Hi, I am Mr Graham, and I am currently teaching Year 4 Swift class. I have been working in schools for 5 years and am so excited to start my next journey at St Johns.

I currently lead P.E within the school and love playing and watching sports. My favourites are football, basketball and cricket.  I look forward to organising lots of events for the school in the future.

Outside of school, I love to watch and play football, travel to new and exciting places as well as read a range of books.

 

Class T.A: Mrs Shaw

 

Our weekly timetable:

Please be mindful as we have a busy term, things may change. We will do our best to update you as soon as we know!

Important dates for the diary this term for Swift Class:

 

May 4th - Bank Holiday

W/C 11th - Parents Consultations

Wednesday 20th - Carnival 

 

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Our Learning this term:

Maths 

This term, all of Year 4 will continue with decimals, moving onto money and statistics at the end of the term. We will practise applying decimals in different contexts to build confidence and accuracy. Later in the term, we will move on to money, learning how to add, subtract, and solve real-life problems involving costs. Finally, we will study statistics, including how to read, interpret, and present data using charts and graphs.

 

 

 

 

English and reading

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​This term, our new class book is Varjak Paw by SF Said.

Varjak Paw is an adventure novel that follows the journey of a young cat as he ventures beyond the safety of his home into a dangerous and unfamiliar world. By the end of this term, we will have developed our reading comprehension and writing skills, while gaining a deeper understanding of Varjak Paw and its themes of courage, identity, and adventure.

We will be exploring the text through a range of comprehension questions including inference, retrieval, prediction and summaries. This helps us to write letters between characters, focusing on tone, first person and writing emotionally as well as a narrative later in the term. 

 

 

Curriculum 

This term we will be moving on to a Geography Topic of 'oh I do like to be beside the seaside'. In Geography, we will identify key features of coastlines, including Herne Bay and the Kent coastline. We will compare past and present maps to see how land use and features have changed over time. We will also learn how natural forces shape coastlines and consider the effects, benefits, and challenges of living near the coast.

 

Science 

This term we are exploring sound. Year 4 will be learning how sounds are made, linking them to movement and vibrations through practical activities such as outdoor sound exploration and a balloon-and-rice experiment.
We will investigate how sound travels and observe how it becomes quieter as the distance from the source increases. Through these experiments, we will develop a clear understanding of how vibrations create sound and how sound behaves in different environments. This will be taught by Mrs. Brown.

 

 

RE 

This term in RE, Year 4 will be exploring the big question: 'What does it mean to be a Hindu in Britain today’? We will explore Hindu Dharma beliefs about how the world works and the duties people have in life. We will learn about key ideas such as dharma (duty), karma, the cycle of rebirth, and the four goals and stages of life, considering how these guide Hindus to live well. We will also look at daily life for a Hindu and understand how their beliefs influence their actions, choices, and responsibilities.

We will then explore how Hindus express their faith through worship at home and in the Mandir, including the use of shrines and prayer. We will learn about Hindu beliefs in one God with many forms, and why deities such as Ganesha are worshipped. Finally, we will compare different ways of worship and consider the importance and impact of faith in the lives of Hindu people.

 

 

Learning at home for Swift Class

• Reading at home daily. Read AR books, ready to quiz
• Spelling shed
• TTS Rockstars
•  

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Be ready for learning! In Swift Class, your child will need to have these items in school:

• PE kit (Tuesdays - Please be mindful this is swimming this term)

• Water bottle (no squash or juice) 

• Small rucksack (big enough to hold lunchbox and reading books) 

• Wellington boots (to leave in school when weather appropriate) 

• Coat (weather appropriate) 

 

Please don’t bring other items into school, as we do not have space to store these, and it can cause upset if things are lost or damaged.

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Highlights of our learning so far this year:

Term 4 

Grooving with the Greeks

In Science and DT we used our electricity skills to make working torches! They turned out amazingly.

We also loved having a trip to our school library and exploring some different books. 

Term 3

Grooving with the Greeks

 We loved trying to make a Pantheon with spaghetti and marshmallows.

 We enjoyed making Greek theatre masks too.

 Our Greek pots were fantatsic! We used the slab technique to make the shape, and scratch and slip to add handles. 

Term 2

We have loved our Canterbury topic. 

We started off the term by going on an adventure around Canterbury. We spotted the different types of shops and came back to make a graph of them.

Swift class were lucky enough to take part in RISE art workshops this term. Every child made pieces of art that have been made and sold at the Christmas market. Look at our incredible designs!

Term 1

We enjoyed our hook afternoon! We made our own Anglo Saxon names and wrote them in Runes, and created broaches.

We had so much fun on our trip to the Abbey. We enjoyed finding out about how Christianity came to England and seeing all the exciting parts of the Abbey.