Updated: 11/9/22
Welcome to Year 4!
General Information
Welcome to the Year 4 page. You will find all of the things you should need to know for the year.
In Year 4, the teachers are Mr Easterbrook and Mrs Coulton. We are supported by Miss Friend, Mrs Harris, and Miss Gee, who are our teaching assistants.
Year 4 is a key year and involves the children taking greater responsibility for their own learning. Despite this we are very keen to work together as a partnership, with the children, parents, teachers and school all working together to help us 'to be the best that we can be'.
Please feel free to contact the Year 4 team if you have something you wish to ask or would like to discuss. We have an open door policy and will see you as soon as possible. Please ask at the office if you would like to see us in person or would like to pass on a message, or catch us in the playground at the start or end of the day.
Thank you,
The Year 4 Team
Year 4 Term overview
Home learning
PE Kit and days
The school PE kit is as follows:
A plain white or blue t-shirt, black shorts, and trainers. For colder months, and outdoor games especially, children may wear a plain, dark tracksuit, but without logos or patterns please.
Planning Days
Self-isolation / instant lockdown activities
Should anyone have to enter a period of isolation, we have added more activities to our learning links for Key Skills. You will find areas for English and Maths. At the bottom of the page there are more activities linked to the topics too.
If you have any questions, please contact us and we will try to help out the best that we can.
English
Current learning
This term we are using two main texts to support our learning. The first is fiction text called Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit. The story focuses on the experiences of Tranio and Livia, two children who lived in Pompeii at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Later, we will be using a non-fiction text called So you think you've got it bad? A kid's life in Ancient Rome by Chae Strathie. Here we will be learning what life was like for a Roman child living within the Roman Empire.
In guided reading, we will be using a range of texts to look at the skills of finding and retrieving information, a skill which is essential for the assessment of reading. We will also be using some short texts to start to develop the skills of inference and deduction, much more challenging skills that are expected to develop as the children become more confident and fluent readers.
Reading
In school, almost all children in KS2 will use the Accelerated Reader scheme. This targets children, specifically guiding them towards books that are suitable for their reading level, while challenging them to make progress. They will be responsible for chosing their own books, reading them carefully, before completing an online quiz on the book. This will check for their understanding and retention of what they have read. It will also help to refine the areas we need to develop for them.
Regular reading at home is essential. The children should be heard reading aloud at least 3 times per week. Discussions between the child and the adult are key to helping to improve and develop their understanding but also allows the children to work on their expression when reading aloud.
Children should regularly read their Accelerated Reader books, but can also read any additional text you have (non-fiction, magazines, other books etc).
Each child has their own reading record and these need to be completed with three adult signed entries per week, indicating when the child read, what they read and anything that arose from the discussion. If the record has been misplaced or left at school, the entries should be completed on a piece of paper, which can be stuck into the book.
Spellings
Spellings will be set through Spelling Shed on a Friday and tested on the following Friday. These will consist of some new spellings, some repeated from the previous week, and some that they may have had at some point earlier in the term. This repetition is key to start developing 'sticky knowledge' of the spelling patterns and spellings we use in school. Previously, we would be teaching and testing some unusual words that would be used as they used a particular spelling pattern or theme. Our new system should be more relevant and useful.
Handwriting
Throughout the week we will ask the children to practise their spellings through handwriting. Part of the curriculum expects all children to be joining their handwriting.
Maths
Current Learning
We begin the year with a focus on PLACE VALUE and NUMBER. We will focus on the place value of digits in a number (up to thousands) and learn how to represent numbers in a variety of different ways. By the Christmas break, we will also focus on addition and subtraction, before starting to learn about multiplication and division.
Times tables facts
The national expectation for Year 4 is that ALL children will know every times table fact from 1x1 to 12x12 by heart and with instant recall. The Government introduced a national assessement of this skill last year and it was last year's Year 4s who were the first year group to be assessed on their times table fact knowledge.
As a school, we piloted the process in previous years and our pupils performed incredibly well and this was in main due to regular learning at home of the tables, either through playing the TTRockstars app or by repeated questioning by others. Both can be a fun way to learn and enhance the knowledge of the tables, making all of their maths skills much quicker and accurate. The only way to embed this essential skill is to repeatedly practise them. Just a few minutes learning them each day will have a massive impact. Our best mathematicians know all of their tables by heart and it will be invaluable for moving into Year 5 and beyond.
All children have been provided with their own TTRockstars username and password. It would be helpful if they could learn these so that they can use them at home, but also in school, where we will be using the app to keep our skills topped up.
There will also be regular competitions held between the classes and certain groups of children. We hope that you encourage the children to take part.
In Year 4, the expectations in maths have changed significantly. The new curriculum focuses heavily on calculation strategies, particularly for addition, subtraction and multiplication. We also start to develop our division skills, so it is essential that the children work at learning these at home. They are a key life skill which will be essential throughout adulthood.
We are having a huge push on our times tables at the moment as it forms a key part of what we must know to move forwards in our learning. We would really appreciate any help with the learning of this key skill please. If you need some help with suggestions, please see the resources below or come and ask one of the team for some support.
RE
At Manadon Vale, RE is taught to give every child the opportunity to explore the big questions about life, to find out what people believe and what difference this makes to their lives. Pupils gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief and to reflect on their own ideas and ways of living.
In Key Stage 1 and 2, we follow the Plymouth Agreed Syllabus for RE. The principal religions and non-religious worldviews represented in the UK are covered taught through 'Key Questions'. These key questions are explored through the study of sacred texts, through creative arts, with visiting speakers and visits to places of worship and with lively discussion and debate.
In Year 4 the key questions are:
What is the ‘Trinity’ and why is it important for Christians?
What kind of world did Jesus want?
Why do Christians call the day Jesus died ‘Good Friday’? (Salvation)
What do Hindus believe God is like?
What does it mean to be a Hindu in Britain today?
How do festivals and worship show what matters to a Muslim?