Mrs Quick
Class Teacher
Miss Mackellar
Teaching Assistant
Mrs Cleobury
Teaching Assistant
Welcome to Gwithian.
Hello and welcome to Gwithian class 2023/2024!
The children of Gwithian class are now in year 4 and what an incredibly interesting journey they have had over the last couple of years! Our children have already shown an amazing level of resilience and have been extremely flexible in adapting to new learning challenges throughout the past years, and we cannot wait to see the fantastic things that they achieve in the coming year.
Our Spring Term topic is 'The Ancient Egyptians' and we will focus on the civilisation which were a group of people of ancient Northeast Africa. It was concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River, situated in the place that is now the country Egypt. The Egyptians were around in 3100 BCE.
The children will explore what life was like to live in that period of history, its social hierarchy, examine artefacts from that time and ask questions about religious beliefs and traditions of that group of people. During the unit, the children will discover the significance of their discoveries:
1. The tomb of Tutankhamun
2. The valley of the Kings
3. The Great pyramid
4. How Egyptians invented hieroglyphics
5. Papyrus discovery
6. Medicine inventions
7. The Police force
They will investigate how the Ancient Egyptians lived, ate and traded and how the land has changed over time.
Please see below to find our 'Ancient Egyptians' topic grid and homework grid.
Science: Our topic for Science is 'Animals including humans - teeth & digestion and Living things and their habitats - classification'. The children will be designing, planning and evaluating a project on these topics to cover the following objectives for year 4:
Animals including humans
- describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans
- identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
- construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey
- recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
- explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
- recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things
Homework -
At St Uny Church of England Academy, we believe homework is anything children do outside of the normal school day that contributes to their learning, in response to guidance from the school. Homework encompasses a whole variety of activities instigated by teachers and parents/carers to support the children's learning.
Y4 are expected to complete at least 10 points from their Chilli Challenge grid each term.
Reading: Reading is a lifelong skill that we try to develop as your child continues their journey through our school. We are keen to develop a love of books and escapism as early as possible, which is why we are introducing ‘Reading Karate’ this year. This is a reward based system for reading at home, which results in the children moving up through coloured ‘belts’ (wristbands) depending on how many ‘reads’ they have completed. We would greatly appreciate your support with this new initiative, not only by listening to your child read but by perhaps sharing some of your favourite books from your childhood with them too.
Maths: St Uny Church of England Academy has invested in ‘Timestables Rockstars’, an online resource for learners to practise their multiplication skills. This will enable children to become more fluent in their multiplication tables. Lower KS2 children should be completing 2 x 20min sessions per week.
Topic: The topic overview will be sent home at the start of each half term - this will include challenges from across the curriculum.
PE - This term we will focus on Athletics and Tennis
PE sessions are subject to change - we would therefore appreciate it if your child's full PE kit (white t-shirt, navy shorts, trainers, jogging bottoms if cold) is in all week. Gwithian class PE session is normally on Fridays. This term we are focusing on Tennis and dance.
