Welcome to Year 4 

from

Miss Bratton and Mrs Dignen

Our email address is: year4@kingsleyschool.org.uk 

This is checked regularly however, if you need to speak to a member of staff as a matter of urgency, please either speak to a member of the leadership team on the gate on a morning or ring the school office.

If you require any additional information regarding our curriculum, please do not hesitate to contact your child's class teacher or a member of the Leadership Team.

In Year 4, our PE day is a Wednesday. Please remember that the children can come into school wearing their school PE kit. 

Also, as part of our PE curriculum, we go swimming on a Friday morning - don't forget those swimming kits! 

25/26 Academic Year

Riley completed this Stitch puzzle during indoor play time. Great work Riley!

RE - Why is the Bible important to Christians?

In RE we looked at different stories in the Bible. We completed a matching task which involved us using the contents page to find a book from the Bible and then identifying the animal in the story. 

Remembrance Day

Take a look at our fantastic acrostic poems that we wrote to commemorate Remembrance Day. We even coloured our own poppies in different colours to represent the different groups we remember on Remembrance Day! 

PE - Basketball

This week in PE we practised dribbling. We worked hard and practised crossover dribbling around a cone. As an extra challenge, Miss Bratton's class were asked to practise their shooting after dribbling around all of the cones! 

Computing - Networks 

In Computing we have been looking at networks and how they help to pass messages from one location to another. We each had a role; messenger, switch or router. We used words like 'chaotic' and 'busy' to describe the networking system. 

Literacy - My name is not Refugee

We started a new book in Literacy. We began our new unit by making predictions based on the book's front cover. After a discussion about what a Refugee is, we decided what we would take in our backpacks if we had to leave our country. 

PE - Basketball

In PE we have started our new unit - Basketball! For our first lesson, we practised shooting and passing. We looked at a bounce pass, chest pass and shoulder pass. 

History - The Romans

We had the pleasure of looking at Ancient Roman artefacts in our History lesson. We enjoyed making predictions about the items and then discovering what they were really used for (even if some of them were gross!). 

Project Evolve - Online Safety

In Miss Bratton's Project Evolve session this week, the children chose words which linked to the topic of being safe. We then discussed as a class situations, online, that have made us feel unsafe and how we could have made ourselves feel better in those situations. 

History - The Romans

We completed a Guided Reading activity in our History lesson. We worked as a group to find key information about the Romans and Modern Italy. We are going to use this information to create an A3 poster as a group! 

Art - Leonardo da Vinci

In Art, we have been using our sketching skills to produce a sketch of a moving mannequin. Once we were happy with our initial sketch, we used a fine liner to outline our image. 

Literacy - George's Marvellous Medicine

Take a look at our amazing George's Marvellous Medicine display. We wrote character descriptions of Grandma, medicine poems, methods to create crazy concoctions and witness statements. After we finished the unit, we wrote a book review for others to read to decide whether they would like to read the book or not. 

Science - All living things

In Science we used hoops (as quadrats) to collect data on species richness and abundance in our school grounds. We worked in groups of 3 to collect data in our mini beast area and on the school field. 

Art - Leonardo da Vinci

In Art we tested the hypothesis 'a man's arm span is equal to his height'. We worked in teams of four to accurately measure our height and arm span using measuring tapes. 

PE - Dance

We have been creating the beginning section of our 'Secret Agent Solo'. We discussed using different levels, pace and directions to create a 3 part solo. After this we practised our middle 'Agent moves' section which involved performing a 8 piece sequence. 

Science - All Living Things

To start our topic we used question stems to create questions we wanted to answer throughout the topic. We came up with questions such as 'Do sharks poo?' and 'Why do some animals walk on all fours?'. We then classified images of animals into different groups e.g. mammals, underwater animals, land animals, etc. 

History - The Romans

We used question stems to elicit questions from pictures of Roman artefacts and Italian landmarks. Hopefully, we will discover the answers to these questions throughout our topic! 

Save Fred!

We worked collaboratively to save Fred (the worm) from his capsized boat. This task required good team work and communication skills. It also required lots of patience when things didn't quite go to plan! 

24/25 Academic Year

Literacy 

We have been exploring the Shakespeare play 'Macbeth'. Exploring themes of bravery, betrayal, murder, fate and fortune through drama strategies from the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Maths 

Oscar wanted to teach a lesson on percentages to the class. Mrs Ord gave him some preparation time and he created his own Power Point and delivered a fabulous lesson to his class. A teacher in the making?

STEM

We thoroughly enjoyed the STEM showcase.

Inspire

Max and Halle enjoyed completing a Stitch jigsaw in their Inspire time on Friday!

Seaton Carew Trip

We had a fabulous day at Seaton Carew; some children participated in the swim safe event while the others visited the park, all children played in the sand, played a game of mini golf and went bowling. We enjoyed our lunches and then headed back to school. Although children were VERY excitable, behaviour was fantastic. What an amazing trip!

Art

Check out our fantastic clay sculptures! We designed our own sandcastles that we will recreate, at Seaton, during our trip. 

PE

We applied our skills and played a game of cricket.

Sports Day

STEM Project

We have created different structures to improve the biodiversity in our school grounds. Check out our fantastic bee and bug hotels, plant pots and bird feeders. All of our structures were made from recyclable materials! 

PE

More from the cricket coach this week!

Science

In science, we have visited various areas around the school to monitor levels of biodiversity. We then recorded this data in a table and translated it into a bar chart.

Science

We explored the biodiversity of our school grounds. We used hula-hoops in place of quadrats and threw them to ensure random samples. We found that while there was some biodiversity, this could be improved.

Class V Class

Team Feeny (Mrs Ord) V Team Marshall (Miss Bratton)

After 3 very close games Mrs Ord's team added 10 points to team Feeny and Miss Bratton's class added 20 points to team Marshall. Well done to everyone for excellent team work and sportmanship!

PSHE

In PSHE we have been looking at staying safe. As a table, we created mind maps of the rules we have in school and stated underneath why we think we have these rules. 

Miles for Miles

Raising money for the Great North Air Ambulance, we held a non-uniform day and walked around the perimeter of the school twice, in order for everyone to walk approximately 1 mile. We even got to high five Miles on our way out of the building!

Cricket

We are lucky to have a cricket coach on a Friday, for the next 6 weeks. Our format session we had lots of fun practising our throwing and catching skills.

VE Day

We had lots of fun completing activities and celebrating the 80 year anniversary of VE day. We watched some videos and found out what happened in the build up to VE Day. 

Skipping Competition

We had a fabulous morning at the Year 4 Cluster Skipping Competition. The children were brilliant and were highly commended for their attitudes and the respect they showed towards the other children competing - true 'Kingsley Kids'. Overall, we came 3rd in the competition - a fantastic achievement! 

Science

We sorted and classified animals into groups and created a dichotomous key.

Science

At the end of our Electricity unit we drew our own electrical circuits which included a bulb, cell/battery, switch and wires. We labelled these accurately and noted when some of the electrical components would transfer their energy e.g. electrical to light energy for the bulb. Take a look at some of our fantastic explanations! 

Geography

In Geography we have been looking at the island of Senja in Norway. We compared the island's physical features with those found in Hartlepool. We also read different types of graphs (bar and line) to compare Hartlepool and Senja's climates. 

Science

In our Science lesson we built circuits, from a diagram, to determine whether the bulb would light. We noticed that if a switch was open, or there was no battery include in the diagram, then the bulb definitely would not light. 

Literacy

In Literacy we have started a new unit focusing on persuasion - 'I want a pet'. We started the unit by looking at an advert from the 'Dragon Shed' and identified key features which tried to persuade us to buy a pet dragon. 

Computing

In our programming unit, we used repeating loops to create shapes.

Art

We used watercolours to paint our Picasso inspired portraits.

Red Nose Day

We took part in many activities, including a one mile walk around school.

Judo Taster Session

We had a fabulous judo session with Jamie! Children have been given details of the judo school should they wish to attend the club outside of school.

Science

We are learning about electricity. We made a human circuit and used cubes to show energy transfer. We then went online and made virtual circuits. 

Computing

We have been looking at patterns and learning to write repeating algorithms. We used the repeat function to create squares on turtle academy.

Science

We sorted electrical items into a Venn diagram showing mains operated, battery operated or both.

World Book Day

We had a fabulous time celebrating word book day 2025!

Safer Internet Day

For safer Internet day we took part in a live assembly and discussed the theme 'too good to be true'. We talked about scams and the many different forms they take and what to look out for to keep ourselves safe online.

Bird Watching at Summerhill

We had a lovely afternoon bird watching at Summerhill.  We were very lucky; we heard some beautiful bird songs and saw some amazing birds. We even saw parakeets and a buzzard!

🌟🌟Head Teacher's Award🌟🌟

Oscar earned a head teacher's award for his amazing writing. He wrote 2 contrasting descriptions of a wood and they were amazing. 'A fantastic use of language,' Mrs Darby said.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

We have been using RSC strategies to get to know the play. The children have developed an excellent understanding and are becoming more confident when performing.

Fire Safety

We had a visit from the fire brigade. They explained the dangers of nuisance fires and they even let us have a go of the hose! It was a fantastic morning surprise. 

Local History Week

We had a visitor from Hartlepool museum. She showed us artifacts and told us about the bombardment at the Headland on December 16th 1914. We then used this information to reenact a scene from a painting.

Local History Week

For Local History Week we are answering the question, 'How would you feel if they bombed the chippy?'. We are focusing on the bombardment of Hartlepool which occurred on the 16th of December 1914. In our map lesson, we made comparisons between the two different maps of Hartlepool and discussed why the Germans would choose to attack Hartlepool then and now. 

🌟Head Teacher Award 🌟

Oscar wowed us all with his exceptional maths. He had a passion and determination to prove Mrs Ord wrong in her always, sometime or never question. He was finding patterns and using these to generalise (amazing to do in year 4!). He finished up by determining that he can now tell whether any number is a multiple of 9 by finding the sum of the digits. Look at him and his gold sticker and his awesome work in his journal!

Art

We used the vitruvuan man as inspiration, drawing a mannequin in parts, standing still, in motion and with different drawing materials.

DT - Antipasti Platter

In DT we created our own antipasti platter which we enjoyed whilst watching a Christmas film. We used skills learnt in Year 3 (bridge and claw grip) to chop our fruit, veg, cheese and meat. 

Inspire

Miss Veart showed us how to make 'jellyfish' bracelets.

Art

In Art we have been looking at the Vitruvian Man. We tested the hypothesis, 'The length of a man's outspread arms is equal to his height.' 

Book Swap

We've had some more visitors to the book swap area. Don't forget to sign consent for the year so you can swap old books for free at the book swap area. 

Science-Digestive System

We used some household items to recreate the digestion of food in our bodies. This was incredibly messy and disgusting but we had so much fun! 

Literacy -  Unlikely Hero short story

We had lots of fun acting out our short stories with our partners. Some of us were confident enough to share them with the class! 

Science - Animals including Humans

Today we began our new topic by looking at our teeth and their functions. We explored how different teeth have different jobs by eating different types of food (carrots, bread and sweets) and observing which teeth they moved to using mirrors. 

Children in Need 2024

Harvey visited the book swap area.

Remembrance Day

We stood for our 2 minute silence and reflected on the sacrifice and bravery of those that have served our country. Then, we wrote words we associate with Remembrance Day onto poppies and coloured them in. 

Literacy 

We used the RSC strategies to explore the meaning of words and how they look on a person. For example, brave, cowardly,swift and afraid.

Frankie enjoyed a visit to the book swap area!

We thoroughly enjoyed our George's Marvellous Medicine unit of writing. Here are some examples of our work.

Science

We created animal fact files linked to our science topic - All living things. 

A Spooky Inspire!

We made Halloween themed portraits and coloured our own trick or treat bags.

Reading for Pleasure

We are so lucky to have access to an amazing book swap area, that children can use as frequently as they wish. Here is George making his FIRST EVER visit in year 4!

History

We created non chronological reports to explain life in Roman times versus life in modern Italy. We also retold the story of Romulus and Remus

History

In History we have been writing a retell of the story of Romulus and Remus. To help us with our writing we completed a sequencing activity as a table. 

Computing

We explored how external networks are linked. We looked at how the switch and router direct messages between networks. We 'received' some messages from external networks and decided whether to accept or reject them.

Project Evolve - Online Identities

In our Project Evolve session this week we completed a 'Guess Who' style task. In the previous session the children had designed their own avatars which represented who they perceived themselves to be. The children then walked around the room and tried to guess who each avatar belonged to. 

History

We used books from the key stage 2 library to research life in Roman times

Inspire

We made cards for a lady at a local care home who is turning 103!

RSHE

We created anti bullying posters 

Computing

In computing we have been learning about networks. We discussed how an internal network works and the use of a network switch. We sent messages within our internal network e.g. from 2@school to 4@school. 

Summerhill Visit

Some of the year 4 children went to Summerhill Country Park for an orienteering and den building activity. They had an awesome day!

Maths

We used number lines to support our understanding of rounding.

Literacy

Into the hot seat...

We had Grandma and George from George's Marvellous Medicine with us and we interviewed them to get to know them a little bit more.

Science

We looked at habitats and listed animals and plants that lived there and how they are adapted to survive in that habitat.

Maths

We are using practical resources to show the place value of 4 digit numbers.

Science - All living things

In Science we started our new topic by looking at the acronym MRS GREN. We had a great discussion about the different things living things can do e.g. move, breathe and grow. We then sorted a selection of animals into different groups e.g. animals that live on the land, animals that live underwater, mammals, insects, etc. To end our lesson, we used question stems to ask questions about our new topic e.g. 'Why do monkeys eat bananas?'. 

Inspire

For our first inspire we had board games, colouring and dodgeball. 

We completed a team building activity to save Fred the Worm. We had some rules to follow: We could not touch anything with our hands, only paper clips, we could not damage Fred, his boat or the life jacket and Fred could not fall in the water. We had lots of fun! 

History

In history we have started our topic- The Romans. In our first lesson we listened to the legend of Romulus and Remus and how they founded the city of Rome. We then asked questions and made inferences about the Romans.

A wet daily mile meant we got to have the stacking cups out. We loved it!

Library Time

Every year group, in key stage 2, has one day per week that children can choose to go to the library at playtime. Here we are enjoying our first library time!