English and Maths 

Hello everybody and welcome to Year 4! We hope you’ve had a lovely summer and are as eager to get started as we are.

In English, we will start the term with a beautifully illustrated text. The story revolves around an elderly man that lives in a world of scrap metal.  At the start of the term, the title is a closely-guarded secret, to support the children with using character and setting to make predictions about the plot.  The children will then have the opportunity to be more creative as they write their own fables, based on the text. Following this, we will be exploring The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and using the events of the story to develop our letter writing skills.

In Maths, Year 4 will be developing their understanding of place value. They will be learning to compare and order numbers up to 10,000, find these numbers on number lines, and round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000. Your child will also be learning formal written methods for adding and subtracting 4-digit numbers.

As the children move through Key Stage 2, times tables fluency is increasingly important and supports the children as they tackle more challenging problems. By the end of Year 4, they are expected to recall times tables facts within six seconds!

We will therefore be placing particular emphasis on learning and practising times tables in class, so that the children can quickly recall key facts. Any opportunities for the children to practice at home will support quicker recall, so please make sure that your child is practising regularly.

To further encourage the children, we run a Times Tables Rockstars Tournament each term. The tournament logs the amount of time the children spend practising their times tables on TT Rockstars, and at the end of term, the top three children will have a choice from our class prize box.

The Wider Curriculum 

Additional Information 

On Wednesday 9^th September, the children will resume their swimming lessons at Grand Central. These lessons will continue on a weekly basis, so please ensure that your child comes into school with their swimming kit every Wednesday.

Your child will also need to arrive at school wearing their P.E kit each Thursday, so that they are prepared for their weekly P.E lesson.

We encourage all children to read at home regularly and we will provide children with a reading book to do so. Each Wednesday, we will hold a bookclub so that the children can share a book with the class and make recommendations to their friends.

Children are expected to be reading at home at least 4 x per week. They can read independently or with an adult, and they may choose their reading book, library book or a personal book from home. Some children will prefer to read a book of their choice to a younger sibling (or perhaps even a pet!). However your child chooses to read, please record it in their school reading record and make sure it is signed by an adult. Whenever we see that a child has read at home, their name will be written onto a ticket for the end of term reading raffle.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to approach us.

Best wishes for the new term,

Miss Maudsley and Mrs Johnson  

Dates for the Diary 

Wednesday 9^th September: Swimming starts for Year 4

Thursday 17^th September: RE Workshop with Mrs Fullerlove