Thursday 12th September 2024

Dear Parents/Carers of Year 4 pupils,

Welcome to Year 4!

Our topic this term is ‘Light It Up’ with a focus on Electricity in Science.  In English we have begun by learning a poem, ‘The Lights’ by Miriam Nash. Next week, we will be basing our work on an animation called ‘Lighthouse’. Following this, we will be looking at the book, ‘The King who Banned the Dark’ by Emily Haworth-Booth. During Whole Class Reading we will be discussing and exploring ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. In Maths our main focus will be Place Value and learning the times tables. The goal is for the children to know all of the times tables off by heart by the end of Year 4.

P.E. Lessons
Please ensure your child wears the appropriate kit to school on PE days (white T-shirt, dark bottoms, trainers/plimsols).

PE lessons will be on the following dates:

Every Thursday – 12^th Sep, 19^th Sep, 26^th Sep, 3^rd Oct, 10^th Oct, 17^th Oct, 24^th Oct

On the following Tuesdays (PPA days) – 24^th Sep, 8^th Oct, 22^nd Oct

Uniform
Encourage your child to wear full school uniform and ensure they have a coat appropriate for the weather. It is important that your child does not wear jewellery (unless it is for religious reasons) apart from stud earrings.

Home Learning
Reading:  Reading is essential to help your child make progress in all areas of the curriculum. We would like children to read at home each day. It is best for an adult to check how they’re getting on, either by listening to them read or by asking them questions to check their understanding. This will help your child make faster progress with their reading. Please do make a note in their reading journals if possible. It makes us aware of how much and how well they’re reading and what they’re enjoying.  Please put the reading journal back into their book bag after writing in it as it is handy to have them in school each day.

Maths: In Year 4 children need to continue to learn all the times tables up to x12.  You can begin helping your child to recap the times tables that were covered in Year 3 (x3, x4 and x8) and those learnt in KS1 (x2, x5 & x10).  Try using cards or games to randomly select times tables, drawing groups of items to make groups, counting in groups e.g. counting in 3s – 3, 6, 9, etc and practising online using websites such as https://www.timestables.co.uk/ . Additionally, we will set weekly tasks using Mathletics. We will let the children know when we start this and provide them with login details if they are new or have forgotten them.

Other information
Please ensure your child brings a filled and labelled water bottle to school each day. They may also bring a healthy snack to eat at playtimes, e.g. a piece/small pot of fruit or some vegetable sticks. Any other snacks can be tricky as there are children with nut allergies in school and lots of things like cereal bars do contain nuts.

Parents’ Evening will be held during the week beginning 21^st October. More information about this will follow shortly.

Thank you for all your support.

Ms Whyte, Miss Drewe & Miss Saglam