht Sri Hazoor Sahib. Children have learnt the background behind these Takhts by learning its history and important features of each of these Takhts and how to recognise them from the outside. Children have written a fact file of the 4^th and 5^th Takhts and the background of its historical significance. Also they learnt about the location of them on a map of India.