Hello and Welcome to Year 4!

Welcome to Year 4 2024 25 

This term 4cs's PE day is Friday and 4M is Tuesday.  Please see the newsletter for curriculum and dates.

Our Newsletters

The newsletter provides parents and guardians with an overview of what we are teaching and learning about during any half term.

Autumn 1 – Autumn 2024 Curriculum Newsletter 1.docx

Autumn 2 - Autumn 2 2024 Curriculum Newsletter.pdf

In year four our learning is underpinned by the two main statutory subjects of maths and English during the mornings. In the afternoons we teach a broad range of foundation subjects which allow our children to be creative and express themselves in a variety of ways. Lessons also allow children to work both in a group and independently, whilst developing other key skills necessary for both school and the wider community. 

Reading

In year four, reading is primarily taught through daily English lessons. Once a week there is a discrete comprehension VIPERS (Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve, Summarise) lesson based on the whole class reading book at the time. We have a reading area in year four where children can access a wide variety of different books which span over several genres in both fiction and non-fiction. This is to promote reading for pleasure for the children. The majority of year four children are issued books through the current school reading scheme. The goal is to develop their comprehension by the end of the year so that they can become a free reader and start reading books that they have an interest in. We have weekly Reading Plus sessions on the IPADs where children take a different approach to reading by working on their fluency, vocabulary and understanding of a text. The programme tracks the progress of every child and allows them to progress at speed that is coherent to their reading ability. We also encourage children to read once per night at home with a grown up as well as giving children 10 minutes of quiet reading after lunch. They also hear their teachers model a correct, fluent, and confident way to read.

Writing

Children in year four write for lots of different purposes linked to the topic for our year group or whole school topic. The writing activities have a mission statement which allows children to give context to their writing making it more meaningful. Each genre of writing we look at the different features of the genre and aim to produce one piece of writing every two weeks. When producing a larger piece of writing we show the children a WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) to demonstrate how to use the features of different genres in their writing. We ensure that children re-read their writing and give them time to practise their editing skills to then make sure their writing is up to the best standard it can be for the children to publish.

SPaG – Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

In addition, we incorporate SPaG activities to help children reinforce their grammar skills and up level their writing. There is a weekly grammar lesson and where appropriate links into the writing genre we are covering at the time. Spelling is taught through the Read Write Inc. spelling programme, giving a greater focus on phonics understand and looking deeper into different spelling patterns.

Throughout the year children will be learning common exception words that they need to know.

Maths

Maths is taught daily following the White Rose maths scheme which builds on prior knowledge and understanding. Maths lessons start with Times Tables Rockstars and oral/mental starter which focuses on their times tables and their KIRF knowledge. Lessons follow a structure where the teacher will inform the children on the skills needed to answer questions on a particular topic. Examples used contain both fluency questions as well as questions on reasoning and problem solving. This is then replicated in the independent task when children answer question either in their book or on a sheet which goes into their maths folder. Children are challenged in every lesson with questions of increasing difficulty. Children are encouraged to go on to Times Tables Rockstars at home which will help them in their end of year times tables screening check. Below is the scheme that we follow in maths for year four.

Year 4 times tables screening check

In June 2020, all Year 4 children in England will be undertaking the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will help the school to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables, so that additional support can be provided. The test is administered online and we will be practising the format of the test with the children in school using iPads on a regular basis between now and June. We would also like to suggest some possible websites which would offer the opportunity for the children to practise at home. It would be useful if the children were able to use these sites to ensure they are feeling confident with the process of the test. We have children who are very proficient with all their tables but we feel they would benefit from practising the inputting of their answers in the 6 seconds available during the test. Possible websites which offer a very similar experience to the actual test include:

• Times Tables Rock Stars – click on ‘play’ at the top right hand side and then click on Soundcheck underneath
• Timestables.co.uk – look at menu on right hand side of screen and click on Multiplication Tables Check
• Mathsframe.co.uk –multiplication & division – then scroll down to Multiplication Tables Check
• Themathsfactor.com – has a free times tables check at the bottom of the opening page.

Other subjects

As science is a core subject, it is taught weekly where the objectives we cover are based on the National Curriculum. Topic is taught termly with one lesson per week. Where appropriate, it is linked to English or other taught subjects cross curricular. PE is taught twice a week and over a half term two areas of the National Curriculum are taught. We also cover ICT, Music, French and PHSE biweekly. For ICT we use a programme called Purple Mash which covers a wide range of topics. For Music we use a programme called Charanga which helps children understand and play simple tunes to music. For PHSE we cover subjects on the Jigsaw  scheme which help children develop as people in the community. For French we follow the North Yorkshire County Council scheme which gives children a basic knowledge in French and sets them up for French at high school.

Homework

Weekly homework consists of times table practice, consolidation of maths or English (these rotate on a weekly basis), talk homework and weekly spellings. This should take about an hour to do. As well as this, children are encouraged as part of their homework to read every night and log onto Times Tables Rockstars.

Robin Hood’s Bay

In year 4, we will be running a trip to Robin Hood’s Bay in May. Each class will stay one night at the Old School House in the village. Activities include exploring the coastline, the village itself and other surprises along the way.