Year 4

What we will be learning…

Reading…information texts and historical stories

This term we will be reading the book ‘Down with the Romans’ to help us with our learning. This book is all about the Roman conquest in Britain and the implications for the Queen Boudicca and her children. Children have Whole Class Guided Reading to help develop their comprehension and inference skills during the first Half Term. We will run a parent workshop about Supporting Spelling’ before October Half Term,which we hope you can make.

Learning Top Tip – If you don’t know the meaning of a new word, try looking at the whole sentence to help you find clues to work it out.

 Writing…Stories set in a historical setting

We are going to be diving straight into our topic ‘Worlds Collide’. We will be looking at WRITING TO INFORM about factual details of the Roman period and WRITING TO ENTERTAIN by creating a story featuring the Romans and Celts. The children will learn how to write descriptively, increasing their vocabulary and using a variety of punctuation. We all have great imaginations; let’s use them!

 Learning Top Tip – Use the first 3 letters of a word to look it up in a dictionary

 Maths…using and applying

We will start with telling the time followed by a recap of number and place value up to four digit numbers. Following this we will move on to addition and subtraction, multiplication, division and fractions. Times tables are a crucial part of the childrens’ maths learning. Please make sure that they practise them as part of their homework. Set up a parent or carer/ child challenge and improve your own!!

Learning Top Tip – Practising your timetables in a different order helps secure your knowledge.

 Spelling…words with suffixes

The children will follow the ‘Read, Write, Inc.’ programme. They will also have 20 core Year 3 and 4 words to learn to support their progress in this area each Half Term. These are stuck on the inside cover of their Home Learning Books.

Learning Top Tip – Break words down into smaller chunks and say them out loud when you are trying to spell them.

Science – we will explore ‘Sound’ including how it is made, pitch and volume, how it travels and sound proofing.

Art – we will start by thinking about the use of colour and move on to making Roman style mosaics using collage.

DT – from our history learning we will make Roman shields and armour.

RE– exploring the Jewish faith.

History – to start our topic we will be investigating how and why the Romans invaded Britain.

French – we will learn about ‘Animals’ and ‘Food’

Music – learning the Recorder on Thursdays

PE – we will be doing PE on Monday (indoor) and Wednesday (outdoor). It is crucial for your child’s health & wellbeing that they participate in all PE activities. The outdoor PE is hockey. Indoor PE is using the apparatus in the Hall. Please ensure they have their PE kit in school.

Jigsaw– understanding the importance of good learning behaviours in class and keeping safe.

Learning Letter

To find out all about what we will be learning about this half term, and all about school life, please open our current Year 4 Learning Letter here.

Homework

All homework is set on Thursday and due in the following Tuesday. Each week the children are expected to complete the English and maths learning activity. As well as these set pieces, your child should read regularly and get an adult to sign their reading record book.

Spellings are set on a Friday and are linked to the spelling pattern we have been focussing on throughout the week in our Read, Write, Inc sessions. Spellings are assessed through teacher marking in your child’s writing.

Times tables learning – children have the opportunity every week to achieve a bronze, silver or gold star in their target times tables. Times tables practise is included in your child’s home learning every week and they are encouraged to practise them regularly. Times tables knowledge is a crucial key skill that underpins many aspects of maths and makes a huge difference to a child’s mathematical learning.

General information

Please make sure that all school uniform and PE kit is clearly labelled. Please include joggers and a sweatshirt for outdoor PE.

Outdoor P.E is currently on a Wednesday afternoon and indoor P.E is on a Wednesday.

Please let the school and the teacher know if your child has any allergies (that we do not already know about) or needs to take any medication.

Remember that your child will need to bring a piece of fruit to school if they wish to have it at break time as fruit is not supplied in Key Stage 2. (Please no fruit or snack bars)
Please remind your child to bring a coat every day in the winter months.

Please click on the useful links below for extra information about Year 4: