Welcome to Year 4

Mrs Summers, Mrs Carolan and Mrs Harbour

Our theme for Spring 1 is:

Rivers and the water cycle

Our Theme

For the first few weeks, we will finish our unit on Natural Disasters. Our driver theme this term is ‘Rivers and the Water cycle’, which is a Geography theme. The children will learn the features of a river from the source to the mouth and all that is in between.  They will find out why a river is not in a straight line and will use the terms erosion and deposition.  They will learn about the water cycle (including waterfalls) and will find out how rain is created. In addition, they will find out about the major rivers around the world and will find out why cities are built next to rivers. The children will be undertaking a local field study to Wolston, this time looking at the river and discussing its annual floods and what we can do to stop them. More details about this will follow in a separate letter.

English 

In English this half term, we will be looking at a variety of different genres such as poetry about rivers and explanation texts about the water cycle. We will be reading ‘A river’ by Marc Martin and will be using this to help inspire us to write our own poetry. We will also begin to look at the fiction book ‘Where the ocean meets the sky’.

Reading, as always, will be a crucial part of the children’s learning. The children will continue to use Accelerated Reader for their daily reading books, which they will also bring home. The children will also have whole class reading comprehension lessons using a variety of books and focusing on different domains such as retrieval, prediction, vocabulary and author’s choice.

Maths

In Maths, we will be looking at calculating with multiplication and division, where we will revisit division methods and answer word problems involving multiplication and division. We will then move on to fractions where we will be looking at finding equivalent fractions and we will be introducing mixed numbers and improper fractions. As well as this, we will be adding and subtracting fractions. Lastly, we will be calculating fractions of quantities and finally and solving problems involving fractions.

Science

This half term in Science, after finishing our topic on rocks, our topic will be ‘Human Impact’. The children will learn about some of the positive and negative ways that humans change the environment, locally and globally, with a particular focus on how this affects other living things. The children will be taking part in the RSPB bird watch and will have a go at making bird feeders.

They will also look at the impact of littering. This will tie in nicely to our trip to Wolston as the children will also help to carry out a litter pick whilst they are there.

RE

This term we will be looking at the question: What or who is ‘God’ and how is the divine understood in theistic worldviews?

Art

In Art, we will be studying the artist Monet and looking at impressionist paintings.  The children will be creating their own Monet style paintings. 

 PE

This term the children will be learning skills to support them to play Basketball. They will learn the skills to build up to playing a game, such as different sorts of throwing and tactics that they can use during the game.

They will also be learning Dance this term and we will be creating a class dance routine.

Computing

We will kick start the first Computing unit off with a unit on coding where the children will be designing, coding, testing and debugging simple computer programmes. They will be also be using if statements and coordinates. They will finish by creating their own playable game.

As well as this, we will have a number of sessions on Online safety tailored to the children’s needs.

PSHE

In PSHE this half term, once the children have finished the unit on ‘Celebrating differences, ’the theme will be ‘Dreams and Goals’. The children will be looking at the following objectives: Hopes and Dreams, Overcoming disappointment, Creating new, realistic dreams, achieving goals and working in a group. As well as this, the children will work on celebrating contributions, resilience and positive attitude.

Important information

• PE this half term is timetabled for a Wednesday and a Thursday. Children should come to school wearing a white T shirt, shorts/joggers and trainers/plimsolls in school on these days.
• The children will need to bring in their AR books daily to read in school and should bring them back home, You should continue to read with your child at least 3 times a week. The children will come home with their AR book at the beginning of next week.

Homework-this will be given out on a Friday and will consist of spellings based on the rule that we have been working on that week, a maths and English activity based on the learning for that week. The maths activity will always be linked to multiplication and division ahead of the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) in June. We also encourage the children to play on Times Tables Rockstars to improve their multiplication and division fact recall which they will need for the upcoming Multiplication Tables Check in June. A parent information leaflet has been sent out in the weekly newsletter. Another great website for the children to practise on is: https://www.themathsfactor.com/times-tables-check/#/

How you can help at home

Encourage your child to complete activities on Times Tables Rockstars particularly on the ‘Garage’ tab where the children will then develop their own ‘heatmap’ which will identify the weaker times tables which they can then practise. Encourage them to have a go at the times tables games that are suggested on the weekly notices.

Ask your child what they already know about rivers and the water cycle.

Listen to your child read at least 3 times per week and have discussions about the text (record the reading sessions in their reading records). Encourage them to summarise what they have read. I have now added a list of the types of questions you could ask your child when reading with them to the class page in the form of a bookmark

We work with a company called SEND Supported at school and they are releasing newsletters each week offering support and guidance to parents of children who many have additional needs in school. Please find below a link to these newsletters:

There are also lots of other resources and information available on their website. The 'Things to do Issue 2 - Resources' file has some lovely activities for all children regardless of whether they have additional needs or not. There are lots of great visual puzzles and games for children to play so please have a look if you can. There are also resources available now to support with developing children's memory skills in 'Thing to do Issue 3 - Resources.'

Literacy Links

Free e books - just register  

Maths Links

P.E Links  

Look out for information being sent to you with login details to use this at home!

Daily half an hour workouts Monday - Friday 9 a.m (Don't worry if you missed it, they are all saved)

Curriculum Links                                      Myleene's Music Klass