Welcome to the Autumn Term!

We hope you have all had a fantastic summer break and that you are ready to start a new year of learning in year 4.

We will be learning about animals and living things in science, we will be making our very own electronic game in Design and Technology, we will continue to learn how to play a guitar and in maths, we will be looking at place value, rounding, addition and subtraction and using a variety of written methods, to name just a few!

We are looking forward to a fun packed term and we look forward to all the opportunities we will be giving you to learn :)

Meet the Year 4 team

Miss. Le Masurier will teach 4KLM.

Mrs Minty and Mrs Primett will teach 4MP.

Mrs Minty will teach 4MP on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday afternoons. Mrs Primett will teach 4MP Wednesday morning, Thursday and Friday all day.

Mrs Minty or Mrs Primett will teach 4KLM every Wednesday morning until break.

Our teaching assistants are Mrs Baker and Mrs Marshall.

Underpinning all our learning and time together is our school values, they are also linked to our Dojo rewards. We will learn about and celebrate examples of each value daily.

Our value for this term is... happiness.

This can be shown by: being kind, having a positive attitude, looking after others and by smiling.

We will be discussing what it means to show happiness, as well as these 2 key questions.

What makes me happy?

How can I make others happy? 

Reading

Reading is a priority at Salisbury Road, therefore we will be practising our reading skills 5x a week using VIPERS to help us. In the classroom, we will use a mixture of choral, echo and ping pong reading, this will enable us to become confident, fluent readers.

Please remember to read at home four times a week to an adult. It is also really important that you record your reading in your reading record so your teacher can see how much you are reading at home. If you have read four times in a week, you will earn a raffle ticket for the reading raffle and have the chance to win a brand new book!

English

This term, the children are going to be writing a free verse poem themed around different extreme weathers, e.g. hurricanes, floods. We will be learning all about metaphors and personification to enhance our writing and impact our reader. 

We will then move onto explanation texts and will use video stimulus from Wallace and Gromit and their 'cracking contraptions'. This is a great, creative unit where the children design their own machine for their inventions. 

Throughout these units, the children will focus on deepening their knowledge even further on a variety of grammatical components, e.g. word classes, fronted adverbials, prepositions, metaphors, subordinate clauses and expanded noun phrases. 

Maths

This term we will be looking at the place value of numbers up to 1,000, rounding, addition, subtraction and using a variety of written methods.

Please don't forget to keep practising your times tables - these are VERY important! If you get your sheet signed for going onto TTRS 4 times-a-week, you will earn a raffle ticket for a wonderful prize.

Challenge yourself to beat your classmates on TTRS.

Science

This half term we will recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways and we will explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment. We will also recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.

Geography

This term we will be learning about South America and Brazil. 

As Geographers, we will locate lines of longitude and latitude and the continent of South America. We will understand Brazil’s physical features and climate, and its human settlements in Rio De Janeiro. We will understand that South America is made up of 12 countries and also find out about the Kayapo tribe who live in the Amazon Rainforest. 

History

This term we will be understanding life for the Ancient Maya.

This will include when are where they lived, who ruled them, what they believed, what they built and the knowledge they developed; we will then be comparing this era with that of the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Egyptians.

Homework

Homework will be given to the children every Tuesday and will either consolidate their learning in school or extend their learning further. It will be expected back to school on the following Monday. 

Sometimes, the homework may need to be completed via teams and other times it may be on paper or be a project to complete. 

If you ever have any concerns about your child's homework, please speak to their class teacher. 

Year 4 Spelling

Children will receive weekly spellings with their test taking place on a Monday. 

Each week, they will have six spellings which follow the current rule they are learning and the other four words will comprise from the statutory list from the national curriculum. 

We will teach the children strategies which will help them to learn their spellings. 

** For the children having phonics sessions, they will be given a list of spellings by their phonics teacher each week**

PE

4KLM and 4MP will have PE on a Wednesday afternoon. However, this occasionally may change so please ensure they have their PE kit in school every day.