Year 4

WELCOME TO YEAR 4 Mrs Almond, Miss Metcalfe, Mrs Riley and Mrs Hill

WELCOME TO Y4 • We are very lucky to have one of the new classrooms this year. • Please feel free to have a look around our classrooms following the meeting. We will also be around if anyone has any questions.

DAYS TO REMEMBER • Curriculum Maps – Autumn Term 1 find on the website: Our Year 4 Learning Challenge is ‘Where would you choose to build a city?’ • Y4A have PE on a Monday and a Tuesday morning, Y4M have PE on a Wednesday morning and a Thursday afternoon- please make sure children have the correct PE kit in school each week and that earrings are removed. We will send PE kits home for a freshen up each half-term. • Reading books should be changed every Tuesday and Thursday.

• Homework will be sent out on a Monday. Spellings should be learned by Friday but maths and comprehension are to be returned the following Monday, giving the weekend for completion. • Celebration assembly will take place on a Friday afternoon at 2.55pm.

ITEMS TO REMEMBER EVERY DAY • Your child should be bringing a water bottle every day. We encourage children to have a drink at the start of every lesson. • A book bag is needed every day containing their reading book and for taking home any letters or homework. • Please ensure that ALL uniform and coats (even shoes!) are clearly labelled with your child’s name. • Trainers are not allowed in school. Correct uniform must always be worn with shirts tucked in.

BEHAVIOUR- GOOD TO BE GREEN • Every child starts on a green card each day. • If a child needs to be spoken to about their behaviour they will get a warning card. If behaviour improves then this will return to a green card. • If behaviour does not improve and an adult has to speak to that child again, then a red consequence card will be used. This then means that the child will have a consequence, • E.g. Level 1 -miss a break • Level 2 – The child will speak to the phase 2 manager and Parents will be informed

• Level 3- The child will go to the Deputy Head. • If a child has super behaviour all week, and stays on green, they will be rewarded on a Friday and their name will go into our raffle box to win a prize every half term.

MUSIC LESSONS • Y4A will be learning a string instrument on a Tuesday afternoon and Y4M will be learning to play the flute on a Friday morning. • Children will be loaning these instruments for a year and can take them home (with permission from an adult) but if the instrument is damaged the School Music Service will expect the cost in full to replace the instrument. • It is vital that children bring their instrument to school every week as this is an opportunity only offered in Year 4.

SWIMMING LESSONS • Every child in Year 4 will attend swimming lessons. • Girls will need a full one piece costume and boys will need a pair of tight swimming shorts. Weeks Beginning 02/02/15 09/02/15

Week Beginning 23/03/15 30/03/15

Weeks Beginning 11/05/15 18/05/15

Mon & Fri 2pm – 3pm Weds 1pm – 2pm

Mon & Fri 2pm – 3pm Weds 1pm – 2pm

Mon & Fri 2pm – 3pm Weds 1pm – 2pm

PE & HOMEWORK • If for any reason your child is unable to take part in PE or complete their homework they will need to bring in a note from home that has been signed by an adult.

NEW CURRICULUM-ENGLISH • In Y4 we will teach English every day. The children will work through a range of objectives and activities taken from the new English curriculum. • As part of the new curriculum children will be taught through a text that is age appropriate and challenging. • The new curriculum places a greater emphasis on children’s spoken English and encourages drama activities to be used on a regular basis. • It also requires children to be taught discrete sessions of spelling, punctuation and grammar. We call this our SPaG lesson. • Here is a copy of our timetable to show how English will look each day:

Term: Aut 1

Y4 Timetable Number in Class: 31

Day / Time

Teachers: M rs Almond

8. 50

9: 00 - 10: 00

-

10: 45-

10: 00- 10: 45

11: 00

9. 0 0

11: 00 - 11: 45

M on

English

/ Grammar M

R

O

PE

G S

9. 0 0 - 9: 30

9. 30 -

LKS2

10 : 0 0

T

M ental

LKS2

R

maths

A T I

Thurs

O

test

1: 15

2 : 15-

2 : 30 - 3: 2 5

2 : 30

L

A

U

U

F

I

N

D

C

R

H

N

Handw riting / Grammar

I

E

N

D

M aths

G

English

RE

G

N

E

O

T

PPA

I

ICT (M P)

N

Singing

B

Assembly

R

E

E

A

M

R

D

E

E

Spelling/

15mins times

Handw riting

tables

/ Grammar

K

English

Spelling/

15mins

Handw riting

M athletics on

/ Grammar

Science

PPA M FL French (SC)

B

A

I

K

Science

Pray er/

Fri day

Ref lection

2 . 10 2. 25

English

PSHCE/ SEAL

N G

M aths

M aths

O

English

A

Assembly

T

M usic- Strings

R

M aths

I- Pads

1. 15- 2 : 15

M aths

R

N

Fri

12 : 15

Spelling/

I

Wed

12 : 15-

(3: 10 - 3: 2 5)

Handw riting

E

11: 45-

Support Staf f : M rs Riley

Spelling/

PE

Tues

Academic Year 2 0 14/ 15

TGI FRIDAY

Learning

Follow ed by Celebration

Challenge

Assembly (LKS2 2 : 55- 3: 2 5)

READING • Your child has been given a school reading book. Most of the children will be choosing these for themselves as they get used to the routine. This must be taken home every night and brought into school every day. Your child should be aiming to read for at least 20 minutes each night, sometimes, but not all the time with an adult. • The school reading record book should be completed by your child with a reflective comment about the book and signed by an adult to say they have read and fed back any difficulties or concerns within the week. They are allowed and encouraged to read other books of their own at home and these may also be noted in their reading record. • The wider the variety of reading material they experience, the better.

READING • Guided reading happens everyday. Each child will read with an adult once per week. • Other activities during guided reading may include pre or post reading activities linked to a book they have read with an adult in school, comprehension tasks, paired reading, ERIC (Everyone Reading In Class) or a variety of interesting reading based activities.

SPELLINGS • Every Monday, your child will bring home a list of 12 spellings to learn. These are to be practised at home, ready for a spelling test on Friday. It might help if they decide to learn perhaps 2 words each night and then practise them all on the Thursday night before the test. ( Read, Cover, Write, Check ) method is effective! • They will probably require some adult help with this, to check they understand the meaning of the word as well as the spelling. An older brother or sister could maybe help here.

NEW CURRICULUM-MATHEMATICS • We will have at least one hour of mathematics each day in Y4, this session will teach objectives taken from the new curriculum. • Topics will be taught in a practical and fun way and time will be given for children to apply their knowledge independently through follow up problem solving activities later in the week. • Separate sessions will be dedicated to mental maths and the times table challenge. • Mathletics- Home – school link. Certificates awarded in Celebration Assembly for frequent use.

TIMES TABLES • We must stress the importance of times table knowledge as this underpins a lot of the learning that will take place in Y4. We recommend that children spend 15 minutes each night practising their mental recall of times tables facts. • Once your child can confidently recall the multiplication fact of a chosen times table they should move on to practising another times table. • Once your child can confidently recall facts up to 12 x 12, they should begin to learn the corresponding division facts to each times table e.g. If 12 x 12 = 144, 144 / 12 = 12.

LEARNING WALLS • Learning walls will be used as part of English and Mathematics to display helpful learning hooks for the children. • Learning walls allow children to refer back to what they need to include in their work. • They are also an interactive area that the children can take ownership of.

NEW CURRICULUM –COMPUTING • Computing will be taught on a Monday in Y4M and a Wednesday in Y4A as a discrete lesson. Children will be taught from the new curriculum that encompasses computing elements such as programming. • Children will have the opportunity to use the new ICT suite and facilities, laptops and I-Pads as part of their weekly timetable.

LEARNING CHALLENGE CURRICULUM • In previous years the children have accessed foundation subjects such as history, geography and art as part of PLT (personalised learning time). This will now be called the ‘Learning Challenge Curriculum’. • Each topic context for learning will be introduced with a ‘WOW moment’ that will inspire and engage the children’s interests to learn more. • Here are the topics we will be learning about in Y4:

Y4 LEARNING CHALLENGE TOPICS Where would Chembakolli Why is Who were the you choose to Liverpool such early build a city? a cool place lawmakers? to live?

Hundertwasser

Painting

Banksy

Gaudiarchitecture

Why were the Norman castles certainly not bouncy?

What would you have done after school 100 years ago?

Shields, swords, armour etc.

MuybridgeZoetropes/ silent movie as a piece of art work.

ART • The children will be taught art as part of the ‘Learning Challenge Curriculum’ and we will focus on one art skill across the whole school each half term. • We would appreciate any old shirts, messy mats or newspapers to help keep our new classrooms looking wonderful.

THE NEST AT NEWTON Nurture Group- a message from Mrs Needham A nurture group is a small class of six to eight children which acts as a kind of bridge between home and school. It offers additional help for pupils within a small, structured ‘home-like’ classroom. We incorporate curriculum activities although the majority of the learning is social, emotional, behavioural aspects of learning.

FINALLY We appreciate all the help you can give. I hope we can work together to make Year 4 a successful and enjoyable experience for your child.

Teachers will be around on their classroom door each morning for any short messages that you want to pass on. If you wish to make an appointment after school to speak to your child’s class teacher please do so via the office. We are always happy to discuss any of your concerns or queries that you may have. Mrs Almond and Miss Metcalfe