Welcome to Year 4

1. Home
2. Class Pages
3. Class 4

Dear Parents/Carers,

We hope you have managed to dodge the rain over the half term break. Even though Autumn 2 is a shorter half term there is a lot to get through. The clocks may have gone back and the nights may be drawing in but we plan to squeeze as much fun out of school hours as we can.

The Romans – The children have loved this topic! They now know about the living conditions of both the wealthy and the poor, the life of slaves, gladiators and soldiers. And why Emperor Nero was quite so notorious. We leave our history focus behind but continue the Roman strand in geography. We will develop a range of mapping skills to locate the countries that became part of the empire and identify the features of the landscape that made this invasion possible. We will investigate their legacy; the roads and settlements (cities) left behind.

Maths –We will be working on the operations of multiplication and division and applying these to problem solving. So the following becomes extra important!

Times Tables – As you know at the end of year 4 children are expected to sit a new Multiplications Tables Check. The purpose of the check is to determine whether pupils can fluently recall their times tables up to 12. Rapid recall of times tables is crucial in supporting children’s mathematical knowledge and their ability to solve trickier problems. All children should now be confident with 2x, 5x, 10x, 3x, 4x, and 8x tables. It is important they continue to rehearse these as we move on to other tables. TT Rockstars is a great resource to support this that can be accessed from home. Please encourage your children to do so and regularly. And of course we will continue to add further times tables to the mix.

Reading – We are really trying to promote a regular reading habit. We are concerned that some children do not appear to be reading at home daily. This sets them at a real disadvantage. Please make time to support your child’s reading, signing their diary and adding any positive comments. They are now often reading trickier books with new vocabulary that needs explaining i.e. needs you! Children are clearly at an advantage if they can become fluent competent readers with a good understanding. We want children to read for pleasure. But it is also their ALWAYS homework!

Writing – This half term our focus is writing to inform. We will be working to produce an information leaflet about teeth. This provides us with a useful opportunity to review our science knowledge of the digestive system from the first half term in addition to reinforcing the importance of good dental hygiene. From the first Monday back we will also send spellings of common words for your child to learn for a weekly spelling test- every Monday.

PE – Please continue to send kit to school on Mondays and Thursdays. It will return home on the same day.

Snacks and water bottles – Thank you for sending children to school with water bottles. The slightly longer morning does mean children really benefit from bringing in their own snack for break time. Please could you make sure this is a healthy snack e.g. fruit, bread sticks, carrot and cucumber sticks. Ideally this would not be kept in children’s packed lunch containers.

ClassDojo – We will continue to use ClassDojo this year. As well as recognising the children’s efforts, we will use it to keep you updated. You are more than welcome to message us. This is a handy (as well as socially distanced) way to keep in contact.

As always, any concerns at all, please get in touch. We are here to help.

Kind regards,

Mr Donegani and Miss Chantrey