Year 4 Curriculum Content

During the Autumn term, the children in Year 4 explore the overarching question of ‘Who shaped the world we live in today?’. Their class novel is Warrior Heroes written by Benjamin Hulme-Cross, which allows for the children to look at various themes including time travel, museums, The Romans and war. This class novel lends itself perfectly to the teaching of the curriculum as a whole, with Year 4 pupils studying The Romans and learning all about human geography including trade links in the Pre-Roman and Roman era. Electricity and Animals Including Humans are the focuses of their Science work. In Art, Year 4 pupils look at the work of Edgar Degas and his charcoal sketches as a basis for developing their own drawing skills and in DT, they further their cooking skills. The children acquire knowledge surrounding community, specifically focussing on the religions of Hinduism and Islam in RE and in PSHE explore the areas of ‘Being me in my world’ and ‘Celebrating Differences’ through the Jigsaw scheme of work. Computing lessons allow the children to develop their awareness of The Internet and photo editing. In Music, Year 4 pupils learn how to use their voices expressively and creatively and focus on developing their Netball and Gymnastic skills in PE. In MFL, they learn how to use greetings, classroom commands, colours and talk about Christmas in French. 

The overarching question during the Spring term is ‘Where could we go?’ and the children in Year 4 read the class novel of Sky Song by Abi Elphinstone. Key themes for exploration throughout this term include animals, tribes, enemies, journeys and power. Year 4 pupils learn all about their geographical area of focus, which is England, specifically looking at locating the main cities and counties as well as settlements in early Britain. Through looking at the Bayeux Tapestry, they are able to create their own printed textiles picture that aims to tell a story. They study the Science topic areas of Sound and Living Things and their Habitats, looking at the work of Alexander Graham Bell as their key scientist. The DT project for Year 4 pupils requires them to use knowledge taken from their Science topic to create an electrical system. In RE, the children study the main topic of Pilgrimage. Music lessons provide the Year 4 pupils with the opportunity to play tuned and untuned instruments as well as listen with understanding and concentration to a variety of music. The children are able to explore and develop skills based on audio editing and data logging in Computing and Tennis and Basketball skills in PE lessons. Through Jigsaw, Year 4 pupils think about their dreams and goals for now and the future as well as relationships in PSHE. They further develop their French skills in MFL lessons by learning how to give their name, use colours and numbers 0-6, describe pencil case items and use polite vocabulary.

The Summer term’s overarching question asks the children to think about ‘Has our world always looked this way?’. Through the study of their class novel Boy Underwater by Adam Baron, the Year 4 pupils explore the key themes of facing your fears, secrets, mental health and loss. They look carefully at a variety of knowledge surrounding rivers in Geography. The Art project for this term looks at work created by Joan Mitchell, specifically the Hudson River Day Line, as a way of developing their own textural and abstract painting skills. The Science topic for Year 4 in this term is States of Matter. In PSHE, the children are asked to explore the areas of ‘Healthy Me’ and ‘Changing Me’, and in PE lessons the children are able to acquire skills required for playing Rounders and furthering their athletic skills. Computing lessons allow the Year 4 children to develop their skills surrounding repetition in shapes and games whilst DT looks at furthering mechanism skills to create pop up books. RE lessons look at the religion of Christianity, specifically looking at Community. MFL lessons allow Year 4 pupils to acquire the ability to use numbers 7-12, talk about animals and ask questions in French.