Year 4 - Spring 1 - Week 1
Date: 8th Jan 2026 @ 2:48pm
A Happy New Year to you all!
It was so wonderful to welcome everyone back to the classroom this week. We were excited to return to our learning and catch up with our friends.
To begin our RE topic, we explored what the word authority means and how authority is portrayed in our community and across the world. After gathering photos to showcase what we understand authority to be, we explained to the class who holds authority in the world and what traits someone with authority might have. Year 4 produced some fantastic examples, linking their understanding of people who hold power, such as prime ministers and the police, to even older siblings – explaining that with age comes authority.
In Collective Worship, we acknowledged the Christian celebration of Epiphany. We learnt that the word Epiphany comes from the verb to appear. This means that the feast of Epiphany celebrates the time when Baby Jesus was seen by the visitors who had travelled to see him.
In Maths, we were introduced to Factorpillars as a memorable way to help us find factor pairs of a given number. After naming our caterpillar, we drew its face and body before finding factors to create the caterpillar’s legs. We made sure that adjacent legs formed a matching pair; for example, 10 and 2 are a factor pair of 20 and would therefore be a pair of legs for our caterpillar. Once we were confident in finding factor pairs, using Dienes blocks for support, we investigated whether it was true that the bigger the number, the more factor pairs it has. Next week, we will focus on how the place value of numbers changes when they are multiplied and divided by 10 and 100.
In Geography, we learnt about the structure of the Earth and the different layers that make it up. In Science, we began exploring electricity by identifying everyday appliances that require mains or battery power and learning how electricity can be generated from renewable and non‑renewable sources. As part of our outdoor learning this week, we learned how to safely build our own miniature fires and discussed how people used fire in the past and how it is beneficial in today’s world.
All children across the school are encouraged to read every day, both in and out of school. Additional recommended Reading at Home resources can be found here.
Please see our Year 4 Curriculum Map for an overview of what the children will be learning this half-term.
We are looking forward to a full week back in class next week, Year 4. Have a lovely weekend!
Reminders:
- Monday 12th January – Afternoon trip to the Inspiration Train
- Year 4 PE lessons take place every Thursday and Friday. Please ensure your child arrives at school in their PE kit on these days.
- The Spring Spelling List 1 will be tested on 16.1.26.
- If your child is reading from the school books bands, please ensure their book is returned to school on their Reading day.