Y4 English

This half term, Year 4 are reading The Time Travelling Cat and the Egyptian Goddess by Julia Jarman. The children will be reading the book which links with our history topic Ancient Egypt. We hope this book will engage the children and encourage a love of reading and learning about history.

Topher and his father are trying to get over the death of Topher’s mother, an Egyptologist, when they take in a stray cat. This cat bears an uncanny resemblance to a cat ornament given to Topher by his mother and so they name it ‘Ka’, meaning ‘double’. Topher becomes very attached to Ka and is puzzled by her mysterious absences. One day when he is playing a computer game with an Egyptian theme, Ka jumps on the keys and spells out the name Bubastis, which was the centre of cat worship in Ancient Egypt. Could Ka really be leading a double life and what is she trying to tell Topher?

The children are already very engaged in our new book and are already creating ideas and predictions about Ka and how the goddess is involved. We will be using the book and our new knowledge from our history topic ‘life in ancient Egypt’ to help us write diaries and non-chronological reports.

Big Writes (final pieces)

• Diary Entry
• Non-Chronological Reports

National Curriculum Links

Writing composition:

• Pupils should be taught to: plan their writing by:  discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar  discussing and recording ideas
• draft and write by: composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures
• organising paragraphs around a theme in narratives, creating settings, characters and plot  in non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices [for example, headings and sub-headings]
• evaluate and edit by: assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements  proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences  proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
• read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear

Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation:

• indicate grammatical and other features by: using commas after fronted adverbials
• indicating possession by using the possessive apostrophe with plural nouns using and punctuating direct speech

 Writing- Transcription:

• use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them (English Appendix 1)
• spell further homophones
• spell words that are often misspelt (English Appendix 1)
• place the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular plurals [for example, girls’, boys’] and in words with irregular plurals [for example, children’s]

Here is a video of chapters 1-3.

This half term, Year 4 will be reading ‘The Firework Maker’s Daughter’ by Phillip Pullman.

The story is a wonderful adventure which mixes old and modern fairy tales together. It features the main character Lila, who is on a quest to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a great firework maker. She must journey to get Royal Sulphur from Razvani the Fire-Fiend at Mount Merapi, a journey which is filled with peril and wonder.

For the first few weeks Year 4 will be focussing on character descriptions of the main character and letter writing to Lila’s father using the skills we developed in the first half term. We will then learn about the features and structure of a narrative. We will write setting descriptions and include them when we write a missing chapter about the Fire-Fiend.

Watch a reading of the story below:

Class 9 took part in a spooky writing lesson this week.

We were using the techniques we have practiced in literacy to create a setting description of a haunted mansion. To help our imagination flow we wrote in the DARK using a torch and listened to some creepy music.

We all had a wonderful time and created some impressive writing!

Year 4 have been learning about persuasive techniques in Literacy. We looked at the features such as rhetorical questions, emotional language and backing up your point with evidence. We used the techniques to tackle scenarios such as solving a disagreement and convincing parents to allow them a mobile or a sleepover. We then developed into a full debate discussing whether Wilbur the pig from Charlotte’s Web should be saved or not.

Check out our ideas!

This half term in Year 4 we will be reading ‘Charlotte’s Web‘ by E.B.White

Charlotte’s Web is a story about a pig called Wilbur and his friendship with a spider called Charlotte. Thanks to Fern Arable, Wilbur, the runt of the litter, was saved from an early slaughter. Fern nurses him like a baby and he grows into a healthy pig. Wilbur is sold to Fern’s Uncle Zuckerman and goes to live in the barnyard on his farm. This is where Wilbur is befriended by Charlotte, who ends up changing his life forever.

During literacy this half- term, the children will work to develop their descriptive skills and knowledge and apply this to writing a character description of Fern Arable. The children will then write a persuasive letter to the farmer from Fern that showcases their ability to express a point of view and to use facts and evidence to support their argument.

You can listen to Chapter 1 being read aloud below: