Year 4 / 5

2022 - 2023

Roman Trip to Chester

Year 4/5 enjoyed an interesting and fun-filled, if a little soggy, trip to the Roman city of Chester. The children practised archaeology skills by looking at artefacts and making deductions about what they could be. They were able to be hands on with a range of replica artefacts including a Roman bath house, Roman roof tiles, Roman cooking equipment and a Roman soldiers kit bag. 

Following this, the children were dressed as Roman soldiers in armour and a shield and marched through the streets of Chester. Once at the amphitheatre, the children practised a variety of Roman army tactics for attack and defence. They had to guard their territory against some fierce barbarians (Mrs Murphy, Mrs Taylor and Louie's Mum!), holding their line or attacking on command. The class won the record for the quickest and most organised class that day, getting into position in 1.75 seconds! A fearsome battalion!

Finally, the children had some time to look around the Grosvenor Museum. They watched a video about a carving found in Chester and the story of the husband and wife that it told. The children were amazed to be able to see that carving in real life. 

The trip has really enhanced our Roman learning and we're all now well prepared for a barbarian attack!

Life Education Caravan

On 4th October, the children had a lesson from the Life Education Caravan. They learned about diversity, what humans need to survive and the health impact of smoking and alcohol. 

Place Value

The children have been busy learning about place value using a range of concrete and pictorial resources. They are partitioning numbers and learning what each digit represents. 

Financial workshop

Michelle Barron of Classroom Solutions came to school to deliver a workshop on financial education to year 4/5. The class learned about the average salary of a range of occupations and the necessary attributes for each job.

The children learned about wages and how people are paid. They learned about income tax and how it is used to pay for schools, the NHS and other public services. We learned about how lucky we are in the UK to have a free health service.

Michelle told the children about two different types of bank account - savings accounts and current accounts. Current accounts are where wages are paid and bills come out of. Savings accounts are where we save up money for bigger purchases.

The children had to categorise bills into essentials or luxuries. Some of them were difficult to classify for example thinking about whether we need WiFi to live our lives in the modern world.

The children completed a ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ quiz to assess what they had learned which they really enjoyed.

This workshop contributed to our PSHE learning.

2021 - 2022

Summer Term

Year 4/5 have been working on sculpture this half term. They were inspired to create a sculpture quote which you can see below. 

This term, Y4/5 have been learning how to create a podcast. Our celebration assembly today is our finished podcast episode. We hope you enjoy it!

Year 4/5 had a great geography outreach session today from Miss Ollerenshaw from Byrchall high school. The children learned about the three Ps of earthquakes (predicting, preparing, protecting).

To predict, they used a map, cut along the earth’s tectonic plates to work out where in the world earthquakes happen. They then needed to predict where the earthquakes were most likely to happen.

In order to prepare for an earthquake, children were asked to think about ways in which they might stay safe from an earthquake. They were given (a virtual) £100 to spend on deciding what they wanted in their ‘grab bag’ justifying which items they would take over others. They also had to think about why it might be more difficult for low income countries (LICs) to prepare for earthquakes than high income countries (HICs).

They then learned that protection can begin with the buildings we are in, learning the key shapes which provide strength and building their own marshmallow ‘buildings’ to pass the shake test.

Year 4/5 visited Manchester Jewish Museum which is based on the site of the former Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. The children had a wonderful day learning all about Jewish festivals and feasts. 

Wigan and Leigh Archives visit

Year 4/5 visited the Wigan and Leigh Archives at Leigh Town Hall. We explored the exhibitions and were treated to a behind the scenes look at where the archives are stored. As we explored, we used the exhibits to generate questions and answers. After that, we took part in a coding session led by Barclays Digital Eagles. We used the questions we had generated earlier in the day to create a multiple choice quiz on Scratch.

You can find more coding ideas from Barclays at https://barclayscodeplayground.co.uk/ 

Roman numerals

We revised our knowledge of Roman numerals today, playing a game of four-in-a-row. We had to match the numeral we rolled to the number on the sheet. 

Superhero day

The whole school dressed up as superheroes to raise funds for Year 6 to take with them to their Leavers’ service at Liverpool Cathedral. The School Council chose the theme of superheroes to help us to think about the power each of us has to care for our world, which God created. All funds raised were donated to the Christian Aid charity. 

School council

Year 4/5 voted for new school council members. Showing the British Value of Democracy, children put themselves forward to be elected and then wrote speeches to present to the class explaining why they thought they would make a good school councillor. Children then cast their votes for the candidates electing Thomas and Amelia to represent them at school council meetings. 

Local artist visit
Year 4/5 had a wonderful day today with a visit from a local artist in collaboration with Wigan STEAM. After exploring the Bickershaw Country Parkl, foraging for leaves and flowers, we came back to school and used these to create printed bags. We also worked with Natalie, the local artist, to create a printed moth for our class. 

Year 4/5 used Digimaps to learn about features of the local area. They compared modern maps to maps from the 1850s.

Play Ordnance Survey games at https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/games 

The children are making the most of the sunshine and learning about the properties of shapes while staying active. 

Learn more at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvmxsbk/articles/zt8q8hv

Year 4 Science class had a great lesson in our outdoor classroom constructing food chains. They learned about prey, predators, consumers, producers and the importance of green plants. 

Try the food chain challenge at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zsphrwx to apply new knowledge! 

Summer Term Knowledge Organisers

Spring Term

Year 4/5 enjoyed learning about renewable energy in British Science Week. The children use Science, Design & Technology and Geography skills to design, make and test a wind powered turbine. Here are the children's successful tests. It is important to note that for some of these children, this was the result a number of tests and tweaks to their original design. The children showed great growth mindset in going back to the drawing board and learning from each other!

Year 4/5 celebrated World Book Day by reading Inside the Villain by Clotilde Perrin and then creating our own version. 

Year 4/5 marked Mental Health Week with mini meditations, mindful moments and learning about our emotions.

Knowledge organisers for Spring term can be found here.

As part of our English work on writing a holiday brochure, we tasted Italian food and wrote Marks and Spencers style adverts about them. 

We have been learning musical notation including crotchets, quavers, minims and semibreves. We used these to make up our own call and response rhythms. 

In PE, Year 4/5 are learning some new skills such as arabesque and shoulder stand. The children thought it would never take a whole lesson to master each skill but by the end, with aching muscles and tired bodies, the children realised how strong gymnasts have to be!

We enjoyed finding related facts in Maths using our fact family and place value knowledge. We especially enjoyed hunting for mistakes and correcting them. 

Year 4 took a walk around the school grounds to explore the different flora, fauna and funghi that could be found. Even though it was the middle of winter, the children still found some interesting things!

We enjoyed a visit from The Dog's Trust who taught us ways to stay safe around unfamiliar dogs. We learned that there is no such thing as a safe or dangerous breed of dog but that each dog is individual and should be treated carefully. 

Autumn Term

We've been learning about stop motion animation - see our erupting volcanoes on our PurpleMash notice board. 

We have enjoyed making and shopping at mini-enterprise!

In Science, we learned about how particles behave in different states of matter by acting out their actions. Can you spot solid, liquid and gas? 

We'e enjoyed visits from Life Education and Road Safety.

We've inspected our teeth as part of our Science topic - we can now identify incisors, molars and canines. Budding dentists!

We've been enjoying lots of time doing outdoor learning.

In English, we have been learning about oral story telling and using our historical knowledge to retell the myth of Romulus and Remus, the founding of Rome. We used green screen technology and puppets to retell the story. Here is the film. 

Summer Term

Below you can access this term's Knowledge Organisers which show you what we will be learning about.

Summer Term Celebration Assembly

Well it really has been a unique year. Year 4/5 have been an absolute pleasure this year and we have thoroughly enjoyed teaching them. We have achieved so much in the time we have had together and below you can see just a small snippet of what we have been learning in the last part of the summer term. We wish each of the children luck in the next steps on their journey and hope you all have a well-earned and deserved break over the summer.

From, 

Mrs Davies, Mrs Murphy and Mrs Taylor

Sports Day

The children in Year 4/5 enjoyed Sports Day showing skills of fairness and competitiveness as well as encouraging each other and cheering everyone on.

Forest School

The children in Year 4/5 enjoyed a day of Forest School with Mrs Davies where they played familiar and new games; prepared an Anglo-Saxon stew on the campfire and had to construct a shelter which was tested for how waterproof it was. They learned skills of teamwork, mutual respect and democracy.

Music

The children in Year 4/5 have been busy composing music. They were inspired by dance music to create these beats. 

Persuasive Letter Writing

We are beginning to look at persuasive letter writing and have been 'finding the shape' of an example letter.  Some of the features include 'hard hitting statistics' and 'growing evidence'. 

NSPCC Number Day 2021

For Number Day this year, we wore our own number themed clothes and took part in a range of number themed activities including tasks outdoors, looking for patterns and numbers in nature. All this was to raise money for the NSPCC and to help foster a love of numbers!

Spring Term

Multicultural Week

During multicultural week Year 4/5 learned all about Japan. Have a look at the video below to see what we learned and some of the activities we did. 

Wear you Scarf to School Day

We wore our scarves to school, or at home, during mental health week to celebrate our differences and individualities.

Please find below this term's Knowledge Organisers.

Celebration Assembly

Autumn 2

Celebration Assembly

Wow! What a brilliant return to school for the children in Year 4/5. The children have been exceptional in their behaviour and learning. They have tackled every new challenge with resilience and consideration. They have adapted to new school and class routines, working hard to keep one another safe in these challenging times. I could not be more proud.

Have a look at the video below which shows just some of the things we have done this term.

We have been lucky enough to have sessions in the first part of the Autumn term run by Premier Sports. We worked on our basic skills and played a closely fought game of cricket.

In Forest Schools this term we have built shelters, made frames using a range of knots and worked together on a range of tasks developing our listening and teamwork skills. 

This term our topic is The Romans. In English we will be writing recounts and historical narrative based on Jeremy Strong's Romans on the Rampage. We will be finding out about how the Roman Empire spread throughout Europe and will then investigate some of those European countries which were once Roman to see what they are like today. We will also find out about the Romans in Britain and Boudica's revolt.

As well as this, in Science, we will be learning about Earth and Space where we will find out about the planets, phases of the moon and discover why we have day and night. 

Any useful links can be found at www.wibki.com/MrsD.

Below you can find this term's knowledge organisers which show what the children will be learning about in each subject.

Year 4/5 Church Service

We are saddened we are unable to lead services in church at the moment. Despite this, the children have still been leading collective worship with the video below being shared across school with the other children and adults. This week the children in Year 4/5 have been thinking about leadership and what it takes to be a good leader. We thought about the life of Joshua from the bible and the skills he used to be a good leader.  

2019-2020

Useful Information

All websites used in school to support children's learning can be viewed at http://www.wibki.com/mrsm 

On there, there are also links to the main homework sites and websites that can support your child's learning at home. Please do make use of them! 

Spring Term

In History, English and Computing, we've worked on a class blog called Horrible Histories - Weird Wigan. You will be able to see our posts and comments below. The children can access the blog by logging into Purple Mash. They are encouraged to research a new article about the history of Wigan and add it to the blog!

In English, we're writing ghost stories set in Haigh Hall and incorporating the legend of Lady Mabel. We have been drawing story maps and making word banks to use in our finished ghost story.  We've been saving them on SeeSaw - you can use our QR codes to see our work!

We have been very busy learning about Wigan's local history. We've learned about the Roman settlement of Coccium and the discovery of a bathhouse when the Grand Arcade was being built. We've also learned about the King's Charter, the battle of Wigan Lane and we're currently researching the Industrial Revolution and it's impact on Wigan. Come back soon to see our PowerPoints based on our research! 

In Music, we are learning how to play the glockenspiel. So far, we can recognise the notes C, D, E and F and use these in a combination of crotchets, minims and quavers to play a short melody. 

Autumn Term

We have learned about the structure of the Earth by making a playdough Earth with all of its different layers. We were surprised to know that a layer deep inside the Earth has magnetic properties so strong they help to protect us from the Sun's rays! We were also interested that the inner core is solid, despite being as hot as the Sun. This is because of the pressure it is under. 

We explored our school and church grounds, learning how to identify different trees using their leaves and their twigs. We found rowan, hawthorn, oak, sycamore, beech, silver birch and many others just in a small area! 

We did circuit training, Maths style, in our Active Maths lesson. We had to solve some really tricky questions and move from station to station. We then started to check with the inverse. We used our addition and subtraction skills, working on getting quicker and more accurate. 

Today (18.10.19) we had a visit from the ambassador from Wigan's twin town, Angers. The children watched a presentation about Angers before drawing pictures of famous Angers landmarks to send to a school over there. They asked wonderful questions and listened really carefully. At the end of the lesson, the children sang the 'Au Revoir' song to the ambassador. 

We've had a great start to Y4/5 and we've already been really busy. So far, we have been learning about the place value of numbers by using Base Ten to build them, order them and compare them. We've enjoyed using these concrete resources to imprint our learning into our brains. We've also enjoyed getting outside to do our Maths lessons like when we went on a QR code hunt in the school playground to find different numbers. 

We've been reading the myths of the Romans, particularly Jupiter and the Bee. We created freezeframes of the bees finding out that their stingers came with a high price. You can find the myth of Jupiter and the Bee on Mr Donn's website. 

We decided to write news reports about the bees acquiring stingers and worked in character as bees, Gods, mortals or journalists to gather quotes and interview key witnesses. 

We've learned about the Roman invasion of Britain, acting out the Roman Army trading then invading Britain and taking over the Celtic tribes. We enjoyed pretending to build Hadrian's Wall. You can find a timeline of Roman Britain on the Primary Homework website.

Finally, we've been very busy learning about the different names of the Bible. We thought that the Good News Bible, the Children's Bible and the Family Bible were the best named because we are all children in God's special family reading a Bible full of good news. 

What a busy start to the term we've had, with plenty more to come!

2018-2019

Summer 2

We have been learning Viking sagas through song in our music lesson. Mrs Murphy challenged us to create a fanfare for Thor, the Viking God of Thunder. We used 2Sequence on Purple Mash to compose our fanfares. We had to make sure they were no more than 8 beats, with a beginning, middle and end. We also had to try and layer different sounds. Here are some of our compositions. 

We have continued to get outside and learn Maths. In this lesson, we had to calculate the missing angle on a straight line and then use that number to complete a circuit activity. We really enjoyed moving about and we could all work out the missing angles! 

During National Cricket Week, we had a lesson where we learned the basics of batting, fielding and bowling. We played a mini game and enjoyed trying to hit the stumps with the ball!

Lucy Wray, the artist involved with the local heritage project, visited us again. She taught us how to make poppies using reclaimed plastic bags. Our poppies will be on display in the heritage trail!

Summer 1

It's been Outdoor Education Day!! We spent a lesson in our new outdoor classroom, learning about the diverse plants found in a small section of our school grounds. We mapped where the plants were found and then we used classification keys and spotters' guides to identify any plants we didn't know. Finally, we made a nature bracelet to recap our learning. 

We've been doing more active Maths - this time, ordering numbers with a variety of decimal places. We did this as a relay race - it was much more fun than working inside!

We have been learning to multiply fractions by integers. We played a game outside to get our bodies moving and our brains thinking!

We are excited to be taking part in a local history project with a local community group. It is focusing on the men from the area who died in World War One. We had a visit from artist, Lucy Wray, who worked with us on portrait skills. We will be working on artwork for the project soon. 

Spring 2

In Forest Schools this week (15.03.19), we made shelters for peg people. We had to collect all the materials from the outdoor area to create our shelter. The only things we brought outside were scissors and wool, everything else had to be sourced outside. Once we had made the shelters, we created an estate agent's sales pitch to sell our shelters to our peg friends. We were great at exaggerating their best features. Some of our shelters came with sun terraces, balconies, water slides and spacious living areas...!

It's been World Book Day! Look at the amazing costumes we had on!

We've been learning about Shabbat in the Jewish faith. We looked at all of the preparations we would do if the Queen was visiting school and then compared this to the preparations some Jews make for Shabbat. We then created freeze-frames of the preparations. 

We've started learning about fractions and we revised what a fraction actually is using classroom objects - here's some of our posters!

We've been learning about teamwork in our PSHE lessons. We were put into a tangle by our teacher and had to work together to get out of it! It was great fun and we communicated really well. 

We are continuing our topic about the local area by learning about landscape artists and creating our own landscape. We've spent some time investigating different styles of landscape painting using poster paints, watercolours and lots of different techniques. 

Spring 1

On Number Day, we wrote a book called "A World of Numbers". We had to research a topic of our choice before creating a page for the class book. Here are our pages.  We also wore number themed clothes. 

In Maths, we have been learning about perimeter. Our teacher taped large shapes all around our classroom and we had to find the perimeter of them in teams. We learned that perimeter means the distance around a 2D shape.

We have a great start to the new year in our Science topic of Sound. We made string telephones and loved talking to our friends using them. We even discovered that you can connect more than one set of string telephones together. We also learned some sign language to learn how people who cannot hear communicate. 

Autumn 2

In Forest Schools, we were given a tarpaulin and some bungee ropes and told to make a shelter. We had to test our ideas and work as a team to come up with a solution. 

As part of our Roman topic, we followed a recipe to make Roman bread which we then turned into either pizza or bruschetta. 

The history of steel pan drums is linked to slavery and the plantations. 

We've been back to Victoria Fields twice to plant herbs, make pizza, make bug hotels and go on a nature walk. We've had great fun down there learning about our local environment and how to look after and care for it. 

Autumn 1

We have been learning how to play the steel pan drums. Here is our latest lesson:

This term, we have been learning about Roman army formations. We practised the Roman army formations.

This term, in Gymnastics lessons we have been learning how to do matched and mirrored shapes with a partner. Here are some of our shapes. 

2017-2018

Summer 2

On Sunday 15th July, two children chose to take the next step of their Christian journey and take Communion before Confirmation. They attended a special church service where they were allowed to take Communion for the first time. We are really proud of the children for choosing this special step. 

We spent the morning at Westleigh High School where we investigated a crime using police techniques. First, we learned how to make a cast of a footprint before we dusted for fingerprints. We also measured footprints carefully and examined clothing fibres underneath the microscope. Finally, we analysed different black inks using chromatography. We had a great time working out ‘who dunnit’. 

We have had a very busy and exciting term so far. We have been on an exciting trip to the Football Museum in Manchester where we learned all about the job of a curator as well as about England's World Cup victory in 1966. When we returned to school, we were so inspired that we decided to have a class debate on who we thought would win the England/Columbia match. We tested our ideas out on a child from Y3/4 - of course, he said England would win! 

We've also been busy using our Computing coding skills in Maths to make a conversion calculator. Our coding skills are really good now and we are starting to use them all across the curriculum  for example, making a computer game where Pickles finds the World Cup trophy. 

We've also taken part in Sports Day, which we really enjoyed and showed some fantastic team spirit and perseverance! 

Look out for our photos of our trip to Westleigh to take part in CSI Investigation...!

We are currently learning about taking Communion before Confirmation with Rev Ann. This week (05.06.18) we brought in special objects and discussed them linked to the special objects used in church.   

Summer 1 

We have recently enjoyed a trip to Manchester Cathedral and the Jewish Museum which is an old synagogue. We learned about the similarities between Christianity and Judaism. 

We designed prayer spaces for different types of prayer in our RE lessons.

We have been very busy reading a range of books by significant children's authors such as Oliver Jeffers, Julia Donaldson and Eric Carle. We chose picture books that we were familiar with and we are writing book reviews for the infant library to help them pick good books. 

We have made our own buzzer games using our knowledge of circuits and materials that conduct electricity. Watch our process and our photos where we tested out our games. 

We have been really enjoying learning about electricity and making circuits. So far, we have learned how to construct a simple circuit to light up a bulb and created our own switches using our knowledge of materials that conduct electricity well. 

Spring

We are learnt about the changing power of monarch by looking at the life of Henry VIII. We learned he had six wives, three children and that he founded the Church of England. 

We learned about treating water and we designed our own water filters using cotton wool, mesh and coffee filter paper. We made our muddy water much clearer...although we still wouldn't drink it! 

In Science lessons this term, we have been learning about the water cycle. In our classroom, we have made a pet cloud. We filled a plastic bag with some water and stuck it in our window. The water in the bag started to evaporate and when we came to class the next day, a cloud had formed in the bag. This is because of condensation. As the little water droplets got bigger, they began to fall back down to the water. This is because the water cycle is a closed cycle and evaporation and condensation occurs over and over again. 

Autumn 2

Our RE unit this term was all about the different versions of the Nativity in Matthew and Luke. We had great fun reading through carols, watching Nativity plays and looking at Christmas cards to work out whether they showed Matthew or Luke's version of the story. We wondered about some of the things that we believed to be true such as "Where there only three Kings?" and "Did they really arrive on the same night as the shepherds?" Finally, we created a Nativity sensory story and performed it to the Reception children.

Autumn 1

In Autumn 1, we have been learning about the Romans.

We had great fun learning about aqueducts and then taking part in a challenge to build our own. In teams, we could choose our materials and design. We had one hour to build a working aqueduct that could carry water for 30cm.