Year 4

Welcome to Year 4:
Mahogany Class & Maple Class

Mr Ward is teaching Mahogany Class this year and Ms Tildesley is the class teacher in Maple Class.

Welcome

Welcome to year 4. We hope you find the information below useful as your child starts the year with us. This information will help you support your child at home with the organization of their week and their learning at home.

Key Times

Homework	Homework will be set every half term. Your child will be asked to work on a number of projects, designed to enrich the learning taking place in school. This approach to homework has been designed to enable you and your child to work together in a creative way and to develop a love of learning. Please see the homework document for Autumn.
PE	In year 4 P.E will take place on Mondays and Tuesdays. Please ensure that your child has their PE kit on these days.
Trips	Tate – Take One Picture Year 3 project Following on from their participation in the Take One Picture photography project in Year 3 with Steve McQueen and Tate Britain, Year 4 will be visiting Tate Britain art gallery on: Thursday 19^thand Friday 20^th December. This trip is free of charge and parent volunteers are welcome but you must be registered on the school DBS update service.
Key Times	The school gates open at 8:30 in the morning. In KS2, children will be dismissed at the end of the day at 3:25.

Homework

Read it!	Say it!	Practise it!
Our book in English is ‘Ice Palace’ which has lots of wonderful setting descriptions. Read a selection of fiction books and make notes of the setting descriptions used e.g. what the buildings, trees, landscape look like; what is the weather like. Consider the language used, what words and phrases are used to set the mood and tone for the story and setting.	By encouraging students to think and speak using sophisticated phrasing, they are more likely to internalize it and use it confidently in their writing. Read, learn and use the key vocabulary listed below. Work together to incorporate the vocabulary into a conversation: Sub-zero, survival, hypothermia, treacherous, fatal, insulated, hydrated, plummet, bone-chilling, scarce, foraging	Practise your multiplication tables along with the corresponding division facts - especially the 12 times tables Experiment with different ways to learn them, e.g. writing them out, songs on YouTube, reciting them aloud or asking someone to test you. Practice your weekly spellings – try using them in a sentence both written and in discussion
Make it!	Write it!	Share it!
In History, pupils will be learning to recognise the main styles of Greek architecture. Pupils should design and make a model of a famous Ancient Greek structure.	Imagine that you live in Starjik’s land (Ice Palace; Robert Swindells) – write a fictional, bone-chilling story to convey your feelings and share your adventures.	Create a poster to demonstrate and explore your favourite aspect of learning this half-term. You can create: a poster, leaflet, PowerPoint demonstration, news report, interview. Be creative
A note to parents, Over the course of this half term please work with your child to complete the above. Each of the activities has been designed to support, enhance and enrich an aspect of the curriculum. We are looking forward to seeing the results of your work together. The best homework overall will be presented in assembly and displayed around the school. We are all very grateful for your support!
In addition, we will be looking for every child to read at home with their parents every evening. Listening to children read will enable them to grow in confidence as they become fluent readers. Once children are able to read fluently and with expression and engage in discussion around their comprehension of the texts will be equally beneficial. Many thanks from the year 4 team

What are we learning?

In Literacy we will begin by reading Ice Palace by Robert Swindells. ‘Starjik! whisper his name and it was winter in your heart.’ The story follows the life of Ivan who loves his little brother enough to follow him through many dangers to Starjik’s cavern. A beautiful haunting by a master story teller. This book will develop childrens fluency and their love for reading. In Maths, we will be focusing on multiplication and division and problem solving before going onto geometry.

We focus on these for a term so that children have a good foundation of number skills before moving on to other areas of mathematics. In Science children will be continuing their learning about Electricity; in History we will be carrying on our study of Ancient Greece; in Geography we will be investigating Mountains; in Computing we will be learning how to code; in Religious Education, we will be exploring Sikhism; in PE, we will be participating in Football; in Music we are learning how to play the Glockenspiel; in French we will be learning about celebrations; in Jigsaw, we will be learning how to celebrate our differences. In Art we will be exploring collage and the work of Harold Hollingsworth.

How can I help at home?

One of the key ways every parent can help is to ensure that your child is at school every day and on time. Other than this, the main way you can help is by ensuring that your child reads every day, for at least 20 minutes – this can be with you, or on their own, but it is the most effective way of ensuring that your child progresses and learns outside of school. Children also have a mathletics login – please encourage them to use this frequently, as it will really help with their quick recall of mathematical facts.

If you have any questions, please talk to Ms Tildesley or Mr Ward, or you can arrange a meeting at the office.

Thanks,

Ms Tildesley and Mr Ward