Welcome to Year 4!

Each week we'll be keeping you up to date with our weekly blog. In addition to this, please read our half-termly curriculum map to find out what will be happening in Year 4. 

Important information - PE & Homework

PE - Monday and Friday. Please come to school in your PE kit on these days and these days only. 

Books - Change books on Wednesday. Your child will come home with 2 new reading books and a library book every Wednesday. Please make sure you have been reading at home at least three times a week. Please record any reading you have done in your reading diary. Your reading diary must always be in your bookbag so that we can read with you in school. 

Spellings - New spellings will be sent home every Friday. Please make sure your child's spelling book is in their bookbag on Friday so that the new ones can be stuck in.  Please also see our spelling page where you can easily access this every week. Please use your spelling book to practice them in. If there is evidence of practising, your child will receive a green point. They will also receive a green point if they have achieved full marks or improved their score from the previous week. Please also check which spellings have been marked as incorrect as these will still need to be practised.

Spelling Shed - Every week you will be set new challenges through spelling shed that match the spellings we have looked at and that are on your test for that week. Children will be rewarded on a Friday when Miss Martin checks they have completed the activities.

Times Table Rockstars (TTR) - This is REALLY important this year! You can download the app access through a web browser. Completing activities on TTR will help you to prepare for the MTC at the end of Year 4. Practice your times tables as much as possible! This will not only help you with your maths but will prepare you for your test you'll take at the end of this year. Your login for this is in your reading diary. If you need your login reprinted please let your teachers know. 

Year Four End of Year Expectations

This table provides information for parents and carers on the end of year expectations for children in our school. All the objectives will be worked on throughout the year and will be the focus of teaching. Any extra support you can provide in helping your children to achieve these is greatly valued. If you have any queries regarding the content of this booklet, please talk to your child’s teacher.

Autumn 1

Week 6

This week has been packed full of special events! We were thrilled to have The Leeds Knights visit us and share their passion for ice hockey. It was fascinating to learn about the sport and the dedication it takes to be part of a professional team. The children were inspired by the players’ stories and left eager to cheer them on at their next game!

In maths, we’ve been honing our rounding skills, working with numbers up to 1,000. We practiced rounding to the nearest 10, 100, and 1,000, deepening our understanding of place value and estimation. These skills will be invaluable as we continue to tackle more complex mathematical challenges.

On Tuesday, we came together as a school community to celebrate Harvest Festival at the church. The children sang beautifully, sharing their harvest songs with family and friends. 

Wednesday saw us put on our wellies and take to Hainsworth Park for our sponsored Welly Walk. The children showed great enthusiasm and resilience as they completed as many laps as they could to raise money for our class pot. 

To round off the week, we celebrated Hello Yellow Day on Friday, focusing on the importance of mental health and wellbeing. The children worked in groups to design inclusive spaces where everyone would feel safe, supported, and valued. Their ideas were phenomenal, ranging from innovative football stadiums to welcoming community hubs and even an upgrade for our ASPIRE room! It was incredible to see the thought and creativity they put into making sure everyone felt included.

What a fantastic week it has been, full of learning, community spirit, and a celebration of our diverse talents and interests. We can’t wait to see what next week will bring!

Week 5

This week in maths, we looked at numbers up to 2,000 through the lens of measures. By exploring 4-digit numbers in the context of measures and statistics, we're deepening our understanding and building the confidence we need to tackle other work involving these larger numbers. It's been a great way to apply our skills to real-world contexts!

Our English lessons have also taken a thrilling turn as we stepped back into the magical world of Narnia. We revisited the pivotal scene where Lucy first arrives and meets the mysterious Mr Tumnus. To really immerse ourselves in the moment, we watched the corresponding film clip and compared it to the book's description. Then, we had the opportunity to hot seat 'Lucy' herself and ask her all about her experiences. This has set the stage brilliantly for our upcoming task: writing a captivating first-person narrative based on this unforgettable scene. We can't wait to put our creativity and writing skills to the test!

In Art, we've been exploring the world of collage with a deliciously sweet twist. Our challenge was to carefully select and arrange sweets and chocolate wrappers in an interesting and visually appealing way. We focused on using space effectively, considering the proportion and placement of each wrapper. The best part? Our homework leading up to this project was to eat plenty of sweets and chocolate, all in the name of art, of course!

Alongside all this exciting learning, we've been making the most of every spare minute to practice our times tables on Times Tables Rock Stars (TTR). With the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) on the horizon, we're determined to master as many times tables as possible so that we can approach the assessment with confidence. We would really appreciate any extra practice you can give us at home too! Feel free to test us in the car, on the way to school, or even while we're brushing our teeth. Every little bit of practice helps!

Week 4

This week, we immersed ourselves even deeper into the world of Narnia by imagining ourselves as evacuees, just like the characters in our book. We put pencil to paper and began writing letters home, as if we were children sent away during wartime. To make our writing really shine, we focused on using expanded noun phrases, subordinating conjunctions, and fronted adverbials. Miss Martin and Mr Popple have been so impressed with the progress we've made in our writing since joining Year 4. Our imaginations are really starting to come alive on the page!

In Geography, we embarked on a fascinating investigation into where our food comes from. We brought in packaging from home and became food detectives, scouring the labels to find out where each item was made or produced. Once we located the country of origin, we found it on a map and used a scale bar to calculate the distance in kilometers. We discovered that our food journeys from all over the world to reach our plates. The furthest item was a packet of biscuits all the way from Singapore! We also found cereal from Switzerland and nectarines from sunny Spain. It's amazing to think about the incredible distances our food can travel.

Week 3

This week in maths, we've been brushing up on our column subtraction skills, particularly focusing on regrouping. It's been great to see everyone's confidence grow as we tackle these tricky calculations!

Our geography lesson took us on a fascinating journey, tracing the path of the humble cocoa bean from its origins to the chocolate bars we love so much. We discovered the different stages of chocolate production and the various countries involved along the way. It's amazing to think about how much work goes into creating our favourite treats!

In PSHE, we explored the importance of staying active and how it benefits not just our physical health, but our mental wellbeing too. We brainstormed lots of fun ways to keep moving, from dancing in our living rooms to going for walks in the park. We're all committed to finding activities we enjoy and making them a regular part of our routines.

Of course, we've also been eagerly following the adventures in Narnia during our reading sessions. We can't wait to see who will be the next to venture through the magical wardrobe! The story has us all captivated and we're loving discussing our predictions and reactions.

In art, we delved into the world of tone and texture. We experimented with different techniques to create a range of tones and practiced replicating various textures. Then, we put our new skills to the test by completing a picture, focusing on adding depth and detail through shading and texture. The results were incredibly impressive, we have some real artists in the making!

Week 2

This week, we stepped through the wardrobe and into the enchanted world of Narnia as we began our new English topic: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. To truly immerse ourselves in the story, we imagined what it would be like to be evacuees during World War II, just like the Pevensie children. We packed our suitcases with the essentials, thinking carefully about what we would need for our journey to the countryside.

To deepen our understanding, we watched a clip from the film adaptation, which gave us a real sense of the mixed emotions the children must have felt, the fear of leaving home, the excitement of an adventure, and the uncertainty of what lay ahead. Inspired by the rich world of Narnia, we worked together to create our own word mats, filled to the brim with wonderful vocabulary that we can't wait to weave into our writing.

In music, we had our very first ukulele lesson! Mr Popple was blown away by how quickly we picked up the basics. With just a little bit of practice, we were strumming away and making real music. We can't wait to perfect our skills and put on a special performance for you all very soon.

And finally, while it may seem a little early, this week we also created our Christmas cards! We put our artistic skills to the test, designing and crafting cards that are full of festive cheer. Keep an eye out for them in the coming weeks, they'll be available to purchase, and we think they're going to be a real hit!

Our first art lesson of the year was a real treat... literally! We revisited the concepts of tone and shading, but with a delicious twist. We each chose a chocolate sweet and observed how the light hit its surface, creating highlights and shadows. Then, we put our skills to the test, sketching the sweets and focusing on recreating those light and dark areas to give our drawings a realistic, 3D look. It was a challenge to capture the glossy shine of the wrappers, but we think our artworks look good enough to eat!

It's been a fantastic start to the new school year, full of magic, music and creativity. We can't wait to see where our learning journey takes us next!

 

Week 1

What a fantastic start we’ve had to Year 4!

On Wednesday morning, we had lots of fun exploring our new classroom, getting ourselves organised and setting up our pencil cases. Most importantly, though, we made some very special new friends for the year… our glue stick friends!

We dressed our glue sticks in smart clothes, gave them googly eyes and chose some brilliant names, including Steve, Bob and Susan! We’re hoping that by turning our glue sticks into little classroom friends, we’ll take extra special care of them this year and, most importantly, remember not to lose their heads (lids)!

We’ve also been learning about the Zones of Regulation, thinking about the different emotions we might experience and exploring the tools and strategies we can use to help ourselves in each zone.

As part of creating a happy, respectful and welcoming classroom, we have explored British Values and Protected Characteristics. We discussed what these mean and thought carefully about how we can make sure everyone in our classroom feels valued, respected and included.

We’ve been getting ready for some fantastic writing in Year 4 too! We learnt about the difference between a dictionary and a thesaurus, and how each one can help us with our work. We can’t wait to start using them to develop our vocabulary and make our writing even better this year!

We’ve made a brilliant start in maths too! We have been revising how to use column addition, and Miss Martin was very impressed with how quickly it all came flooding back to us.

It’s been a busy but brilliant first few days, and we’re very excited to see what the rest of Year 4 has in store!