Dosbarth Daisy (Y4)

Dosbarth Daisy

Teacher: Mrs S.Bounds

Hello Dosbarth Daisy!

Welcome to Spring Term for our Year 4 class.

Our P.E. days are Monday and Friday.

Just wear normal school uniform but make sure to wear joggers or shorts and trainers.

We spent the first two weeks of this term learning about who Tommy Cooper was and why there’s a statue of him in Caerphilly. Our main topic this term however is Medieval Times. We decided to focus on Castles!

We will be asking, ‘Why do we have a castle in the middle of our town? What was life like when people lived in it?’ We will certainly be developing our local knowledge! After a fun morning of ‘immersive activities’ to launch our topic, we planned our learning together. We will learn when and why castles were built. We will order different types of castles and see how their design improved over the years. We will locate castles in Wales and the UK, using Britannica World Atlas and use our knowledge of non-chronological reports to develop a web page. We are interested in how castles were attacked and defended. A visit to Caerphilly Castle will, which was never breached, will help us here! We will find out about Gilbert De Clare and the tragic legend of the ‘Green Lady.’ How is Castell Coch linked to Gilbert De Clare? Maybe we can visit! The lives of knights interests us and also the jobs, homes and lives of peasants. We particularly enjoyed making medieval herbal remedies, so would like to know more about medieval medicine and disease – such as plague, which killed a quarter of the population in Wales. In Technology we will build some models of castles and maybe trebuchets or catapults. In Art, we will look at Paul Klee’s ‘Castle and Sun,’ as we would like to make a collage. We will research medieval food, education, punishments and entertainment. We had plenty of giggles trying some medieval dancing so will definitely be retuning to that. As well as hopefully vising Caerphilly Castle and Castell Coch, I’m planning a trip to Cardiff Castle too, with a workshop on ‘Castles and Courts.’

In PHSE we will look at dreams & goals and being healthy. We will learn about aspirations, managing disappointment and how to be safe online. We will learn about the effects of smoking and alcohol and focus on what healthy friendships and friendship groups mean. Maths will focus on multiplication, division, fractions, lines & shapes, perimeter and area – lots of which can be applied to castles! Again, please revise telling the time with both digital and analogue clocks at home, whenever you have chance.

This term, we are reading The Green Lady of Caerphilly Castle by local author Chris Morgan. We will be reading a variety of information texts about medieval times and castles. We’ll be writing different styles of poetry, non-chronological reports, Welsh legend style stories and diaries.

Authentic learning opportunities will include celebrating St Dwynwen’s Day, Safer Internet Day and Children’s Mental Health Week. We’ll be taking part in our school Eisteddfod for St David’s Day, British Science Week and World Book Day. With Easter at the end of term, we have a lovely variety of topics and experiences to look forward to.

Let the fun begin!