Year 4

What happens in Year 4?

Year 4 is an incredibly exciting year for our children as they enter the main school building. In Year 4, we consolidate the skills learnt in Year 3 and prepare them for their learning in the Upper School by further developing their independence.

Year 4 have three brilliant Themes of Learning:

Autumn Term: The Wild, Weird and Wonderful – South America and the Rainforest.

Spring Term: Raiders and Settlers – The Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.

Summer Term: Off With Her Head – The Tudors.

Numerous engaging and exciting things happen in Year 4 to further enhance our learning; immerse the children within our Themes of Learning and to bring our learning to life:

• The children take part in some immersive and historical Themed Days. In the Spring Term, we engage in an Anglo-Saxon and Viking Day, where we partake in an interesting workshop, enabling us to fully embrace what life was like at the time and, in the Summer Term, we enjoy Tudor Day.
• In the Spring Term, we are incredibly lucky to embark on a thrilling residential trip to Sayers Croft. It’s an opportunity for our children to exemplify our school’s core values, such as resilience and courage, as they fearlessly explore new and exhilarating activities. They also demonstrate their sense of responsibility by supporting and encouraging their fellow peers. From mastering archery to engaging in team-building exercises, our children relish the chance to embrace these challenges while further developing their team building skills on this unforgettable trip.
• Our Year 4 children have the opportunity to complete their Bikeability Level 1, preparing them for their Level 2 in Year 6.

Day by Day Guide

Children need their Homework Diaries, a book, pencil cases and a water bottle in school every day.

Home Learning

Each week, in Year 4, we upload a Homework Sheet onto our Google Classroom pages. Here we provide information about our Homework, as well as a ‘Weekly Update’ on what we will be learning the following week across the curriculum. Parents will also find important reminders on the Year 4 Homework Sheet.

English

Children are expected to read at home every day and record this in their Homework Diary with the name of the book and the pages they have read. We ask an adult at home to sign their Homework Diary and these will be checked weekly by the children’s Class Teacher. The books the children read may be banded books from school, or if your child is a free reader, any suitable book of their choice.

We will be teaching spellings every day in school. However, if our families wish to continue to practise these at home, we provide a variety of Spellings within our ‘Spelling’ section on the children’s Google Classroom Pages. In this section, you will find a copy of the High Frequency Words, the Years 3-4 Statutory Spellings and the Years 5-6 Statutory Spellings. The Year 4 Homework Sheet also contains the spellings that we will be learning in school each week.

Maths

Each week Maths homework is set using MyMaths. This is set on a Friday and should be completed by the following Friday. Times Tables Rock Stars is an online game that we use to help the children learn and practise their times tables. The children enjoy taking part in the various tournaments that are set-up.

Family Learning

Each term, the children have the opportunity to complete some ‘Family Learning’, which links to our Themes of Learning. For example, in the Autumn Term, our ‘Family Learning’ focuses on the ‘The Wild, Weird and Wonderful: South America and the Rainforest’. The children’s ‘Family Learning’ will be uploaded onto our Google Classroom pages.

Family Learning is an opportunity to explore our Themes of Learning outside of school, as a family. Over the term, the children are able choose activities that they would like to complete at home. These can focus on different themes that the children love and enjoy. For example, some children are really creative and may choose to complete a Family Learning Project from the ‘Expressive Arts’ section. Some children are mathematicians at heart and, therefore, they might complete something from the ‘Maths’ section.

When the children have completed their projects, we love to celebrate them with the class.