Welcome to Russell Class

Autumn Term in Year 4

This Year, our Year 4 class will be named after the inspirational person Bill Russell. During his childhood Bill Russell began playing basketball, he wasn’t the best player but he was smart and he paid attention. His skills got better but he also worked hard to become a fantastic teammate. Bill went on to become a great player, winning Olympic gold medals and NBA championships. Bill Russell also became the first black coach in the NBA. Bill believed atheltes shouldn’t be idolised for their play on the court but how they lived their lives. He was politically active and spoke out against inequality. Bill Russell always worked hard and never compromised his beliefs.

Our Class Teachers

Our Class teacher this year is Mr Ratsey. Mr Ratsey leads Computing and DT and Food across the school. Year 4 will also be supported by Miss Pooley who is our class Teaching Assistant. At times we may be supported by other Teaching assistants too.

Throughout this term, we will be reading about the adventures of Maya as she builds a new life in Manaus on the banks of the River Sea ( Amazon) by sharing the story Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson.

PE

Our PE days are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please make sure that your child wears their PE kit to school on these days. Children should wear their Mount Street PE hoodie, team coloured T-shirt, black shorts, jogging bottoms or leggings and black trainers. Children should not wear any jewellery on these days as it is not safe to wear during PE lessons. If you have any questions, please ask your class teacher. 

Home learning

Each week, your child will bring home tasks that will support their learning in class. This will comprise of daily reading, weekly spellings and times table practise and a selection of termly foundation subject tasks.

Reading

We believe that reading is the foundation of all learning and so we would like you to read with your child for 10 minutes every day. Your child will have a reading diary, along with their phonics reading book/sheet or AR reading book. This should be an enjoyable time and we encourage you to have a conversation with your child about the story. Please support your children’s reading by reminding them to look for Special Friends, Fred Talk, Read the Word and also by asking them questions about the text. Children who are on our AR reading will choose books between a given reading range and complete quizzes in school.

 If you would like further help or advice, please speak to your class teacher and they will be happy to help.

 Spellings

Every Monday, your child will bring home 10 spellings to learn. They will practise them in school but will also need to practise them at home. By the end of the year, they will need to be able to read, spell and use the common exception words for their year group.

Maths

Every Friday, your child will bring home a Times Tables Travels sheet to practise the times table they are working on. On the following Friday, they will have 3 minutes to complete the sheet and if they complete it correctly within the time given, they will move on to the next challenge. Children will also be given their Times Tables Rock Stars login and we urge you to encourage your child to access this at home. 

Termly Foundation Home learning

Each term, your child will bring home a selection of homework tasks based around their Foundation subjects. It is hoped that the children can choose which ones they would like to try but they are welcome to have a go at them all. We hope to share their efforts in a celebratory exhibition towards the end of term. We hope you have fun learning together

 E-Safety

As so many of us are spending more and more time online, it is important that the children have a secure knowledge of how to be safe.  We will discuss various issues regarding this each week.  If you or your child  have any questions linked to their online world, then please do not hesitate to get in touch or have a look at some of the links below.

Additional Useful Information

• Please read the information by clicking on the link on the national multiplication check that your child will take in June.   Information concerning the times table multiplication test in June 2025 will be added when it becomes available.