Year 4

Hello and welcome to the Year 4 webpage!

Staff

4 Beech

Class teacher - Miss Mumby

Teaching assistants - Miss Whiteley

4 Ash

Class teacher - Mrs McGuinness

Teaching assistants - Miss Best & Mrs Maltby

P.E.

As we go swimming in year 4, we have one other PE session in school which will either be indoor or outdoor for a half-term, so that by the end of the year the children will have spent equal amounts of indoor and outdoor PE.

Outdoor PE - Thursday – plain grey/black joggers, plain white t-shirt, plain black/grey sweatshirt/zipped jacket and trainers. No earrings.

Swimming – Friday – swimming costume (no bikinis) and swimming shorts (above the knee), towel, bag to carry things in. No earrings.

Swimming

Children may bring goggles for swimming if they prefer to wear them. Unfortunately, Bramley Baths are unable to lend any goggles at this time. Children are also allowed to bring a brush or comb for their hair; however, deodorant is not allowed. Long hair must be tied up for swimming lessons.

As we walk to and from Bramley Baths, it is essential that the children bring a waterproof coat and sensible footwear in case of bad weather.

Children need to come to school in their PE kit on Thursday and will stay in it for the whole day. In colder weather, it would not be appropriate to wear shorts all day, so we recommend that children come to school with their outdoor jogging pants over the top of their shorts and that they wear their school cardigan or jumper to keep them warm.

For all PE sessions, earrings must be removed, so if your child cannot take them out themselves, then it is best not to wear them on PE days.

Homework

Reading

Please make sure you read your child's school reading book with them as often as possible. We recommend at least 20 minutes per day. Reading is a 'building block' on which much of their other learning rests, and regular reading at home makes a huge difference in the classroom. If you sign their diary when they have read with you, they can earn a sticker on the class Reading Leaderboard and earn prizes.

Spelling

Spellings will be learnt and tested each week. Usually, the lists will be given out each half-term.

This term, we will be using Emile (https://emile-education.com) to support the teaching and learning of spellings. Please support your child by helping them to learn their spellings at home. Here are the spellings for the first half-term (September 2024). Please note that some children may be given an individual set of spellings rather than the ones below.

Spellings -Spring 2

Maths - Times Tables

Each child has an account on ‘Times Tables Rockstars’ (login details can be found in the front of your child’s reading diary) that they can access at home - there is also a 'Times tables Rockstars' app that you can download to your phone or tablet https://www.ttrockstars.com.

Please note: Each child has an account on ‘Times Tables Rockstars’ (login details can be found in the front of your child’s reading diary) that they can access at home - there is also a 'Times Tables Rockstars' app that you can download to your phone or tablet https://www.ttrockstars.com.

Teachers may also set homework on TTRS and other tasks as they arise.

It is a school expectation that this homework is completed on time each week.

Curriculum

Spring Term 2 - The Maya/Mexico

English	In reading, we will be reading ‘Meet Me at the Steelmen’ and ‘The Bolds.’ In writing, we will be creating newspaper reports and explanation texts. Grammar will include continued work on using conjunctions and fronted adverbials. We will also continue to develop the use of speech punctuation and the possessive apostrophe.
Maths	In maths, we will continue to develop arithmetic work around using the four different operations. We will also focus on the quick recall (within 6 seconds) of times tables up to the 12 times table. Fractions and decimals will form a large chunk of maths in the half-term.
Science	In science, we will continue with our topic of states of matter. We will then move on to living things and habitats, where we will look at grouping animals in a variety of ways, using classification keys and recognise that environments can change, posing dangers to living things.
Humanities	In geography, we will look at Mexico, thinking about the human and physical aspects of its geography. We will using mapping skills to label maps of the world and a map of Mexico. We will also use data (rainfall, temperature etc) to compare Mexico and the U.K.
DT	In DT, our project will be to create a game which incorporates an electrical circuit. For example, the game will buzz when the wires touch.
PE	In PE, we will continue with our Friday swimming sessions. For outdoor PE, we will be learning tennis skills.
Computing	In computing, we will be continuing to learn about spreadsheets, and we will use them to create graphs.
Music	Our musical concept focus will be to develop pulse & groove through improvisation to create simple melodies. We will continue learning to play the recorder.
Languages	Spanish, this half-term, will be ‘en mi pueblo’ – in my town. We will learn the names of different buildings/places and use these in sentences.
Religious Education
PSHE	In PSHE, we will be working on drug, alcohol and tobacco education with a particular focus on learning about alcohol. The MindMate lesson will be about strong emotions and resisting pressure without hurting others.