Welcome to Year 4
Welcome to Year 4.
I am delighted to be given the opportunity to teach your children this academic year.
The focus topic for this term will be “How did the Victorians change the world?” which I hope the children will find extremely interesting. There will be many opportunities to research areas of interest, work independently and with partners as well as groups. Children will be encouraged to be independent learners and shall develop many thinking skills.
Literacy
In Literacy, during Autumn 1, we will be reading “The Wild Robot” written by Peter Brown, as well as a Christmas story during Autumn 2. We will also be exploring reading stories set in the Victorian Era such as “Street Child” by Berlie Doherty. I place a large importance in Reading. Children will be frequently listened to as they read, and I encourage that this is replicated at home, if and when you have the time. Children are encouraged to change their home reading book on their set day which will be a Monday.
I will also read to the class daily, whether through the medium of English, or introducing them to Welsh texts linked to their areas of learning. This ties into me encouraging your children to read other books, to develop their ability to read a range of texts and develop their vocabulary and comprehension. If you would like any guidance on this, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Children will develop their writing skills through producing newspaper reports, diary accounts, letter, persuasive and creative writing leading to presentations. Your children will then further develop their writing skills by looking at grammar and developing their ability to hopefully capture an audience with their writing.
Spellings will be given to learners on a Friday to be tested on the following Friday. These words will also be practiced in class and will help form the basis for some of the literacy work throughout the term
Numeracy
Throughout the Autumn term, your child/ren shall be exploring:
*Place value – representing numbers to 1,000 as well as partitioning and creating number lines to 1,000. Representing numbers to 10,000 as well as partitioning of numbers of 10,000. Finding 1, 10, 100, 1000 more or less and comparing and ordering numbers within 10,000. We will also be rounding to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000.
*Addition and Subtraction – exploring adding and subtracting in 1s, 10s, 100s and 1,000s as well as exploring these with exchanges. Estimating answers and checking strategies.
*Multiplication and Division – multiples of 3, 6, 7, 9 as well as 2, 5, 10 and 11 from Year 3. Long multiplication and multiplying by 3 numbers. Division facts of the above multiplication tables.
I place an emphasis on these areas in the Autumn term, as the knowledge here will give your child/ren the best chance of success in the other areas of Maths and Numeracy which are explored in the Spring and Summer terms.
Humanities
During the Autumn term, we will be learning about the Victorian era 1837 – 1901, including the lives of the rich and poor and the social changes of the 19th Century.
We will be looking at influential people of the day and compare childhood now and childhood during the Victorian era. You would have already seen an a mind-map on Google Classroom of what the children are interested in learning and this will shape my planning of the expedition.
Science
In the Autumn term, we will be exploring ‘Light and Sound’ in conjunction with our Expedition. I am hoping for lots of hands-on investigations. The children will therefore develop their understanding of investigations, methodologies, fair tests and how to record data in the form of tables and graphs.
As a class, we will also be researching influential scientists from the Victorian Era.
Religious Education
In R.E, during the Autumn term, Year 4 will be exploring “Big Frieze”, “People of God” and “Incarnation”. We will explore what the children can already recognise and look to further deepen their understanding in both the Old and New Testament. There will be weekly Bible stories delivered in worship and the clergy will be holding our worship on a Tuesday morning.
We shall also discuss rules, which will help us develop our own classroom charter.
I.C.T (Digital Competency Framework)
We will continue to focus on keeping children safe when online and when communicating online. In ICT, the children will create documents, PowerPoints, spreadsheets and graphs. We will explore features of HWB, so it is essential that all children can log into their own HWB accounts independently. We will also explore saving work online and creating documents that multiple people can access at once. We will also be using ICT to explore Music through apps such as ‘GarageBand’ and further developing the children’s knowledge of ‘StopMotion’.
Welsh
As well as reinforcing what the children already know through a variety of retrieval practice games, we shall also be introducing new vocabulary relating to ‘illness – salwch’ and ‘sport or school – chwaraeon neu ysgol.‘ Children will practice sentence patterns through a variety of different ways, such as songs, roleplay and games. We shall also be using the role of ‘Helpwr Heddiw’ in the classroom to help develop their language skills.
Physical Education
P.E lessons are timetabled for Monday and Tuesday. Please could your child wear their P.E kits, as outlined in the school uniform policy, and trainers on these days. There is no longer a requirement for them to bring uniform to change into.
As the weather gets colder, your child will need a P.E hoodie or sweatshirt for when we are outside. This term our focus is developing the children’s skills in gymnastics as well as ball skills used in netball and dodgeball.
Expressive Arts
There will be lots of opportunities to experiment with different mediums of art. Through using these different techniques. Presently, we are exploring silhouette art and the Victorian method of printing – which will later develop into exploring William Morris. Music also plays a role in the classroom, with children using song to help aid the understanding of topics as well as developing rhythm.
There will also be the opportunity for children to participate in drama and role play scenes from the Victorian era and the use of our Victorian story ‘Street Child.’
Transport
I would be grateful if you could notify either myself or the office if there are any changes to your child’s normal routine. We also ask that you let us know if a different person is picking up your child as we cannot let them go with anyone we do not know or are informed about. This is for safeguarding reasons to keep your child safe.
Allergies
If your child has any allergies, please would you notify me immediately so that I do not introduce anything into the classroom that could cause an allergic reaction. If your child has, for example, a nut allergy and they need to store medication at school, then please let me know. I am also happy to keep a store of snacks/treats that your child may have as a safe alternative to any that other children may have during special activities.
I will not be using food/sweets as prizes in the classroom.
Snack
In Key Stage 2, the children must bring a healthy snack from home to school each day if they would like snack. (No nuts are allowed due to some children in the school having severe nut allergies). The children can also bring in drinks such as water and squash which they have access to throughout the day.
Homework
Homework will be given out on a Friday, and I would appreciate it if it could be returned the following Friday, thus giving the children a whole 7 days to complete. Homework will be given via Google Classroom and will usually consist of spellings for the week, as well as a small math and/or a small language activity.
I hope this has given you an insight to the exciting autumn term ahead. If you have any queries or concerns, then please feel free to contact me at school.
Kindest Regards,
Carrie Whitfield
WhitfieldC25@hwbcymru.net
