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 Mahogany the PE days are Tuesday and Thursday. In Maple, PE takes place on Wednesday and Thursday. Please ensure that your child has their PE kit on these days.
Trips	We are very excited to invite the ‘London Science Museum’ into school on Thursday 3^rd October. There will be several Bubble Shows running throughout the day for all the children to enjoy and take part in. Children will learn the secret of the Science Museums famous bubble recipe and learn how some materials can make others change. Someone will even step into the famous human bubble!
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!
Read a fiction or non-fiction book that is about discovering new places. Write a review of this book. Include some of the key facts that you have learned about this period of time.	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: climbed; ocean; island; civilised; magnificent; farewell; voyage; choppy; yearned; drape; decorated; possessions; hush	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 Science we are learning about electricity, your challenge is to design and/or make something that moves, lights up or makes a sound and is powered by electricity.	Imagine that you live in Ancient Greece - the historical period we are learning about this half term.Plan and write a recount of what it is like to live in this time.	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 Jemmy Button. The story follows the life of a young boy who grows up in Tierra del Fuego, in South America, but is taken to England in the 1800s. Through this book, children will explore and discuss culture, differences in peoples and places, and examine the role of empathy. In Maths, we will be focusing on place value, and the four operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 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 learning about Electricity; in History we will be studying Ancient Greece; in Geography we will be investigating Natural Disasters; in Computing we will be learning how to code and how to be safe online; in Religious Education, we will be exploring Christianity; in PE, we will be participating in Basketball and Dance; in Music, it’s all about Mamma Mia (Pop); in French we will be learning classroom instructions; in Jigsaw, we will be pondering what it’s like to ‘Be me in My World’ and looking at different people’s perspectives on the world. In Art we will be exploring drawing skills and the artworks of Fernand Leger.

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