Year 4

Welcome to Year 4’s class page!

We are looking forward to a positive start to the summer term in Year 4 and are excited about the upcoming areas of study. The children will be learning about many topics in History and Science, such as a The History of the Local Area and Sound. We also look forward to some exciting trips happening this term and swimming happening for both class on alternate Fridays.

English

In English, we will continue to practise the Year 4 grammatical terminology and apply this within our writing. At this point of the year, the Year 3 and 4 common exception words have been embedded within our curriculum and the children will now need to continue with revising these in preparation for Year 5. ‘Varjak Paw’ is our new text, which will provide the children with a range of opportunities to develop their writing for different text types including character descriptions and newspaper reports. The book is a timeless tale about a fearless cat who has to make his own way in an unknown world to save his family. The author takes us on an extraordinary journey, and the children always thoroughly enjoy this classic tale. The pupils will have lots of writing opportunities based on our Power of Reading text, ‘Charlotte’s Web’. We will also continue to support children to develop their reading comprehension skills by completing weekly guided comprehensions in class and within homework tasks. 

Handwriting – Pupils will be following the Penpals Handwriting programme and focusing on joining letters in all written work.

Editing and Evaluating work – Pupils will continue to develop their skills to check and edit their work to improve accuracy and spelling after their ‘Big Writes’.

Comprehension- Pupils will be completing multiple comprehension tasks in order to improve their understanding of different text types. The key reading skills are as follows:

• Predicting
• Retrieving
• Summarising
• Inferring using clues
• Making connections to background knowledge.

Maths

In the Summer Term, we will be beginning with Fractions and Decimals. Summer Block 1 small steps will include: recognising and writing decimal equivalents of any number of tenths and hundredths, finding the effects of dividing a one and two digit number by 10 or 100, solving problems involving fractions and decimals to two decimal places. 

Summer Block 2 (Money) small steps will include: estimating, comparing and calculating different measures of money, solving simple measure and money problems.

Summer Block 3 (Time) small steps will include: reading, writing and converting time between analogue and digital 12 and 24 hour clocks, converting time from hours to minutes; minutes to seconds; years to months; weeks to days.

Summer Block 4 (Properties of Shape) small steps will include: identifying acute and obtuse angles, comparing and classifying geometric shapes, identifying lines of symmetry in 2-D shapes, completing a simple symmetric figure with respect to a specific line of symmetry.

Summer Block 5 (Statistics) small steps will include: interpreting and presenting discrete and continuous data, solving comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented on bar charts, pictograms and other graphs.

Summer Block 6 (Position & Direction) small steps will include: reading an axis correctly and positioning co-ordinates on a grid.

History & Geography

The children will be learning about WW1, focussing on: the causes of the War, the Home Front, the Western Front, London at war, the end of the War, how we commemorate, and the implications for Europe. Children will have the opportunity to evaluate sources and develop the skill of critical thinking. 

Science

We will be starting our exciting new topic of ‘Living things and their habitats’ in Science.

Children will investigate the plants and animals within their locality, and how biodiverse these local habitats are. They will explore the differences between urban and rural habitats and how each type meets the needs of the plants and animals that live there. Children will compare this with their local habitat and consider how biodiverse each location is. 

Children will begin a research enquiry to explore the impact humans have upon different habitats. It is important to highlight that humans can have both a positive and negative impact on habitats.

Next, we will move to “The Digestive System”block.   

Children will build on their knowledge of animal groups, focusing on common carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. Children have been introduced to these terms in  Year 1 where they grouped animals based on what they eat. They will now begin to explore how an animal’s diet influences the structure of its teeth. 

Throughout this block, children explore what the digestive system is.

They will understand that germs (bacteria) in the mouth feed on sugars and produce acid which can break down the enamel on the teeth.

Expectations

We encourage all children to demonstrate a high standard of behaviour at all times in order to create a safe, respectful and happy learning environment. Each class has participated in the process of making a set of ‘Golden Rules.’ The children have agreed to follow the rules as they understand that this will help their learning. Respecting each other and all members of staff is expected and reflects the ethos of our school.

The children are required to listen carefully and to develop their self-control and concentration in class and in the playground. Working together with parents and guardians plays a big part in establishing good relationships and standards of behaviour.

Homework

Pen Licences - If your child is awarded a pen licence, the class teacher will provide your child with a pen and his/her pen licence. Once this pen has run out, it is then the children’s responsibility to then bring in their own blue pen to use.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to the term ahead!

Mrs Straczek, Mrs Pinto and Mr Marston