Welcome to Year 4

Year 4 Summer Term 1 Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you have all had a lovely break. I can’t believe we are now in the Summer term. We have some great topics to cover which I know will inspire and enthuse the children. In History, we will be studying World War One. This is such a crucial topic to learn about and I know the children have been looking forward to it. It is a vast topic, so we will be concentrating on when and why it happened; the role of women; technological advances; and the life of soldiers in the trenches, through the study of Walter Tull. Our Science topic will be ‘Electricity’, where we will be looking at circuits and undertaking practical work constructing our own circuits. This will provide a cross-curricular link with Design and Technology, where we will be designing our own lights.

English

This term in English, we will be studying the book ‘The Amazing Tale of Ali Pasha’ by Michael Foreman. This is a First World War story based on true events. It is the first time I have taught this book and I have absolutely fallen in love with it and know the children will too! We will use it to write diary entries, imaging we are the main character. We will then go on to study war poetry, studying some famous poems and also looking at the rhyming books ‘Where the Poppies Grow’, ‘Peace Lily’ and ‘Flo of the Somme’ all written by Hilary Robinson and Martin Impey. We will use them to write and perform our own poetry.

Maths

This term the maths curriculum will cover measurement: perimeter, area, money and time. It would be great if you could practise telling the time at home to support learning in school. Children should be practising their times tables regularly using Times Table Rockstars (or verbal/written practice as an alternative), as the national Year 4 times tables online test will take place in June. Information about this test was either handed out at parents’ evening or sent home.

Other information

Children will continue to have PE on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. They will need to remember a suitable P.E. kit on those days. We will be outside doing cricket and rounders this term. Forest School has now ended, as another class will be participating.

Children are encouraged to read daily at home. It is an expectation that children read and record in their reading diaries at least 4 times a week. Reading diaries need to be brought into school daily and signed by an adult. I will be monitoring reading diaries and rewarding the children who have read regularly. Children can independently change their school reading book whenever they need to.

If you need to contact me, please don’t hesitate to send me a message on Class Dojo or catch me on the playground.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Hebbs

Class 4 Teacher