Welcome to Class 4!

2023-24

Welcome to our third and final term of Year 4! During our summer term, we will be covering a history and geography topic. We will start with our history topic which is 'Were the Vikings raiders or settlers?' In this, we will cover how they travelled, debate whether they were raiders or traders and discuss the struggles in Britain during this time period. We will be drawing on our prior learning from our Year 3 trip to York and our visit to the Viking Centre! In Geography, our topic is 'What are rivers and how are they used?' In this, we will also be drawing upon prior knowledge from our science topic about the water cycle and our year 3 learning about rivers.  We will be linking this to our learning about the Amazon Rainforest and diving deeper into the uses of the Amazon River as a case study. We will then begin to explore our local river and begin to make comparisons between the two. In art, we will be covering a unit based on repeated patterns and designs. Children again will be linking this to their learning about the Amazon, as their final piece will be a fabric design for a piece of clothing. For our DT topic, will be building skills and knowledge each week to finish with an end product of a slingshot car. This will include designing and creating a car body and a launch mechanism. In science, we will be investigating how we can classify plants and animals based on their diets and their habitats. We will also be looking at the impact humans have on different animal habitats.

We have this and so much more to look forward to this term!

Please see below for some useful information about Class 4: 

PE: PE continues to be on a Monday afternoon. We request that children attend school in their PE kits ready for an afternoon of PE. Please ensure that this includes some warmer clothing as we will be outdoors as much as possible. Earrings and other jewellery should be removed on this day and hair should be tied back where possible. Please ensure that all items of clothing are named.  

Spellings: Ten spellings will be tested every Wednesday and the new spellings for the next week will then be taught after the test. They will be uploaded to SpellingFrame each week, however children can practise these in whichever way they feel most comfortable. 

Reading: The Year 4 Reading Challenge challenges children to read at least 3 times or more to an adult outside of school each week. Reading records will be collected in every Friday. If children have read 3 times, they will receive a treat.

Creative Homework: Creative homework will not be compulsory, however it is highly encouraged. Similarly to last year, I will send out suggestions for homework each term but children can create whatever they please, so long as it relates to one of our topics. This will be celebrated at the end of each term. This term, the topics are rivers and The Vikings.

Times Tables: these will be tested every Tuesday. Children can use https://www.timestables.co.uk to practise their speed of recall of times tables facts up to 12x12. This will support their learning in preparation for the National Multiplication Tables Check where they will need to score 25/25. Children have been given personal log in details to timestables.co.uk to practise at home which is stuck in their reading records. 

This year, children have also been given a booklet to record their practise of tables at home. They will need to practise at least 4x per week to receive a treat and any extra practises will result in an extra reward. These will be collected in every Friday along with their reading records.

Thank you so much for your support so far with learning timetables at home!

Homework: If a child has not been as successful as expected then additional work may be sent home. This is further practice in an area your child may have found particularly tricky.

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