📘 Year 4 Blog – Whole Class Reading & Writing
It’s been an exciting week in Year 4 as
we began exploring our new whole‑class reading text, Iliad and Odyssey by Gillian Cross. The children were
fascinated to learn that these famous stories were originally told thousands of
years ago by the ancient Greek poet Homer,
and that Gillian Cross has rewritten them in a way that modern readers can
enjoy and understand.
📚 Whole Class Reading
We have spent time discussing:
- Who Homer was and why his stories are so important
- How Gillian Cross has adapted the tales for today’s audience
- The characters, settings, and themes we will encounter as we read further
✍️ Writing – Biography of Gillian Cross
In our writing lessons, we have been learning all about Gillian Cross herself. After researching her life and achievements, the children planned and wrote their own biographies.
Our writing process included:
- Planning key facts and organising them into sections
- Writing a first draft to get ideas down
- Editing and improving in a second draft, focusing on the features of high‑quality writing
We have been working hard to include:
- Compound sentences
- Complex sentences
- Fronted adverbials
- And, of course, accurate factual information
The children have shown real effort and pride in their work, and their biographies look impressive.
