Notes:

Welcome to Year Four! My how everyone has grown! I hope you have all had a fantastic Summer break and feel refreshed and ready for a new and exciting year.

I hope to outline some of the changes that you need to know about and inform you about this busy term.

In English we will be looking at a range of fiction themes including playscripts, novels, historical stories and poetry. We will also be covering a range of non-fiction themes including newspapers, report writing and persuasive writing. The children will also continue to have regular creative writing opportunities.

Handwriting will still be a focus this year and I would appreciate your help and support with this. Everyone should now be writing in the cursive (joined up) style and their writing should be neat and fluent. I may send some extra handwriting work home with some children so that they can spend more time practising this style. Spellings will be sent home on a weekly basis and will start up in a couple of weeks time. Please continue to see this as a little and often activity so that your child can apply the spellings correctly at other times.

Reading continues this year although in school although it is a key time to start (or continue) encouraging your child to read different types of books for pleasure. Your child will also have one fiction and one non-fiction book from the library. It is as important to still listen to you child read regularly especially if they are not the keenest of readers. This helps to keep this valuable and of high interest to your child as they see that they have a captive audience.

May I please urge you to ensure your child is reading a few pages of their book each night, since some children now have quite long books.

In Maths this term we will cover a range of different concepts within the following areas: place value, addition, subtraction, length, weight, time, 2D shape, properties of number, multiplication and division. We will also continue to have weekly mental maths tests. We will be going over the 2,3,4,5,6,10 and 11 times table this term. There will be a regular test every week. Please support your child in this area at home.

In Science this half term we will be learning about Habitats. In this unit the children will identify some local habitats and name some of the organisms that live there. In the second half term the children will move on to learning about solids, liquids and gases and how they can be separated.

In Geography this term we will be beginning a project on the world. We will be learning about different continents around the world and where countries are. We will learn about different climates and time zones and learn a little about a range of varied cultures. We will be thinking about what life is like for other children in the world.

History this year is based around the Tudors. We will be looking at Tudor life, the differences between the rich and poor in Tudor times and studying Henry VIII. Any books or artefacts on the Tudors would be greatly appreciated.

Music this year will be taken by Mrs Mack and the class will enjoy learning a range of songs and instrumental accompaniment. They will be working on pace and tempo and will develop their timings and ability to perform as part of a group.

This year we will start swimming which will be on a Monday morning at Oakleigh Swimming Pool. The children will need either a plain black swimming costume or black trunks. The girls also need a swimming hat, any colour will do.

P.E this term will be on Thursday afternoons. The Year Three and Four children will be split into four groups with four different teachers and will be doing either Football, Netball, Rugby or Hockey. They will be rotating sports every three weeks. This means that the children will now only be in a group of fifteen and therefore be able to have more teacher attention and it will be easier to play games such as Netball. The children must have their correct kit each week. Yellow top and blue or black shorts. White socks and trainers and perhaps a school tracksuit as the weather gets colder.

In R.E this term we will be thinking about the concept of the creation. The children will be encouraged to think through their own beliefs and will be able to express these in class debates and poetry. We will also be looking at the theme of helping and being concerned with things we see around us. We will look at the work of Christian Aid, Action Aid and work with the Homeless. We will also learn about the good Samaritan and Jesus and the rich young ruler.

We will have weekly lessons using the portable laptop computers. This half term we will be learning about and creating databases and next term we will be developing images using repeating patterns.

Homework this year will be reading on a daily basis, spellings weekly and Maths or English. Both of these will be based around the work that we are doing in class. Please encourage your children to work on this independently at home and with your help and guidance when needed.

Homework needs to be in school on a Wednesday every week without fail. It is crucial that the whole class keeps up the good habit of handing homework in on time. If you have any queries about the homework or how best to help your child with it please do not hesitate to ask. Please ensure your child has all the things they need for each day so that they can get the most out of a full curriculum.

I hope you are all looking forward to the term ahead as much as me! May I take this opportunity to thank you for your support so far, it is very much appreciated.

Miss A Brazier

Days to Remember Year 4 Autumn

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