Welcome to Year 4

Mrs Herbert, Mrs Breakwell and Mrs WoodMrs Wood and Mrs Groves

Miss Buchan and Mrs Sproule

Literacy

Taught in classes.» Usually linked to our cross curricular topics for the term

Clear differentiation to suit learning needs.Opportunities for individual, paired and group work.

Speaking & Listening

A vital part of literacy – if we can’t say a sentence, how can we write one?Therefore Speaking & Listening is a real priority and lots of room has been made for it.In school opportunities: class/group discussions, talk partners, hot seating, drama.At home opportunities: talk homework, chat, instructions, extended vocabulary.

Reading

Vital life skill – text is around us everywhere and life is very confusing without the ability to read it.In Key Stage 1 a huge emphasis is based on phonics – breaking down individual sounds - as the method to accessing unknown words. Our alphabetic code is complex and some children ‘crack’ this code earlier than others. Therefore in Year 4 some children will need to continue to become more confident with the individual letter and vowel sounds in order for their reading to progress. Some children will be involved in additional phonics groups.

Reading

Interventions– Rapid readers – Better Reading

Once children are confident readers the emphasis shifts from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’.Their comprehension skills – understanding what they are reading – becomes the focus of teaching during Guided Reading sessions. There is a difference between reading and understanding!

Reading

Home reading – lots of discussion is the key.– Selection of reading books in each class (not 1 particular

scheme).– Children are free to change their book independently at

any point in the week. – They are free to choose a book they are interested in.

Please feel free to comment on your children’s reading card or speak to the class teacher.

– Children could also read to a younger sibling, share comics or newspapers, use the town library.

WritingThe biggest challenge we all face and a big focus of year 4.Many components to it – composition, handwriting, spelling, punctuation, detail, etc, etcSome skills need to be automatic so progress can be made e.g handwriting, punctuation.The actual content develops with maturity, experience and direct teaching and feedback.Pen licences are awarded for neat cursive handwriting!

Opportunities For Writing In School

Modelled writingShared writingGuided writingPaired / group writingIndependent writingWriting for pleasureBIG Writing

Opportunities For Writing At Home

Own pleasure / interestListsNotes / messagesDiariesLetters E-mailGive lots of praise for any efforts made.

Spelling at school

Strategies we teach:Breaking down phonemes / syllables e.g. shop – sh – o –p September – Sep – tem – berRoot words e.g. smiling (root word – smile)Word families – could, would, shouldMnemonics – becauseIntervention groups

Numeracy / Maths

Maths learning and teaching has changed (for the better!)

It is more active and collaborative than it used to be.‘Having a go’ and ‘talking maths’ are encouraged.Mental methods (being able to work things out in your head) are equally as important

as written methods.

Numeracy

Taught in 3 ability sets.Areas of mathsBlock A: Counting, partitioning and calculating Block B: Securing number facts, understanding shape Block C: Handling data and measures Block D: Calculating, measuring and understanding shape Block E: Securing number facts, relationships and

calculating These blocks are covered each term.

Teaching sequence

Review and activate prior learningIntroduce new learningPractise and consolidateApply, secure and extendReview and evaluate progression in learning.

How do they do calculations at

school nowadays?

Developing independence and choice

*How would you solve 43-37?

*Hopefully the children will spot that 43 and 37 are near each other, and will count on from 37 to 43.

*However before they can do this they need a

‘feel for number.’

When adding, children often separate (partition) numbers. This written method is often more successful than other traditional methods.

37 + 28 =

37 28

50 15

65

Keeping one number whole and partitioning the other is an efficient strategy and works for all numbers

+20 +8

37 57 65

37 + 28 =

How can I help my child with maths?

•Regular opportunities for mental maths.

•Help them to learn their tables through regular practice.

•Re-enforce basic number skills when possible – when talking about money – discuss weights and measures when shopping/cooking.

•Get children to explain how they worked it out.

•Let them show with their written methods what they do.

Home LearningReading should be done regularly throughout the week. This can include their own books from home and libraries but please make school aware of what they are reading in addition to the book they have brought home from school.

‘Talk homework’ will be sent out on alternate weeks for Maths and Literacy. We aim to give writing talk homework out two days prior to the Writing task. Maths talk homework will be linked to the children’s recent maths learning and provides an opportunity for them to explain what they have been learning and practice and consolidate skills through practical games and tasks. No written outcomes need to be returned to school.

A curriculum based task will be set each half term giving the children some choice. These tasks are designed to enhance basic key skills such as research / reading, writing, maths but allow some scope for creativity and children’s individual interest.

Selected children may bring home HFW spellings on occasion. Your support with this would be appreciated.

Rest of the curriculumChildren learn best when they are motivated. One of our continuing priorities on our school development plan is to ensure children are engaged in their learning.

Through the subjects Science, PE, ICT, R.E, Geography, History, Music, Art, Design Technology and PSHE, we aim to make cross curricular links to join the learning together.

For example this term we are studying Ancient Egypt. As well as looking at Egypt in history, we will also …– In art, be making artefacts with an Egyptian theme. – In dance, Egyptian themed– In science, looking at friction linked to pyramid building.– In literacy, be writing stories set in a historical setting , and using

the story of Howard Carter in our newspaper work.

Greater emphasis is placed on using Literacy and Numeracy skills across the curriculum.

» Written work in science to reflect the level of punctuation, spelling etc that they can produce in literacy lessons.

» Opportunities to apply maths skills in other subjects such as in Science investigation

Cross curricular theme weeks.

Music lessons - during the course of the year your child will learn 2 instruments over two 18 lesson blocks.

These instruments are likely to come home after a few weeks of tutoring depending on the child and tutor, there will be a letter for you to sign to agree to them coming home. Please ensure they come back on the correct day or your child won’t be able to participate.

Swimming: each class will go for ten weeks tuition at the leisure centre.4BH Autumn term, 4W Spring, 4B Summer

Jewellery

To support the curriculum and children’s interest we hope to be able to take your children on the following visits.

» Visit to Worcester Cathedral » Bell boating (Free)» Malvern Break (Optional trip)

Plus transition activities planned with the Middle Schools.

Extra curricular opportunities – Year 4 will have access to a variety of clubs, details to follow as and when.

Thank you for listening!

Please feel free to ask questions!