Year 4

Updated: 6/4/19

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 Martyn. We are supported by Miss Friend and Mrs Stanton, 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 of 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 end of the day.

Thank you,

The Year 4 Team

Home learning

• The children will be given spellings based around the expectations of their year group. They will have a suitable number based upon their ability level.
• The children are expected to read regularly throughout the week, with parental completion of the reading record on three occasions. This should indicate when and how much the children have read. It would also be helpful to include a very brief comment on any problems or successes from the activity.
• Maths, English  or Topic homework is set once a week, usually on a Friday. It is due in on following Wednesday.
• Our expectation is that the children should be able to complete their homework on their own.

PE Kit and days

• Monday Games kit - (Preferably) long sleeved plain BLUE football top, white shorts, BLUE football socks, trainers and football boots (boots are optional). Shin-pads are not necessary.
• Friday Gymnastics kit - white shorts and a plain t-shirt. Trainers may also be needed.

Planning Days

• Mrs Cowin and Mrs Mitchell cover Year 4 every other Thursday.

English

Current learning

We are currently using the brilliantly illustrated book, 'Leon and the Place Between'  written by Angela McAllister and illustraed by Grahame Baker. The story involves a young boy and his brothers and sister visiting a mysterious magic show. The others don't believe in magic but Leon does! He puts himself forward to be the wizard, Abdul Kazam's, helper. We will look at what happens to Leon when he steps inside of Abdul Kazam's magical box.

In guided reading, we are looking at a range of comprehension based texts. We have noticed that the reading skills have improved greatly this year and now we are looking at the types of questions we encounter, and how to answer them.

Reading

Regular reading at home is essential. The children should be heard reading aloud at least 3 times per week, even for those children who are free-readers. 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. 

Free readers may read anything they like but we would like you to always have a challenging fiction book on the go at all times.

Children on the reading scheme must read their scheme books but can also add any additional reading you have done (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.

We have given Year 4 access to Oxford Owl and the reading materials within their website. You will have received the login details on the Year 4 Summer newsletter.

Spellings

Spellings will be handed out on a Friday and tested on the following Friday. We will teach the spellings patterns and rules throughout the week. These are to be found on the spelling section below.

Handwriting

Throughout the week we will ask the children to practise their spellings through handwriting.

Part of the new curriculum expects all children to be joining their handwriting.

Maths

Current Learning

We are just about to finish our unit of work on money problems, and are beginning a short block based upon statistics, including tables, charts and graphs. The main focus will be on reading and converting between each type, along with answering questions that help us to interpret the information.

Times tables and divison facts

We are still having a focus on our times tables this term. As a school, we have decided to pilot the MTC (Multiplication Tables Check) which becomes statutory from next year. We will be able to give our feedback around this new assessment that will affect all Year 4 children across England.

In Year 4, the expectations in maths have changed significantly. ALL children are expected to know their times tables, up to 12x12, by heart and with instant recall, by the end of Year 4. The new curriculum focuses heavily on calculation strategies, particularly for multiplication and division, so it is essential that the children work at learning these at home. They are a key skill which they will use throughout their lives.

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

For our RE lessons in Year 4 we study Christianity and Hinduism.

Below is a copy of the units of work we follow and use.