Blue - Year 4
Autumn 2 Newsletter
Maths and English
In English, we will be reading The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry, subtitled ‘A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest’. Through vibrant illustrations and a patterned, poetic story, this book clearly expresses the importance of preserving the rainforests (and the ecosystems within it) for the sake of all who live on this planet. From this, we anticipate that the children will create fantastic pieces of persuasive writing, and it will spur us on to further explore ideas of how to look after our planet. Following this topic, we will be reading Into the Forest by Anthony Browne, which is an amazing picture book that incorporates fairy tales into the story. We will use this book to inspire our writing as we create fairy tale play scripts.
In Maths, we will continue to apply our number skills to solve a range of problems and will start the term by focussing on area. For the remainder of the term, we will be developing mental and written methods for multiplication and division. Please continue to help your child practise their times tables at home as it really does make a difference. If your child wishes to use online platforms to practise, the login details for Purple Mash and TT Rockstars can be found on the first page of their reading record. Last term’s TT Rockstars Tournament was certainly very popular so it will continue again, with the three children who have completed the most minutes by Christmas choosing out of the class prize box.
The Wider Curriculum
| Subject | Topic |
|---|---|
| Geography | Water World |
| R.E | How do people from Religious and Non-Religious Communities celebrate key festivals? |
| Design and Technology | Seasonal Stockings |
| Computing | Coding |
| French | Clothes |
| PE | Gymnastics, swimming |
| PSHE | Celebrating difference |
| Science | Living things |
Additional Information
This term we will be starting our School Linking work with Brookside Primary School. The children will be learning about our partner school, and we will be creating pieces of work to help introduce ourselves. Throughout this work, we will be considering identity in the context of ‘Who am I?’.
Swimming lessons will continue this half term, so your child will still need a swimming kit every Wednesday. Blue class will also need their P.E kit each Thursday, ready for their weekly P.E lesson.
Each week, the children have nightly times tables and spellings homework to complete. This will be handed out on a Monday, ready for a spelling test each Friday.
We really encourage the children to read at home regularly, and this can be done independently or with an adult. Even if your child is reading independently, please ensure that you sign their reading record and return it to school each day. Children may choose to read a book from home, their reading book, library book or a non-fiction text. Each time that we see that a child has read at home, they receive a ticket for the reading raffle.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Best wishes,
Miss Maudsley and Mrs Johnson
Dates for the Diary
Monday 11th November- Multi-faith week begins
Friday 15th November- Children in Need non-uniform day £1
Monday 25th November- Pupil Flu Vaccination
Friday 13th December- Christmas Jumper and Christmas Dinner day
Tuesday 17th December- Christmas craft morning
Jewellery Designers
This term our art topic was Jewellery Designers and the children have loved it.
We created artwork inspired by ancient jewellery designs, experimented with making our own paper beads and designed our own gemstones.
The children particularly enjoyed using a template and repetitive motions to weave their own bracelets.
Take a look in our gallery for some pictures of this topic.
Autumn 1 Newsletter
Maths and English
In English, we will be looking at an interesting book with beautiful illustrations. The story revolves around an elderly man that lives in a world of scrap metal. After looking closely at the character and setting, we will predict how the plot develops. We will then write our own sequels to the text. Following this, we will be using the events in The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane to practice our biography writing.
In Maths, Year 4 will be developing their understanding of place value. They will be learning to compare and order numbers up to 10,000, find these numbers on number lines, and round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000. Your child will also be learning formal written methods for adding and subtracting 4-digit numbers.
As the children move through Key Stage 2, times tables fluency is increasingly important and supports the children as they tackle more challenging problems. We will therefore be placing particular emphasis on learning and practising times tables in class, so that the children can quickly recall key facts. Any opportunities for the children to practice at home will support quicker recall, so please make sure that your child is practising regularly.
To further encourage the children with practicing at home, we run a Times Tables Rockstars Tournament each term. The tournament logs the amount of time the children spend practising their times tables on TT Rockstars, and at the end of term, the top three children will have a choice from our class prize box.
The Wider Curriculum
| Subject | Unit of Study |
|---|---|
| French | Portraits |
| RE | Why is Jesus inspiring to some people? |
| PSHE | Being me in my world |
| PE | Swimming |
| Art | Jewellery Making |
| Music | This little light of mine |
| History | Industrial Revolution |
| Computing | Effective Researching |
| Science | Sound |
Additional Information
On Wednesday 11th September, the children will resume their swimming lessons at Grand Central. These lessons will continue on a weekly basis, so please ensure that your child has a swimming kit every Wednesday. If you are unsure about acceptable swimwear, the 'Uniform' section of the website contains further information.
Your child will also need to arrive at school wearing their P.E. kit each Thursday, so that they are prepared for their weekly P.E lesson.
Homework will be handed out on a Monday and will consist of spellings and times tables. It should be completed 4 times a week and the spelling test will take place on a Friday. Once completed, please sign the homework log and return the book to school each day.
All children are encouraged to read at home regularly, and will be provided with a reading book to do so. Similar to homework, children are expected to be reading at home at least 4 times a week. Children can read independently or with an adult and they may read their reading book, library book or a personal text from home. Please ensure that any reading at home is recorded in the reading record and signed by an adult. Whenever the reading record shows that a child has read at home (with an adult signature) they will receive a ticket for the end of term reading raffle.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Best wishes,
Miss Maudsley and Mrs Johnson
Dates for the Diary
Wednesday 11th September - RE workshop for Year 4.
Wednesday 11th September- Swimming lessons start.