Hello everyone and welcome to Year 4's Class Page. I am Mrs Shaw, the Year 4 class teacher. The children in Year 4 are fantastic learners. Explore this page to see some of the fantastic, exciting things we have done this year. You can also head over to our 'Curriculum Page' to see more about what we are learning this year!

Your child has been given access to Purple Mash, Mathletics, Timestable Rockstars and Spelling Shed. Please allow your child to access these websites at home to continue their learning at home.

Reading is a very important aspect of learning, so we actively encourage children to read every night. Please listen to your child read and write what they have read in their Reading Record. Your child should bring in their Reading Record into school in their school book-bag every day.

Every Friday, homework will be given out or set online using Purple Mash and Mathletics, and this is to be handed in on Thursday the following week. The purpose of this homework is to review what the children have learnt during the week. Year 4 will also complete arithmetic/reasoning tests in class which they are to take home and revise from. The children should identify areas of the test that they find challenging. The children are encouraged to come and see me in the morning if they are unsure on any of the questions and we can go through this together.

The children will also be given weekly spellings to take home to learn. Please practise these spellings with your child.

If you or your child are ever unsure on a piece of homework, please do not hesitate to speak to me. A positive work ethos makes all the difference to your child's learning, so your support from home is welcomed and encouraged.

P.E is currently taking place on a Monday where your child will take part in Yoga and Outdoor Adventurous Activities (OAA). PE will also take place on a Tuesday, where your children will take part in Rugby and Invasion Games led by Rugby Tots coaches. Please ensure that your child arrives to school in full P.E kit ready for their lessons. It is vital for the children to wear full P.E kit so they can take part in the P.E sessions safely and comfortably.

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs Shaw.

Music: EuroConcert

Design Technology: Food and Nutrition

For our designed technology topic, Food and Nutrition, Year 4 are working with our school chef Katie, learning how to make healthy foods from low-cost ingredients. The children have began to consider how cheap processed foods will affect their diet and health in later life. Year 4 have made tasty root vegetable rostis and a delicious chickpea curry!

EuroVillage

Year 4 enjoyed a fantastic trip to the Eurovision Village! The children watched opera and Eurovision stars on stage at the Eurovision Village as part of Liverpool’s City Celebrations. This was a unique and rare opportunity for the children to see the internationally renowned English National Opera for free in Liverpool. The children enjoyed this epic outdoor performance. We cheered the world-renowned ENO Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Bell. We danced to former Eurovision contestants and international opera stars performing classical arrangements of some of the Song Contest’s greatest hits. We saw plenty of bright costumes, rousing choirs, a full orchestra, fabulous divas and plenty of sing-along tunes! The children listened to winning Eurovision songs, interval acts like Riverdance and Eurovision’s long-standing theme music – Charpentier’s Te Deum. Joyful, moving and loud, this project captured the spirit of Eurovision perfectly. We love living in Liverpool, we are proud of what this city has to offer!

King Charles visits Liverpool

Ten, lucky children were chosen from Year 4 to attend a school trip to Liverpool Library as King Charles and Queen in consort Camilla were attending! The children enjoyed waving their flags. King Charles visited Liverpool Central Library to officially mark its twinning with Ukraine's first public library, the Regional Scientific Library in Odesa. 

Science: Animals including humans

Year 4 have been working scientifically conducting an experiment to test which liquids cause the most tooth decay. 

Published authors in Year 4

The Easter Story

Design Technology: Nightlights

Year 4 created their own nightlights suitable for a young child. The children created their own circuit including a switch so they can turn their nightlights on and off. Year 4 made sure their nightlights were innovative and appealing, as well as functional. Look at our amazing creations below.

Easter Disco

Art: Impressionism

Year 4 created their final piece in our Impressionism art topic. The children sketched their chosen Liverpool landmark. We then explored Monet's paintings of cities. They then created their own Impressionist piece of artwork. The children used short brush strokes. The children also focused on light and making sure their piece was atmospheric. The children created wonderful artwork. Every child is an artist. 

Design Technology: Exploring joining techniques 

Year 4 explored joining techniques and ways we can strengthen our nightlights. We are focusing on improving our skills before we build our nightlights. 

Music: Brass instruments

The children in Year 4 have been enjoying working with Mr Fleming from Resonate learning to play the trumpet! The children worked with the music teacher to play a simple tune. See the wonderful photos and videos below.

English: The Matchbox Diary

In Year 4, we have started reading our new English novel. The Matchbox Diary. The children were each given a small matchbox. The children took these home and added a small object that would tell a story of a memory they have. The children have enjoyed sharing their stories as their class news at the end of the school day. 

Computing: Coding

Year 4 worked with Mr Mills. As part of the Computing session, the children used the iPads, working on Scratch Junior to create their own Code! The children created their own characters and icons, they explored arranging the blocks to create their own code, in order to make their character complete a task. Year 4 then moved onto using their coding skills to design their own flappy bird game on Scratch Junior. Year 4 also recapped over their animations topic with Mr Mills, creating their own animations. Look at our wonderful creations below.

Science: Animals and Humans

Year 4 worked in groups to create their own digestive system. We began by crushing digestive biscuits, using forks instead of teeth. We added water to represent the saliva. We spoke about how the food travels down the oesophagus to the stomach. We used a plastic bag to represent the stomach, with orange juice to represent the stomach acid. We then poured the mixed into tights to represent the small intestines. We squeezed out all the nutrients as it travelled through the small intestines. We used tea towels to represent the large intestines soaking up the water. We then examined our final product… poo!   

E-Safety Poster Competition

Well done to all the families that took part in our Online Safety poster competition. The E-Safety Champions had the difficult task of choosing a winner from EYFS, KS1 and KS2. Well done to the winning children who each won a £20 Amazon voucher. Well done!

Published authors in Year 4

In Year 4, we often take part in writing competitions. The children are given the opportunity to write short stories or poems, at home. The poems and stories are then sent to Young Writers. If the children’s work is chosen they have the opportunity to be published in a book. Well done Year 4!

Music: Rap - Grime

As part of Year 4’s music topic, the children learnt an anti-bullying rap. We are against bullying in Year 4 and we know what to do if we see bullying happening. The children then wrote their own anti-bullying raps. We performed these to the class. We will continue to promote our anti-bullying message.

NSPCC: Number Day

Thank you to all the families who donated £1 to the NSPCC charity for our Number Day. Well done to all the children who came into school dressed as a digit! The children in Year 4 celebrated Number Day by taking part in a NSPCC TTRockstars Competition! The NSPCC does amazing work to help support children and families and your donations will help them to continue the amazing work they do.

Art: Impressionism

Year 4 enjoyed a trip to the Walker Art Gallery. We started our trip by exploring Impressionist paintings linked to our current Art topic. We explored a painting called 'Break-up of the ice on the Seine, near Bennecourt' by an artist we had researched in class Claude Monet. We found out how this picture was painted in 1893 and shows the River Seine - in northern France - near to Monet's home at Giverny. It is early morning or late afternoon and the time of year is probably February as the ice breaks up and flows downriver. It is assumed that most of the picture was painted on the spot and Monet may have been attracted to the view precisely because the ice on the water produced such a complex mix of colours. We found out that the shorter brush strokes suggest that Monet was freezing cold when painting this painting! We spoke about what we liked and disliked about this painting. We then went on a scavenger hunt trying to find what other Impressionist paintings we could find, before exploring the whole Art Gallery. We also found lots of statues linked to our Romans topic.

Reading Festival

Year 4 enjoyed taking part in a Reading Festival. We began by exploring poetry by Kimba. Our favourite poem was Bubble Guts, which made us laugh! We then had the amazing opportunity to watch Kimba Live online, performing his poems. He also explained how poetry needs a little of SHAMPOO. Year 4 will use this when writing their own poems in class! We were then able to ask Kimba lots of questions. Kimba even performed his Bubble Guts poem after Year 4 requested it! We love poetry in Year 4. 

Art: Impressionism

In Art, we have been exploring Impressionism. In this lesson, we focused on the skill of using short brush strokes like an Impressionist! We explored Claude Monet's landscape paintings before we created our own landscape painting, using short, quick brush strokes.

Reading: Performance Poetry

Mrs Shaw's reading group have been exploring an amazing book called The Lost Words. This book is full of 'spells' that are acrostic poems that need to be spoken aloud for the magic to work. Mrs Shaw's reading group have been working hard performing these poems. 

RE: Collective Worship

Year 4 took part in role-play activities as we remembered the story from Matthew's gospel where Simon called Peter and Andrew dropped their fishing nets and followed Jesus. We discussed how we would feel to be chosen by Jesus to be a follower and how we can be a follower of Jesus. We then planned and took part in a Collective Worship session. In our session, we wrote on 'fish' something kind we could do to be a follower of Jesus, we then added it to the fishing nets in the middle of the circle. 

Computing: Animations

Year 4 worked hard created Animations as part of their Computing topic. The children used playdough and 2Animate on Purple Mash to create a Stop Motion Animation. 

Christmas Disco

Christmas Rhyme Poetry Workshop

Year 4 enjoyed taking part in the Christmas Rhyme poetry workshop! The children at Holy Cross worked together to create a whole-school Christmas poem. Each class had a workshop where they had the opportunity to create their own class verse. All the children had an assembly at the end of the day and each class performed their own part of the poem. We love poetry in Year 4!

Design Technology: Nightlights

As part of our DT project, Year 4 explored 3d nets and 3d shapes. We discussed which shapes could be a good 3d shape for a night-light. The children decorated their nets before printing them on card and creating the 3d shape.

Christmas Carol Performance

Year 4 enjoyed taking part in the Christmas carol performance. We thank all the families that took the time to come and celebrate Christmas with us!

Physical Education: Rugby Tots

Year 4 have enjoyed learning Invasion Skills through our rugby session with the Rugby Tots coaches. Throughout these sessions, the children have improved their hand/ eye coordination and their catching skills. The children have grown in confidence and developed their physical skills throughout the sessions. 

Science: States of Matter

Year 4 investigated whether materials that have the same mass occupy the same volume. To test this we filled two cylinders with water, ensuring they were equal amounts. We then put 200g of cheese in one cylinder. Then, we added a 200g weight to the other cylinder. We noticed how even though the cheese and the weight had equal mass, the cheese had a much bigger volume. This caused the water level to rise higher when the cheese was added than when the weight was added! This proves that objects made of different materials, but have the same mass, may have a different volume. Science is so interesting!

Computing: Hardware

In our Computing lessons, Year 4 are currently Hardware Investigators. The children learnt the difference between Hardware and Software. They then explored different parts of a Computer.

PSHE: Zones of Regulation

Using the Zones of regulation approach the children have been learning about their own emotions. We have been exploring how we feel a range of different emotions throughout the school day and have begun to focus on how the different zones affect our learning. We practised techniques we can use to bring us back to green zone. Each morning, the children are invited to move their name onto the zone they are feeling that morning. 

Art: Roman Mosaic Tile

Look at fantastic Roman Mosaic tiles Year 4 have created in their Art lessons. The children focused on creating an image or a pattern on their tile. The results were wonderful. Every child is an artist and they have created their own 3D art! 

Art: Natural Mosaics

Year 4 have been learning about Mosaics as part of their current Art topic. The children have experiment creating mosaics with different materials, including; these wonderful natural mosaics we created using lentils and beans! See below photos of the children's amazing artwork.

Music: Mamma Mia

In Music, Year 4 have been singing Mamma Mia! We have also been using the Glockenspiels too!

Science: Working Scientifically 

Thank you to all the families for working with your children to gather examples of living things. The children had a wide selection of flowering and non-flowering plants. The children also were able to speak about the vertebrates and invertebrates that they saw on their travels. In class, we worked as scientists to gather what we have found, sort it and classify it into groups. The children then presented to the class how they had chosen to group and classify what they had found.

Yoga

Every Monday, the children in Year 4 enjoy a Yoga session. These sessions provide the children with training for their body and mind, and help to promote emotional balance. Yoga gives the children tools to listen to their bodies, feelings and ideas. We find the sessions very relaxing!

Gymnastics

The children in Year 4 have been enjoying their Gymnastics sessions every Wednesday. The children have been working on their strength, flexibility, coordination, balance and body control within the sessions, look at the fantastic examples of this below!

Science: Living Things

In Science, the children were given a mixture of liquorice sweets. The children then created a decision tree diagram to identify them. The children then created their own one in their Science books about animals!

Liverpool Maths Party 

Science: All Living Things

In Science, Year 4 are learning about All Living Things. We worked hard to create 'pit fall traps' around our school playground to catch different invertebrates. The children then explored the different invertebrates we found. The children used a Classification Key to identify which invertebrate they had found. The children then recorded what they had found on their worksheet. We found lots of worms! The children used magnifying glasses to explore the invertebrates before placing them back gently.

The Great Holy Cross Bake Off

Year 4 really enjoyed the Bake Off! Thank you to all our Holy Cross families that brought in such delicious cakes! The children enjoyed eating a selection of yummy cakes. Well done to all the families and children who got the opportunity to show off their amazing baking skills. The money raised will be used for a new class money challenge.