Year 4: Blog items
Year 4 - R.A.P. with Alim Kamara
Date: 4th Feb 2026 @ 4:26pm
As part of National Storytelling Week 2026, our Year 4 pupils enjoyed an inspiring online workshop led by storyteller and rapper Alim Kamara. The session, delivered live via Zoom, was a vibrant celebration of music, rhythm and the power of storytelling.
The workshop formed part of the National Literacy Trust’s nationwide events for Key Stage 2, designed to help children explore how stories can be told through sound, lyrics and performance. During the interactive session, pupils learned how storytelling and rap can come together to create powerful narratives. They were guided through the process of shaping their own lyrics and experimenting with rhythm—discovering firsthand how words can come alive through music.
The event formed part of this year’s national theme, “Soundtrack Your Story”, celebrating how music can enhance storytelling and ignite children’s love for reading and writing. Supported by the National Literacy Trust and the National Year of Reading 2026, the workshop provided a rich opportunity for pupils to develop their confidence, creativity and enjoyment of literacy.
Date: 3rd Feb 2026 @ 3:31pm
To start RSE week, we decided what the ground rules were during our RSE sessions.
Our first lesson, looked at the human lifecycle and some basic facts about puberty. We discuss at what stage humans reproduce and how our bodies change during this time. We then focused on what puberty is during the second lesson. We were given facts about puberty and we had to sort them to match the correct picture. We also recapped how our bodies change during puberty and which changes are specific to males and which changes are specific to females. Separately, as a class of girls and a class of boys, we spoke about periods and the girls looked at sanitary products.
During our third RSE lesson this week, we looked at what a healthy relationship looks like. To start, we discussed what a friendship is and what makes a good friend. Then we looked at statements and pictures about/of friendships and we had to decide whether it was an example of a healthy relationship or not.
Year 4 - playing our compositions
Date: 3rd Feb 2026 @ 10:10am
This week, we played our compositions from Charanga last week on the glockenspiels.
Date: 29th Jan 2026 @ 9:07am
This week in Year 4, we focused on becoming confident, expressive readers through our guided reading lesson. We began by listening to the text read aloud as an expert model, helping the children hear how pauses and emphasis can bring a story to life.
Working in pairs, trios, or small groups, the children then selected a section of the text to explore more deeply. They marked their chosen passage with slashes to show where natural pauses should occur and highlighted key words that deserved extra emphasis. This helped them think carefully about how an author’s language should sound when spoken aloud.
After practising together, each group performed their section for the whole class. The children listened attentively to one another, offering thoughtful feedback and celebrating what each group did well.
Date: 26th Jan 2026 @ 2:26pm
To start this week's lesson, we recapped what musical notation is and clapped the beat to the section of the song we were going to compose a piece of music for. We focused on ostinato (a pattern that repeats). We logged into Charanga (YUMU) and used the composition page of 'Bringing us together' to improvise our own section of the song using an ostinato. We discussed which notes gave us 1, 2, 3 or 4 beats.
Date: 26th Jan 2026 @ 12:23pm
This week, we completed our class shared writes. Our genre is a setting description. We used our knowledge of the features of a setting description to write parts of a description then piece them together. We included similes, personification, a variety of sentence openers and powerful vocabulary.
Year 4 - Introduce family members
Date: 26th Jan 2026 @ 12:19pm
This week, we learnt to introduce our family members. We had to write these in French and use good intonation and pronunciation.
We need to use J'ai for I have.. to introduce our family members.
Date: 22nd Jan 2026 @ 9:17am
Year 4 - how do we hear sounds?
Date: 20th Jan 2026 @ 9:01pm
Last week, we looked at how sounds travel from the sound source to us being able to hear it. We discovered that when a source makes a sound it creates vibrations and those vibrations travel through the particles in the air to our ears. Our ears pick up the message via the hairs in our ears which then send a message about the sound we are hearing to our brains.
We were able to use a drum and paper then a cup of water and a tuning fork to see and feel the vibrations for ourselves.
Year 4 - How far does sounds travel?
Date: 19th Jan 2026 @ 2:59pm
This week, we answered the question 'How far does sound travel'? We used the hall to measure out 5m, 10m, 15m and 18m (the length of the hall!). We then had four different sound sources and measured the decibels. We found that the further the sound meter was from the sound source the less decibels were heard.
Year 4 - listen and appraise 'Mambo'
Date: 19th Jan 2026 @ 2:57pm
To start this week's lesson, we recapped what musicalnotation is. We then had a listening, appraising andsinging lesson. We focused on melody, rhythm, beat,tempo and tonality of the song 'Mambo' from West SideStory. We used our stem sentence mats to help usdiscuss what we thought of the song. Before we sang'Bringing us together' we discussed what our postureneeds to be like before we sing.
Date: 16th Jan 2026 @ 11:47am
Key Stage 2 pupils recently took part in their second Times Table Bee, an exciting and competitive event. Four children from each year group proudly represented their house and competed by answering a range of tricky times table questions. Pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 were particularly challenged, as they tackled more demanding questions that relied heavily on their secure knowledge of multiplication tables. The event was enjoyed by all and showcased the children’s confidence, speed, and enthusiasm for maths.
Well done to all that took part!
Date: 15th Jan 2026 @ 9:09am
Our Year 3 and 4 Reading into Writing class had a fantastic time practising their spellings in a creative way! As part of our Active Spelling intervention, pupils used dough to form letters and words, turning spelling practice into a hands-on, engaging experience. This fun approach not only helps improve accuracy but also strengthens fine motor skills and makes learning memorable. The children loved shaping their spellings and showing off their creations—what a brilliant way to combine movement and literacy!
Year 4 - Coding a 'floor turtle'
Date: 15th Jan 2026 @ 9:06am
Date: 14th Jan 2026 @ 3:03pm
We are still focusing on our times tables through our Mastering Number daily lessons. Please keep practising at home ready for the statutory test in June.
Date: 13th Jan 2026 @ 11:24am
This week, we practised singing 'Bringing us together'. Then we looked at the three notes we would be using on the glockenspiels (G, A and C). We located them on the instrument and pracitsed playing. Some of us were brave enough to play solos or duos to the whole class.
Date: 8th Jan 2026 @ 11:57am
Over the last week, Year 4 had the opportunity to work with Ribble Rivers Trust. Some of their team members came into school to talk to us about all the work they do. We all started our own conservation team to help RRT. We were given a model of a river and in our conservation teams, we had to label each part of the river Ribble. We had to use our oracy skills to discuss where we thought each part went. We found the tributaries, saw meanders in the river and found the source and mouth.
Helen (RRT) told us how the floodplains rich with wildlife because the river’s water creating the floodplains bring lots of nutrition for the wildlife. We looked at lots of different wildlife and decided which were freshwater and which were saltwater. We were surprised to learn that trouts all start in a river as a Brown Trout, but some migrate to the sea and become sea trouts.
Helen and Cody from RRT also told us about their jobs as engagement officers and how they work with school to help spread the word.
RRT are planting 35,000 trees this year to help provide shade for the river wildlife during hot months and they have also helped farmers pay for fences to stop their animals going near the rivers and causing pollution. Pollution such as sewage waste and litter can harm rivers and their wildlife.
In the afternoons, we were lucky enough to go out on a walk to Stanley Park. We saw lots of nature and Helen taught us about wildlife we saw there.
In a tree filled area of Stanley Park, we paused for two minutes to listen to the sounds we could hear. We heard birds tweeting, people talking walking passed and even the sealions at the zoo!
Afterwards, we picked leaves to do leaf printing back in school.
Along our walk there and back we couldn’t believe the amount of litter we saw. We spoke about how this affects wildlife and our environment.
Date: 8th Jan 2026 @ 9:19am
Date: 7th Jan 2026 @ 4:12pm
Date: 7th Jan 2026 @ 4:08pm
Date: 6th Jan 2026 @ 4:10pm
Our focus this half term in oracy is the social and emotional element of oracy. We recapped the elements we have looked at in previous half terms, then moved on to discussing structuring our oracy properly, taking turns and show active listening skills.
Date: 6th Jan 2026 @ 4:05pm
We loved the start of our Dance unit today. We warmed up by moving around the Dance Studio with low or high movements. Next, we discussed why dancers count to 8 (to keep in time with each other). We discussed what things we think of when we hear the word spy and then this was our movement focus. We had a lot of fun practising a dance counting to 8.
Date: 5th Jan 2026 @ 4:09pm
This week, we started the lesson using our oracy skills looking at a statement which said “There will be areas around school which are silent” and a “which one doesn’t belong scenario”. Next, we discussed what noise pollution is and how we hear sound because materials vibrate. Towards the end of the lesson, we went on a sound walk around school to see if there are any areas which are silent and noted down all the sounds we heard.
Date: 5th Jan 2026 @ 4:03pm
This week we had a listening and appraising lesson. We remembered that to listen and appraise we need to have good active listening skills to be able to talk about the dimensions of the music. For our group task, we had to discuss what the beat was like, the time signature, the tempo, what instruments we could hear, the structure of the song, the genre, the pitch and the tonality. Afterwards, we had a go at singing the song for the first time.
Date: 18th Dec 2025 @ 2:57pm
Year 4 had a fantastic time taking part in a festive challenge circuit to help raise money for Brian House and Trinity Hospice. The children also wore elf and Christmas accessories to add to the fun!
The circuit included a range of physical challenges that tested the children’s speed, accuracy and strength. The children worked together, encouraged one another and demonstrated great teamwork skills.
Well done Year 4, for a huge physical effort and for supporting two local charities.
