Year 4

Year 4 @ Mount Street

Welcome to the Spring Term

During the Spring term , we even more  interesting things to explore, discover and enjoy. You can find out in more detail about this term below. We will  be focusing on regular reading and continuing to develop our  quick recall of the times tables facts to 12 x 12 in preparation for the national multiplication check in June.

To start our term, we will begin by looking at life in Ancient Greece from the first Olympic games and beyond.

Another one of my  favourite periods in History and I hope it soon will be yours too. We will also be learning about digestion and further developing our understanding of sound and how it travels. This is another busy and exciting term with lots to learn.

Miss Price 

English

This term we will be looking at many different writing types including Myths, discussion texts, and poetry. We will continue to focus on learning Year 3/ 4 high frequency words as well as different spelling patterns which include homophones and suffixes. Throughout this term we continue to use a wide range of conjunctions, expanded noun phrases that are modified with prepositions, fronted adverbials and other ways to make our writing more exciting and engaging for the reader. We will continue to improve our writing by checking and editing. Presentation will be a focus too and we will regularly practising consistent, legible and joined handwriting.

Each day, we have a whole class reading activity. The texts are both topic based and from our Reading Spine for Year 3/ 4. These include fiction, non-fiction , poetry and plays and these sessions will further develop fluency, inference, retrieval, prediction, sequencing and summarising skills.

All children will have a home reading book suited to their reading level and this will be assessed regularly throughout the term. Each time a child reads to an adult or takes a AR reading test, they will be given a raffle ticket and at the end of the term a book prize will be awarded to the winner.

Maths

This term we will continue to focus on multiplication and division with numbers up to 3-digits. We will then be learning more about finding, adding and subtracting fractions. Good knowledge of times tables will be needed to solve these challenges. We will also be learning more about finding areas of a shape.

Each week , we will continue to spend time practising the times tables using many resources including TTrockstar. This knowledge will be a huge benefit to understanding many aspects of Maths in the future and will also be assessed in a national multiplication test in the summer.

Science

This term we will be undertaking a number of investigations and further developing our working scientifically skills. We will be learning about human digestion, teeth and food chains during the first half-term. After half-term, we will be learning about sound, how it is made, travels and received by us.

History

Throughout the Spring term, we will be learning about different aspects of the life and times of Ancient Greece. These include the first Olympics, democracy, culture , city states and tales of myth and legend.

Geography

This term, we do not have a specific geography topic this term, but we will continue to focus on learning continents, seas and countries of Europe.

RE

This term we continue to focus on learning more about the Hindu faith. We will also be looking at the first  Easter story for Christians.

Art

Linking with our topic Ancient Greece, we will further developing our clay skills by making pots in the style of those from Ancient Greece and further sketching and pattern making skills.

Design and technology

This term we will be focusing on cookery in our Design and technology sessions this term. To link with Ancient Greece we will be tasting, developing and making our own hummus. We will also continue to develop our preparation of vegetables and understanding and practice of food hygiene.

PE

This term we will be developing dances influenced by our understanding of the world of Ancient Greece, continue to develop our gym skills and during Spring 2 we will taking part in swimming lessons at the Life Centre.

Music

As well as singing opportunities, we will also continue guitar tuition and this term we will be working with Mr Norman and continue to use the school's guitars.

Computing

We will regularly cover e-safety topics, what steps to take to keep safe on line and our responsibilities. We will also look at HTML and creating Scratch quizzes.

PSHE

We will continue to follow the Jigsaw programme, we will be looking at a variety of discussion tasks and activities.

French

With Miss Pooley, the children will continue to follow the ilanguages programme continuing to learn French through games, songs , conversation and activities.

Useful Information

Home learning

Maths and English  –  Set on a Monday to be handed in on Friday.

A Homework club will be running to support any child with completing the tasks on a Friday lunch time.

Reading – 10 minutes reading daily. We ask that an adult signs the reading diary and it is handed in at least once per week. This is a whole school focus this year!

Times Tables:  TT Rock Stars daily.

Games and PE

Children will need their PE kit in school all week as children  MUST have P.E. kit to take part for health and safety reasons.

Kit:        Trainers, white shirt, blue/black shorts, football/trainer socks.

In colder weather, a plain tracksuit may be worn outdoors for games.

Please ensure that all items of clothing are named. A small named bag containing your PE kit is all that is necessary as cloakroom space is limited.  Please keep your PE kit in school and we will ensure that it is sent home each half term for washing. Earrings should not be worn and long hair will need to be tied back.

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 your child or yourself 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.