Year 4 - Chestnut 2023 - 2024

Welcome to Chestnut Class home page

My name is Mr Brereton and I am the class teacher for Chestnut and the PE lead. 

I enjoy seeing the children working together as a team and learning to develop their skills and grow in confidence.

I have a passion for sport and enjoy supporting Wolverhampton Wanderers and playing cricket for Great Alne CC. 

Summer Topic-  Ancient Civilisations

In the Ancient Civilisations project, the children will learn about three of the earliest civilisations in the world; ancient Sumer, ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley civilisation. They will study the ancient Sumerian and ancient Egyptian civilisation in detail, to discover how crucial factors like water sources and farming helped them to develop and thrive. They will find out about important inventions and the growth of cities. They will also study the lives of different people in society, including the roles of kings and pharaohs. The children will reflect on their learning by identifying the similarities and differences between the two civilisations, before studying the Indus Valley civilisation independently. They will explore sources of evidence about the location of the Indus Valley, cities and trade, and note the reasons why historians know less about the Indus Valley than other ancient civilisations. The children will then compare all three civilisations, before learning about the causes and consequences of each civilisation’s decline. They will also consider whether or not these civilisations left a lasting legacy.

Chestnut Class Reminders:

Chestnut class PE days are Wednesday and Thursday. PE kit should stay in school and will be sent home at the end of every half term.

Children should have a water bottle in school. 

Home Learning:

Home learning will be uploaded each week in the 'files' section at the bottom of this page. There will be three colours to choose from. Your child will be given a colour every Thursday. The colour will be found in the margin of their home learning book. Select and complete the colour your child has been set.

Homework will be handed out on Thursday to be completed and returned by the following Tuesday. 

Spellings- to be handed out on 25.04.24

autograph
autobiography
automatic
autofocus
autocorrect
autopilot
autorotate
automobile
autonomy
autocue

Spellings - handed out on 18.04.24

antiseptic

anticlockwise

antisocial

antidote

antibiotic

antivenom

anti-ageing

antifreeze

antiperspirant

antigravity

Chestnut spotlight April 2024

Chestnut class has made an exciting and curious start to their new Ancient Civilisations topic. On the Ancient Civilisations inspiration day, they wrote acrostic poems about what makes a civilisation and acted out the features of such as jobs, inventions, leadership, social hierarchy and culture. They investigated a variety of artefacts from the Sumerian Civilisation including a 4000 year old board game and discussed what it told them about life in that civilisation.

The English topic is poetry. They looked at a variety of haikus, kennings and other rhyming poems about civilisations and then used expression, tone and actions to perform to an audience.  They will know look at writing a free verse poem about the Sumerian temples.

Chestnut Class Spotlight- March 2024

Chestnut Class have shown so much enthusiasm and curiosity for this term’s Misty Mountain, Winding River topic.

In Geography, we have found out many amazing facts about mountains. We have researched the different types of mountains and found examples of Fold, Volcanic, Dome and Plateau mountains from around the world. We have also used the Ordnance Survey maps of the Lake District to identify lots of different peaks and recorded their names, heights and grid references as well as explaining what contour lines are and what they tell us about the physical landscape.

In English, we have been writing explanations. We looked at a variety of toys and worked in groups to explain how they work. We have identified and highlighted the features and then we used our knowledge and understanding to write our own detailed explanations about the processes of the water cycle.

In Maths, we have been learning about improper and mixed number fractions, how to convert between them as well as finding equivalent fractions. We have then used our knowledge and confidence to add and subtract fractions. We have used part whole models to partition numbers into easy divisible parts.

In PE, we have been working on our dance skills to perform a routine to show the different states of matter. In groups, we showcased the particle theory by using different levels, speeds, and direction for when the particles are in solid, liquid and gas states.

In Science, we have been learning about Classification. We have sorted living things into vertebrates and invertebrates and have created classification keys to show the different features.

World Book Day March 2024

Well done to all the children. Their costumes were tremendous and we enjoyed learning about and sharing thoughts on the different characters and books. There were many Harry Potters, characters from Alice in Wonderland, famous sports stars and historical figures. 

Chestnut Class Spotlight- January 2024

Chestnut Class have made a great start to our new and exciting Misty Mountain, Winding River topic. In Geography, we have learnt about the different features of a river such as deltas, floodplains, meanders, oxbow lake and waterfalls and how they are created. We have also made 3D models to show the features that occur in the upper, middle and lower course of the rivers. We have also researched and located major rivers from around the world and created information posters to showcase our knowledge of erosion, transportation and deposition.

In English, we have been writing a story from a familiar setting linked to The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. We have looked at a variety of settings and have used expanded noun phrases, similes and metaphors to write a creative description to hook the reader.

In maths, we have been using the written method to solve multiplication and division problems. We have used part whole models to partition numbers into easy divisible parts.

In science, we have started our States of Matter topic looking at solids, liquids and gases. We have learnt about the particle theory and what happens to the particles when they are in a solid, liquid or gas state. We have also melted chocolate to show how heating and cooling changes the state.

In PE, we have been working on our gymnastics skills, practising jumping, performing half and full turns and developing landing techniques.

Chestnut Class Spotlight- December 2023

Chestnut children performed a wonderful class assembly to showcase all their learning from the Invasion topic. They have continued to be very curious to learn interesting facts about the topic and have applied their understanding to write a play script about the events of the Norman invasion.

In English, they role played the events from the Battle of Hastings and wrote stage directions, scene descriptions and dialogue for actors to follow.

In maths, they have used arrays and bar models to solve multiplication and division problems as well as learning the relationship between the 3x, 6x and 9x table. They have also found the area of different shapes.

In science, the children have been learning about sound waves and how the ear works. They have used sound meters to investigate which materials would be most suited to sound reducing head phones.

In PE, the children have been working on their balance skills to improve and develop their core strength. They have also been performing tuck jumps and squats.

Chestnut Class Assembly

Year 3/4 Harvest Festival Assembly 

This week, Chestnut and Holly class performed their Harvest Festival assembly to celebrate harvest time. They acted out the story of the Enormous Turnip as a dress-rehearsal to the whole school on Thursday and then to parents at a special performance in the community at St Michael’s Church on Friday. 

The Year 4 children displayed their acting skills and read the narrating parts loudly and clearly while the Year 3 children joined in with the songs and the actions to bring the traditional tale to life. 

Rotary Club Presentation

Alan Bailey, the president of the Warwick Rotary Club, visited Budbrooke last week to present Year 4 children from Chestnut with their dictionaries.

The Warwick Rotary Club organises events such as the Warwick Thai Festival, the Warwick Castle carols and Warwick racecourse bonfire night. The money raised then goes to help with local projects as well as supporting with overseas aid such as providing toilets for schools in West Africa and sending shelter boxes to Libya and Morocco.

The Year 4 children said: “The dictionaries are fantastic. They will be really helpful because we can use them to help spell exciting vocabulary in our writing to make it exquisite and stand out.”

Chestnut Class Spotlight

It has been a very exciting time in Chestnut class. As part of the ‘Invasion’ topic, the children have been very curious to learn interesting facts about the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain and how the language and culture changed after the Romans departed.

They have applied their retrieval skills to research the topic using non-fiction books and confidently presented their findings to the class in information pages and historical timelines.

In English, the children acted out the story of ‘Beowulf’ and are currently writing Anglo-Saxon narrative poems based on the events. They have used noun phrases, alliteration, kennings and powerful verbs to create adventurous and arm-gripping poetry about the warrior defeating a monster.

In maths, they have used ordered, partitioned and compared four-digit numbers on number lines, rounded numbers to 10, 100 and 1000 as well as showing great confidence when using Roman Numerals.

In geography, the children have been using compass points to give directions and using 4 and 6 figure grid references to locate places on a map. Also, in science, they have looked at food chains and webs including researching a variety of producers and consumers in nature.

As well as all the exciting curriculum learning, Chestnut class has also been practising the singing and acting ready for the Harvest assembly performance at St Michaels Church on 27^th October.

Ways to support your child:

-Practise your child's spellings with them.

-Read (preferably daily) with your child. Try and encourage them to read a range of genre of books and authors. Here are a couple of useful lists of recommended books for year 4 children:

https://schoolreadinglist.co.uk/reading-lists-for-ks2-school-pupils/suggested-reading-list-for-year-4-pupils-ks2-age-8-9/

https://www.thereaderteacher.com/year4

-Practise times tables with your child. Little and often is often the best way with times tables. Purple Mash is an excellent resource which has lots of times table activities on. Here are a few good websites with games that your child can play whilst also practising their times tables:

Each child has login details for www.timestables.co.uk where they can explore and practise the timestables ready for the Multiplication Check towards the end of the school year. 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/times-tables/coconut-multiples

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/arithmetic

-Support your child in completing their weekly maths and English/topic homework which (starting from wk beg 18th September) will be handed out on a Thursday to be completed and handed in by Tuesday. . 

Reading:

Any bit of reading you can do with your child will be hugely benficial. The following link will take you to a list of great books that are recommended for year 4 children: https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/products/Pie-Corbetts-Reading-Spine-Year-4-Pack-x-7-9789951118682

This link will take you to a website that will suggest alternative options if your child enjoys one particular author or genre of book: https://www.booksfortopics.com/booklists/branching-out/

Whilst it is great when a child finds an author or genre that they love, it is also important that they branch out and try alternative authors or genres. The guide above will help you make suggestions for your child to try, based on what they know they already love.