Year 4
Week beginning 21st September
It has been a wonderful couple of weeks back in Year 4, and we are incredibly proud of the children and the fantastic effort they have shown across all areas of their learning. Last week's fantastic learning about Lake Victoria and Lake Malawi is now adorning our displays and the effort they all put in is clear to see!
We celebrated National Fitness Day by starting the morning with a fun-filled Wake and Shake in the playground, which was enjoyed by everyone and was a great way to begin the day. Later, during PE, the children took part in a music-filled circuits lesson, where they showed great enthusiasm, energy and determination throughout.
In English, we explored the key features of a letter before planning, drafting and publishing our own letters. The children worked extremely hard and were excited to complete their final versions, which were sent today to a school in Africa run by Child of Hope. In Maths, we continued to develop our understanding of place value up to 10,000, showing resilience when tackling new challenges. In Geography, we began our new unit on settlements and land use, learning about the counties of England and developing our understanding of how different places are organised. In Science, we started our exciting new topic about the states of matter, where the children have already shown curiosity and enthusiasm for their learning.
Well done to all the children for their hard work, positive attitudes and excellent contributions this week. We are so proud of everything they have achieved.
Have a wonderful and well-deserved weekend!
Mrs Pine & Mrs Talbot
This year, instead of Parent Information Evenings, we have made a welcome video to give an overview of our year and a look inside our classrooms. It was lovely to see so many of you at the classroom visit!
Worship Theme This Week:
Our worship theme this week is: New Beginnings
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
This week's learning:
English - Our focus in English this week will be to continue our learning on biographies.
Maths - We will continue our place value unit, looking at representing, partitioning numbers from 1000 to 10,000.
Science - In science we will continue our new unit states of matter, looking at solids, liquids and gases.
Geography - In geography we will continue our learning on settlements and different land uses, linking this with being able to survive in the great outdoors.
DT - In DT we are focused on looking at savoury cooking and contextualising this to surviving in the wild.
RE - In RE we will continue our Christianity unit on 'People of God'.
Destination Reader
Our book this term will be: ..... You vs the World. The Bear Grylls Guide to Never Giving Up.
Below are the skills we focus on in our Destination Reader lessons and some of the sentence stems we use to support discussion around the books we are reading.
Reading:
Remember to read at home as much as possible! If children read three times at home, they get a raffle ticket.
Reading Raffle – Please encourage your child to record in their yellow reading record when they have read at home.
3 reads a week = 1 raffle ticket
5 or more reads a week = 2 raffle tickets
At the end of every other term, two names from each class will be drawn from the raffle and those children will make a special trip (with a book) to our local Costa to enjoy a Babycino!
Library Day is on a Wednesday for both classes.
Your child regularly reads with an adult, both individually and during whole-class reading lessons. In Year 4, children are encouraged to take responsibility for changing their own reading books as needed.
Please note that we do not always write in your child's reading record. This is because we keep our own detailed record in school, and avoiding duplication allows us to spend more time directly supporting the pupils.
Thank you for your understanding and ongoing support in fostering a love for reading. If you have any questions regarding reading, then please speak to a member of the Year 4 team.
Recommended Book list for Year 4… https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-
Spelling words to practise this term:
This terms spelling words can be found as a PDF attachment at the bottom of this page.
My Maths will be set each half term. We know life can be busy so we want to ensure that children have access to the tasks at a time that suits everyone. The tasks set are directly related to the learning that we have been doing, so if your child would like to embed the learning, they could complete the tasks on the day they have done the learning in school, to help embed the learning for them. Equally, it may work for them to revisit the tasks at the end of the term. We are happy for you to find a balance that works for you, but any child regularly completing homework on MyMaths will be given 20 house points.
Important Messages:
We would like to give parents and carers a heads-up for dressing up days throughout the year so you can look out for costumes in advance. We are really lucky in Year 4 that we get lots of opportunities to dress up. Please keep an eye on Vinted and other similar websites as there are often lots of great bargains! Below are the following costumes needed throughout the year:
- Explorer style costume (October 14th)
- Victorian costume (March 4th)
- Rockstar costume (TBC - A date in June)
- Viking costume (TBC - A date in July)
Key Dates and Information:
PE days in Year 4 are on a Wednesday - please remember to send your child into school every Wednesday in their PE kit.
The project overview and project homework can also be found at the bottom of this page.
Monday 14th September - Open classrooms to meet your child's new teacher and see their new classroom (Parent information presentations will now be recorded and posted onto each year group page).
Monday 12th October - Fraser Portrait Photos.
Wednesday 14th October - Our explorer day outcome joined with Year 2.
Friday 23rd October - Break up at 3:00pm for October Half Term.
Thank you for your continued support,
Year 4 Team
Mrs Talbot and Mrs Pine