Year four have been really busy making their own musical instruments as part of their science topic!
Welcome back Year 4
I hope you had a fabulous holiday and thank you so much for all your generous gifts. I know you will now be ready to get your brains working so here’s some information on what we’ll be learning about this term:
Topic
Our new topic is exploring the country we live in. You will be using many geography skills to learn about how the UK is organised, as well as learning about the human an physical features of the UK. I hope you will enjoy creating mountain views and river pictures in the style of famous artists. As part of our PSHE programme you will al so explore what it means to be British.
English
We begin the term developing our grammar and writing skills through writing in the style of Dick King Smith, based on his novel Hodgeheg. We will then demonstrate our negotiation and communication skills by persuading others about the good or bad points of zoos.
Spellings: The spelling scheme we are using and thus the spelling homework will change this term. Instead, you will bring home 6 spellings in your reading journal each week that you found tricky, from the unit we’re studying in school. Get an adult to help you learn these spellings at home. Then ask the adult will put their initials next to each word when it is spelled correctly at home. This may be through writing it down or saying it aloud.
Reading: Please continue to read at home with an adult and record how you did or what you thought in your journal. It would be great if you could read for 15 minutes a day, but it should be twice a week minimum. You can read your school or a home book.
Maths
This term we began with a maths investigation which you looked like you really enjoyed. We will begin our work on fractions and decimals, which will apply your place value, times tables and operation skills developed in the Autumn term. After this we will cover measures, time and statistics as well as continuing to improve on our operations calculations.
Your continued hard work with times tables homework is crucial and please thank your parent for their help. Homework will continue to be given on a Friday to be tested the following week.
Science & D.T
We will recognise how sounds are made and associate them with vibrations. We will also conduct experiments to explore materials for sound proofing. You will be making their own musical instrument (so don’t throw out your celebration tins and wrapping paper tubes – you will be needing them.
Computing
You have already drafted your comic stories and photographed action frames on Ipads. From this you will create your own comic strip and movie using computing packages Movie maker and Publisher.
PE
Swimming lessons continue for this half term on Thursdays. I am sure you will enjoy the athletics coaching starting next week – PE is needed on Wednesdays.
Music, RE and French will continue to be taught by Miss Smith and Mrs Richardson.
Clubs
I hope you are able to participate in one of the many before and after school clubs we offer. Check the website, hall display or school windows for a full clubs timetable.
Miss Summers
2 September 2015
Dear Parent/Guardian
I hope you have had a lovely summer and that your child enjoys Year 4. I write to inform you of some details relating to year 4.
- PE. will take place on Wednesday’s in Autumn Term – full BedeBurn PE kit is expected.
- Swimming: Children will have swimming lessons weekly, on a Thursday, beginning 10th
- Homework: Children will receive weekly homework. Maths homework will be given out on Fridays, to be returned Monday – this will largely relate to their times tables skills and knowledge. English homework will be given on a Monday, this will relate to spellings. Children will be given spellings to learn, which will be tested on Thursday of that same week. Additionally they will be given a related spelling activity, in their spelling book, which can be returned Friday.
- Exiting school: Year 4 will leave school via the Year 4 fire exit (the door that opens onto the yard), but they will enter the building through the double doors on the yard (as in Year 3) at all other times.
- Curriculum:
Topic this term will be the Romans, specifically their invasion of England. This Topic will link into other curriculum subjects resulting in Roman Mosaics in art, Roman Newspaper accounts and report writing in Literacy, and Roman Numeral work in maths.
Science will explore human digestion and teeth, which will help discussion of healthy eating and looking after your body.
Literacy We begin the term looking at books by the author Michael Foreman and writing our own story based on his style. Later we will look at humorous poems, develop our creative writing through spooky stories as well as improving our non-fiction writing skills. Children will read weekly in a group and this replaces their individual reading with their reading journals. It is hoped you will be able to read regularly at home with your child and record their progress in their reading journal. Reading a text and answering questions about it is also a key skill in Year 4, we will regularly complete and discuss reading comprehension activities and it is hoped your questioning and discussion about books at home will support this.
Maths A key focus of this term is the children learning their times tables with increased speed and accuracy and your support in this is much appreciated. In class we will be exploring shape, reading graphs and improving our measuring skills. Calculations will involve increasingly bigger numbers and children will use written methods to solve calculations and they will consider best methods and use their skills in problem solving scenarios.
RE (religious education) focuses on what Christians believe about God and how this informs their behaviour. Year 4 will be invited to question all beliefs discussed and reflect on thier own beliefs about life and the world.
French – Mrs Richardson will continue to support Year 4 with their conversational French skills, this terms focus is on animals.
ICT: E Safety will be a primary focus and children will use variables and repeats to create and manipulate a programme.
If you have any questions feel free to catch me in the playground at home time or in the morning or leave a message at the main office. I am really looking forward to teaching my new class and hope your child makes good progress and enjoys Year 4. I hope to meet you at this term’s forthcoming open evening.
Kind Regards
Miss Summers
Year 4 Class Teacher
As you may be aware, we have signed up every child in key stage two for this initiative. There are around 150 million free books on line from some of the most famous and popular children’s authors, all available to read on line or to download! Each child will have their own log in which will allow them to access the books. The website monitors how much and how frequently the children read, and there are puzzles and quizzes to test their understanding of what they have read. There are prizes available nationally but as a school we have decided to provide some very desirable and high quality prizes for the children that make a great effort to read regularly through this site.
Don’t worry if your child does not have access to the Internet at home. Each class will be timetabled some time each week to access the site and read using the iPads in school.
For more information, and to access the books please visit http://www.readformyschool.co.
This term Year 4 will be learning about the Stone Age; creating cave paintings, models of Stonehenge and prehistoric homes. Looking at scientific theory, we will be trying to understand how long ago first humans lived and how their daily life might have compared to ours. We will consider recording dates in AD and BC, linking this to our RE work on what Christians believe about Jesus.
Lots of our Literacy work will be linked to reading well known books; we will continue to read David Walliams’ “Awful Auntie” as our class novel, whilst using “Fantastic Mr Fox” and “Stig of the Dump” to help improve our writing skills. Maths will build on our previous work of learning new formal written methods for calculations, supported by our quick times tables recall. This is our last term for swimming and we will also be exploring movement & dance, when we can’t enjoy our new outside gym equipment.
Last week year four visited an out door ice rink at Valley View. We had lots of fun and may have inspired the next Torvill and Dean!
In science, year 4 have been learning about sound. Crucially we know that vibrations make sounds. We made our own musical instruments to create our own sounds. Have a look.
Last week parents from year three and four were invited into school to meet Miss Lenney and Miss Summers and see what their children were learning about. As part of the day the parents and children worked together to produce a poem detailing what they felt ‘school is…’
A copy of the poem is posted below!
