Mayfield Primary SchoolYEAR FOUR: AUTUMN TERM
OUR YEAR FOUR DURING AUTUMN TERM
OUR CORE INTENTION IN ACTION
AUTUMN TERM 'WHEN I GROW UP...' THEME: THE POWER AND THE ROSE
*Year 3 & 4 work on a two year thematic rolling programme. We are currently on the 1st cycle studying the Tudors.
A 'When I Grow Up' Autumn Summary
When I Grow Up... swung into action this term with a special visit to Hoghton Tower for our Stunning Start. Back in school we picked up our studies with the victory of Henry Tudor at The Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, which brought an end to the War of the Roses and saw the defeat of Richard III. The Year 4 Power and the Rose theme was underway and would end four months letter with a special gallery celebrating our work from the term. Unsurprisingly, our History studies focused upon all of the major events, people and the ways of life in Tudor England from 1485 to the end of Elizabeth I reign in 1603. We continued to build upon the Geography work from year 3 by looking at land use and trade links during Tudor times as well as the importance of the physical land to the defences, problems and achievements of the day.
We studied printing this term during Art, focusing upon the Tudor rose and also considered royal portrait drawings and the importance of these and how they presented the royal family in a certain image - some of this work formed our Art Attack theme day. We then made Tudor home replicas during Design & Technology. The houses were fabulous and a highly popular part of our theme. The children demonstrated superb joining and connecting skills.
Music saw our singing units of work. We had great fun learning to sing in rounds and then in unison. It is not as easy as it seems singing in rounds - as the children discovered much to their amusement! Joining movement sequences in gymnastics formed the central focus of our Physical Education work - although not directly linked to our Tudor theme of course! Whilst we completed a set of indoor athletics which was planned as a chance to apply the children's fundamental skills work from previous years. We also created a hyperlinked Tudors quiz during our Computing studies whilst learning how to use technology to communicate with different audiences.
Teeth and digestive systems were the dual studies in our Science work and we centred this work upon a huge Digestion Theme Day in addition to our weekly sessions - considering how Tudor diet and approaches to health caused significant problems at the time! Often gruesome - but always interesting! Whilst in Religious Education we considered the special relationship between Jewish people and God and what are the most signficant aspects of the Nativity for Christians today. During our French work this term, we were learning different ways to introduce ourselves to others and then moved on to look at terms used to describe and name the seasons of the year.
During PSHE & Relationships we continued to develop themes around friendships with an accent upon online friendships and the dangers of these. How we may respond to what we perceive as hurtful behaviour and understanding what 'sensitivity' means when building friendships and making comments. An important theme for us all when communicating with friends online.
We have been busy each and every day with our Mathematics. This term has focused heavily upon place value and moved into the four operations and related problems. We also studied length and perimeter during our work prior to Christmas. We had four busy units of work in English this term. Two of these were narrative based one based in Tudor times and one drawn from a study of the The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. We created an instructional writing unit which ran alongside our Tudor house constructions and then completed our work with a unit on persuasive writing.
