Welcome to Year 4!
We are writing to share some information about life in year 4.
Our two classes are Kingfishers class with Miss Hedgecock and Otters class with Mrs Gingell. Our teaching assistants are Mrs Richings and Mrs Harwood.
Curriculum and key dates
Year 4 begins with excitement and mystery as we unravel and explore the fascinating world of the ancient Egyptian and Mayan cultures with a particular emphasis on buildings and architecture. We began this project with the question: “Who were the Greatest Builders?” We had a visit from Mr Dilly who presented an exciting show to us all about the Ancient Mayan civilization. As the project evolves we will investigate how these ancient civilisations lived and the variety of roles people had. We will listen to and read stories with historical links, leading to diary writing and creating a pop-up information text. In R.E. we explore ‘People of God’ focusing on the story of Noah and we learn all about the Trinity. More information can be found on https://www.stwilfrids-hh.school/web/year_four/540962
KS2 celebration worship takes place on Friday mornings, where one member of each class is chosen to receive a certificate for how they have demonstrated our school values that week. The work of these children is shared and the rest of the key stage has a chance to hear about their achievements.
Reading at home
Even when your child enjoys reading and reads well on their own, they still need to read aloud all the way through their Key Stage Two years. Books can be borrowed from the school library – each class will visit once a week – and each year group has a selection of books that your child can borrow and read at home. Every time your child reads at home, you (or your child) should log this using BoomReader — The Digital Reading Record.
BoomReader also has a free app which can be downloaded through the Apple App Store or Google Play. The school code is 39826 and your child’s login has already been sent home. If you need this again, please email the year six address and we can provide this for you.
In KS2, children will be awarded value points for every occasion that they read at home. When children have finished a chapter book, they need to click the option on BoomReader that allows them to show they have completed the book so we have a record of the types of book they are reading.
Reading Rewards
Children can earn ‘Reading Rewards’ time, for reading at home and recording it in their reading records. To receive this reward time, children need to read at home on at least five occasions (either independently or to an adult) during the week and records these. Diaries must also be signed by a parent or carer (once per week) in order for children to receive this time.
Homework
Maths homework is set weekly on a Thursday and needs to be submitted by the following Thursday.
This will be an activity on the website MyMaths based on what the children have been learning that week, revision of a prior concept or an introduction to a future concept.
English homework is usually a writing task, based on a prompt such as an element of grammar or punctuation. This will be set from the beginning of each month and children have until the end of the month to complete the task. In addition, children will be set spellings to practise and these will be tested on a Monday. These will be a mixture of words from the statutory ‘word lists’ and those with particular spelling patterns. Spellings will be set on ‘Spelling Shed’.
Times tables and related division facts should be practised on an on-going basis, ideally a few minutes daily. Children are expected to know these and be making progress with them. ‘Times Tables Rockstars’ - Times Tables Rock Stars: Play (ttrockstars.com) - is an excellent website to use to practise these and children have been provided with logins to access this at home. All children are expected to complete and submit their homework on time. Children have been given their log-in details for the above websites, but if these have been misplaced, please inform the class teacher.
PE
This term, PE takes place on a Thursday and a Friday and on these days, children should attend school in their PE kit. If there is any reason why your child cannot participate in a PE session, please let the class teacher know through the year four email address. As an alternative, or in addition to plimsolls, sports trainers are allowed in the Juniors. These are particularly useful during the winter months as it allows the field to be used for outside PE. PE is only cancelled in the event of heavy rain, icy or extremely cold conditions, therefore children can wear a pair of jogging bottoms (ideally navy). Children should wear school sweatshirts for PE. Children with pierced ears must be able to remove their own earrings or cover these with tape.
As part of this PE, children in Year 4 will continue to have fortnightly swimming lessons at Hurst.
Water bottles and snacks
Please remember to bring in a water bottle and a healthy fruit or savoury snack (for example, fresh fruit, a bagel, raisins) for break time. Please ensure any snacks are both nut and egg free.
Uniform
Please ensure your child has a waterproof coat in school every day. Children will only stay indoors at playtimes if it is raining heavily. All clothing, including PE kit, should be labelled with your child’s surname.
We are looking forward to a great term. If at any point you have a message for your child’s teacher, please contact us through the year group email: year4@stwilfrids-hh.school
Please do contact us if you have any questions on year4@stwilfrids-hh.school
Best Wishes
Miss Hedgecock and Mrs Gingell
