Our unit of inquiry
How we organise ourselves
In Term 4, in Year 4, we are finding out ‘How We Organise Ourselves.’ The central idea for our Unit of Inquiry is ‘Journeys create change and can lead to new opportunities.’ We will be finding out how the railways and trains developed in Great Britain and why they were so popular. We will also be looking at the impact that they had on people, both positive and negative. To help us with our inquiry, we will be developing our fieldwork sketching skills to look at how these skills helped record the development of the railways and studying maps of the country, using the compass points, symbols and keys. To further our inquiry, we will be looking more closely at the working parts of steam engines including levers, linkages and pneumatic systems. We will then use some of these in our own designs.
How we organise ourselves
In Term 4, in Year 4, we are finding out ‘How We Organise Ourselves.’ The central idea for our Unit of Inquiry is ‘Journeys create change and can lead to new opportunities.’ We will be finding out how the railways and trains developed in Great Britain and why they were so popular. We will also be looking at the impact that they had on people, both positive and negative. To help us with our inquiry, we will be developing our fieldwork sketching skills to look at how these skills helped record the development of the railways and studying maps of the country, using the compass points, symbols and keys. To further our inquiry, we will be looking more closely at the working parts of steam engines including levers, linkages and pneumatic systems. We will then use some of these in our own designs.
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Lines of Inquiry
- What caused there to be so many railways in Great Britain and what opportunities did the railways create?
- How do the railways use technology to improve?
- How can we use new inventions to improve our lives?
Next term, in English, to support our learning, we will be using the text “The Train Book: The Definitive Visual History” published by Dorling Kindersley. In writing, we will be considering how advertising campaigns and persuasive writing helped the growth of the railways. As part of our guided reading work, we will also spend time sharing the book “The Railway Children” by Edith Nesbitt.
In spellings we will continue to look at the Year 4 spelling patterns. This term we will focus on words with a “s” sound spelt “sc”, the different ways to spell words with a soft “c” sound and word families based on common word. We will also continue to learn words from the Year 4 statutory word list and to consolidate the Year 3 spelling patterns.
Our maths learning will focus on two separate areas of the curriculum: fractions and decimals. Our fraction work will involve adding and subtracting fractions, calculating fractions of a quantity and thinking about fractions that are greater than one. Our decimal work will involve us recognising tenths and hundredths as decimals.
In spellings we will continue to look at the Year 4 spelling patterns. This term we will focus on words with a “s” sound spelt “sc”, the different ways to spell words with a soft “c” sound and word families based on common word. We will also continue to learn words from the Year 4 statutory word list and to consolidate the Year 3 spelling patterns.
Our maths learning will focus on two separate areas of the curriculum: fractions and decimals. Our fraction work will involve adding and subtracting fractions, calculating fractions of a quantity and thinking about fractions that are greater than one. Our decimal work will involve us recognising tenths and hundredths as decimals.
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