Welcome back to Year 4! The class will be taught by Mrs Shaw on Monday and Miss Moss on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We will also be supported in class by Mrs Jackson and Miss Friel. This half term, Mrs Sparke will teach the class on Mondays while Mrs Shaw is on maternity leave.

Please find some information regarding the Autumn term below.

In English, we will be reading 'The Lost Happy Endings' by Carol Ann Duffy. We will use the text to work towards writing a descriptive narrative and a persuasive letter. The children will mainly be focusing on verb inflections (was or were) and developing descriptive and figurative language using expanded noun phrases, similes and metaphors. We will also develop skills using plural possessive apostrophes and incorporating fronted adverbials to show time, place and manner. 

Over the first term in Maths, we will be focusing on place value and understanding numbers up to tens of thousands. The children will be taking the Multiplication Tables Check in the Summer term. This determines whether the children can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. Knowing their tables is an incredibly important skill that will assist the children in many areas of Maths and will be an incredibly beneficial skill to take with them into upper KS2. Therefore, the children will be completing times tables activities most days as well as completing a Mastering Number session. This focusses on times table patterns and two particular times tables each week.  

In Geography, our topic is 'Rivers'. We will be learning about the different characteristics found in the middle, upper and lower sections of a river and looking into features of our local rivers. 

In Science, we are exploring 'Living Things and Their Habitats'. We will be learning about animal classification and looking at the characteristics of vertebrates and invertebrates.   

Year 4 P.E days are on Thursday and Friday this term. P.E kits can be left in school during the half-term to ensure the children have their kits on these days.  As a reminder, our school P.E. kit includes a coloured T-shirt which represents the house your child belongs to, black or navy shorts (or tracksuit / jogging bottoms in colder weather) and trainers. No jewellery should be worn for safety reasons.

Homework

Homework will be set in the form of spellings, times tables and short Maths and English tasks. Homework will be set on Fridays and are to be returned the following Thursday. We will have a times table test and spelling test on Fridays. There will be a different times table focus for each week which we really encourage the children to work on. These can be practised using TT Rock Stars and spellings can be accessed on Spelling Shed. Links to both of these can be found at the bottom of the page and the children’s logins can be found in their reading diaries.

The school also strongly encourages children to read with an adult nightly as part of their homework, as well as discuss their books to develop comprehension skills. A record of this should be kept in their reading diaries. Developing confidence in reading will truly benefit the children in all areas of school life.

Please help your child plan when they will complete their homework, so they have time to ask any questions they may have in school before it’s due.

Reminders

Children should arrive at 08:45am with the doors closing at 8.50.

All children should bring their water bottle and reading book into school every day.

Having a coat in school each day is useful for our very changeable and unpredictable weather!

Have PE kits in school ready for PE on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Please look out for updates on Class Dojo. Feel free to contact us on there with any questions you might have. I look forward to all the exciting things we will get up to this term in Year 4!

Best Wishes,

The Year 4 Team

Useful Links for Learning 

• Times Tables Rockstars Times tables practice

• Spelling Shed Spelling practice

• Hit The Button! Quick fire maths practise

• Dance Mat Typing Learn to type the fun way!

• Newsround Keep up to date with the latest news.