Year 4

 

Routines - Term 1

PE is on Monday (Gymnastics) and Wednesday (Tag Rugby).  Children will need to wear their full PE kit to school. This consists of: House T-shirt, Dark shorts and/or jogging bottoms, trainers and school jumper.

Outdoor Learning days will be confirmed later this term. Children will need old trainers or wellies in a named carrier bag as well as appropriate wet weather gear (waterproof coat and trousers).  We advise that Forest School kit remains in school for the duration of the term.

Homework will be set on a Monday and completed by Friday.  Homework tasks will be detailed at the top of this web page and children should complete their work neatly (using a pencil) in their orange Homework books. This will consist of a main task linked to English, Maths or Foundation subjects, as well as a spelling activity related to our weekly rule.

Reading is crucial to every child's progress across the entire curriculum and we expect that every child reads to an adult at home at least 3 times a week.  Please record this in their blue reading record and ensure it is brought to school every day. 

Online Apps

Children’s log-ins can be found on the inside their Reading Records. If you are having problems with these websites, please let us know as soon as possible.

Times Table Rockstars  – https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth

Nessy  -  https://id.nessy.com

Accelerated Reader (Book Quizzes) – https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal/6699465

If your child requires daily medication, you must inform the school office via phone or email; also inform the class teacher. You will be required to complete a form that gives permission and details of the times and dosage of the medication required.

Inhalers: Children will need to keep their inhaler in their school bag and be responsible for taking them on visits or to events. In each classroom there is a medical box and it is advised that the school keep an extra inhaler for your child in this box, for use in school. Please inform the office if your child has to use an asthma inhaler so we can record it on the pupil record and send a named and in-date inhaler to school to be kept in the medical box.

Allergies: Please inform the school immediately, if your child has an allergy to anything or if your child needs specific medication e.g. an epi-pen. Make sure that your child brings their epi-pen to school every day. It should be kept in a named bag and labelled with the instructions attached. Please supply a spare epi-pen to be kept at school for emergencies.

All children are expected to wear the correct school uniform from Tuesday 2nd September. Only black school shoes, no trainers or ankle boots.

On P.E days, the children will wear their P.E kit to school, including House T-shirt. Only school jumpers should be worn with navy or black shorts, skorts or leggings and trainers.

Please ensure children bring in suitable wet weather gear, including wellies and waterproofs, on Outdoor Learning days. 

To sign up for music lessons, please see the links below:

Rocksteady – https://www.rocksteadymusicschool.com/

Other Music Lessons – https://uksouthglos.speedadmin.dk/registration#/

Email: music@wema.org.uk 

Maths

We begin our Mathematics with Place Value this term, then move onto addition and subtraction. Place value involves: the understanding of larger numbers – recognising the value of each digit within a 5-digit number; being able to round numbers to the nearest ten or hundred; comparing 3, 4 and 5-digit numbers and placing them on a number line; placing negative numbers on a number line and becoming confident to recognise and use Roman Numerals. As always, we will be focusing on arithmetic skills and problem solving and reasoning skills. When we move onto Addition and Subtraction, we will be learning efficient methods – mental and written. This will involve the use of partitioning numbers and performing column calculations.

Times Tables are an important part of our mathematical teaching and learning throughout the whole of year 4.  We practise our times tables daily as part of Focused Learning and follow the Mastering Number at KS2 programme.

English

Within English this term, we will begin by revising some important spelling, punctuation and grammatical concepts. We will focus on our use of vocabulary and sentence structure to construct clear, varied and effective sentences. Later in the term, we will begin our fiction and non-fiction writing linked to The Barnabus Project, written by the Fan Brothers. This will involve developing our storytelling skills when writing a detailed re-tell of the story, focusing on our use of rich vocabulary and varied sentence structures to bring the events to life. After this, we will move on to our non-fiction writing focus for the term: instruction texts. We’ll be learning how to write clear and engaging instructions, making sure we include key features such as imperative (bossy) verbs, sequenced steps, time connectives and precise language.

In Guided Reading we will be exploring the wonderful world of Roald Dahl! We will read excerpts from many of his wonderful books including: Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda and Esio Trot. We will also look at non-fiction writing and poetry that link to these books. 

Foundation Subjects

Science, this term, explores livings things and their habitats. It teaches children how to recognise and categorise living organisms using scientist terms such as ‘vertebrates’ and ‘invertebrates’. Branch keys are introduced to help name organisms. We study habitats – both local and world-widen – learning that environments are subject to human and man-made changes with significant impact.

 In Geography, we are studying The Americas, focussing on physical features such as rain forests and deserts and using maps and compass directions. We will also explore the human elements and how populations and cultures differ across the continents.

Art, this term, develops our portrait drawing skills – proportions of the face, observational skills and the use of tone. We get inspired by some of the Great Masters such as Van Gogh and Picasso. This is followed by creating colour wheels and learning colour-related vocabulary.

Singing returns to our Year 4 classrooms with ABBA’s Mamma Mia, in our Music Lessons. We begin finding the pulse within this iconic song and enjoy performing the song in many forms.

Our focus in P.E. this term will be Gymnastics and Tag Rugby. Please ensure children wear full PE kit into school on these days.

In Computing we are exploring how the internet is made up of a network of networks; how messages are passed between these networks and how we can keep ourselves safe and secure.

R.E focuses on how people express their understanding of God. We will be focusing on the symbols, artwork, poetry and dance that expresses people’s beliefs.

In PSHE, we look at what makes a good friend and how to be a good friend to others. This term also recognises ‘Anti-Bullying Week’.

In our fantastic playscape, during Outdoor Learning lessons, we will be developing effective, collaborative work through activities such as scavenger hunts and sculpting natural colour wheels.

Finally, in French we will be reigniting our love of languages - speaking and listening, in particular. We will hold simple conversations with each other, through which we express details about ourselves and our families, for example.

What a fantastic term of learning ahead!