Year 4 – Dolphins
Welcome to the Year 4 Dolphins class page.
We are one of two Year 4 classes here at Bridgewater, led by our teacher Mr Bishop and supported by our wonderful TA, Miss Duggan. We are also taught by two other fantastic teachers, Miss Sharrat (RE, PSHE focus) on a Monday, and Ms Blair on a Friday afternoon.Overall we are a hardworking, dedicated group who take pride in our work whilst having a ton of fun on the way. We hold curiosity as a key value and always ask lots of questions. We also hold transparency and honesty in high regards, understanding that mistakes are not only to be expected, but are a crucial part of our learning journey. We want all to feel welcomed, supported, and empowered.
Our weeks are busy, with a wide range of different activities. We do a lot of exercise such as friendly but competitive sports in PE, and tricky, showstopping choreography in Dance, both of which are delivered by highly talented, dedicated proffessionals. Luckily enough, we have made links with a local, award-winning contemporary dance theatre company, balletLORENT, who are very kindly conducting a few workshops with us as well as sneaky showcases of upcoming productions during the Autumn term. Year 4 at Bridgewater means we begin our swimming lessons, each week on a Thursday, which we are absolutely loving so far! We are also fortunate enough tto continue learning a modern foreign language, Spanish, whilst we hone our vocal talents and musical understanding in singing. These weekly, full class singing lessons often result in school performances during celebrated times of the year, as well as extra curricular experiences like choir. Speaking of music, twice a week we learn and practise with our musical instruments from flutes to cellos, from violas to clarinets, all in thanks to our passionate In Harmony teachers.
As well as all of these exciting events we also enjoy doing English, Maths, Science, History, Geography, Art and DT. In English we base our learning around a class reader; this year we will be reading many texts including: ‘The Frog Prince Continued…’, ‘Stone Age Boy’, ‘The Pebble in my Pocket’, ‘Boy at the back of the Class’, ‘Pugs of the Frozen North’. In Maths, we will use all four operations and are developing our problem solving and reasoning skills as well as a healthy mix of geometry, fractions and decimals along with frequent practise in telling the time.
In Science we are looking forward to carrying out lots of investigations and learning about light, electricity, living things, sound and the digestive system. In History we delve back to the ancient Stone Age and make links to existing prior knowledge, exploring eras and following a enquiry based learning practise about English history heritage. This includes the invasions and settlement of the Anglo-Saxons (and Jutes) and Vikings. We use this when making links within our other humanities focus of Geography, including map reading, Norway, and how the climates of different countries vary and why.
Reading and writing are of course incredibly important in Year 4, with daily RWInc. and weekly grammar sessions.
Timetables are also incredibly important. A strong understanding of these multiplication tables are crucial in being foundational and built upon in other mathematical processes, such as fractions and telling the time.Towards the end of the year (June), Year 4 take part in a national assessment named the MTC (Multiplication Times table Check).
To support in home learning, students have access to a range of fantastic resources with key focuses on spelling, reading and compression and of course times tables. If you have any difficulty logging on, please just ask. These include:
- TT Rockstars
- Prodigy
- Education City
- activelearn primary
- WhiteRose (a free app named 1-Minute Maths)
- Spelling Shed
- ReadingPlus
- Read Theory
Please keep in touch and updated through ClassDojo. Also please remember to bring in and check book bags everyday which should have at least one class reading book and one book from the library. We have been set a challenge of trying to read 100 books before leaving Year 4, so reading daily is encouraged.
A few remainders for the week
Tuesday:PE – best to wear trainers.Library – bring library books in to be changed.
Thursday:Swimming – 3.30pm collection from main car park. Swimming kit (outfit, goggles and towel in a bag) required.
Friday:In Harmony – 3.30pm collection from top yard (most weeks but subject to change).
