Welcome to Year 4!
We would like to tell you all about Year 4 and the exciting things we do. This year we will be using Parenthub to update you and keep everyone informed of the exciting things Year 4 have been doing. Parenthub will be launched after half term so for the time being we will be using twitter and the monthly newsletter to share our learning.
Meet the Year 4 Team
- Miss Gellard (4G)
- Mrs daRocha (4DB)
- Mr Byrne (4DB)
- Mrs Spendlove (TA)
- Mrs Buskiewicz (1:1 TA)
- Mrs Whelan (TA & Forest School Lead)
REMINDERS: Christmas card designs have been created and are being sent off today. Use the code on the leaflet given to the children to check them out online and to make your orders.
Coming November 2019
At Woodheys we want to share as much as possible with parents and with this new app we hope to keep you up to date with your child’ learning.
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Turn on notifications and you can see what is happening in the classroom as it is happening!
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If you have more than one child - no problem!! You can subscribe to as may Woodheys channels as you want.
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You will receive regular posts each week on some of the exciting events and learning that take place at Woodheys. This will replace the year group pages on the website.
You will receive more information on how to subscribe to the app and the Woodheys channel at your child’s parents evening in November.
The great news is - it is all free !
This week, we had a visit from a Roman shop owner! He helped us understand what life was thousands of years ago. We looked at currency, tools, weaponry and tried on some outfits. We even got to learn some Latin songs!
In English, we have been working hard on understanding the importance of speech punctuation to help make our Talk For Writing Story easier to understand. Now that we have learnt one alternative ending, we have started generating ideas for some alternative endings of our own.
In maths, we have been learning how to solve two step real life problems. We have used rounding to help us estimate approximate answers and we had to concentrate really hard to make sure we could switch freely between addition and subtraction calculations. We we also reminded how to use the inverse to double check that our subtraction had been carried out correctly.
In science, we created our own creature. We had decided on its habitat, what it looked like, whether it was warm or cold blooded and if it laid eggs or not. From the information we generated, were able to decide what animal group it best fit into.
We've been non-stop again this week. In English, we have been using Talk for Writing to learn to tell an alternative version of The Three Little Pigs. In science, we have been learning about how we can group vertebrates into mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles. We thought about the traits they have in common and what makes them different to all other animals.
Roman day was a huge success and the children were fabulous.
Our Talk for Writing story.
This week, we've been exploring why the Roman army we so successful. We worked in groups to research a particular area and then fed back our findings to the rest of the class.
In English, we took all the planning we carried out last week and wrote a section of the story from Lost Happy Endings. We used really carefully selected vocabulary to make sure that we created just the right mood. Once we had finished, the children then became the teachers. They used success criteria to TAG each other's work. We told our friends things we liked about their writing, we asked them their opinions and we gave them some advice about ways in which they could improve.
This week, we have been working really hard to develop our vocabulary. We are all fabulous readers now but we have to make sure we know a range of strategies to use to understand the meaning of more complex words and phrases. We have been word detectives and know so many ways to improve our comprehension.
In maths, we've been playing around with Roman numerals. Do you know how to write the number 84 or 1400 as they would have in the time of Julius Caesar?
In science, we thought about why a camel doesn't live in the ocean. We spent lots of time exploring different habitats and thinking about how animals are adapted to survive in the conditions they are in.
This week, the children have been introduced to our class text, 'Lost Happy Endings' by Carol Ann Duffy. They listened intently to the wonderful similes used to describe the main characters and settings. We explored this further in our forest school activities on Wednesday. We've also been developing our understanding of possessive apostrophes in order to help us accurately describe Jub's looks.
In history, we've been developing our knowledge of chronology so that we have a better understanding of when and where in the world Roman people were around.
In Art, we have been exploring 'Pop Art' . Children looked at some examples of artwork from the 60's, with a focus on the work of Andy Warhol. They thought the subjects were a little strange (especially the tomato soup tins) but they loved the colours and the idea that it gave them an insight into what was popular over half a century ago.
AUTUMN TERM CURRICULUM:
English: Traditional Tales with a Twist
Maths: Place Value
Science: Animals and their Habitats
History: Romans
Art: Pop Art (Andy Warhol)
Reminders
Reading records and books - Everyday (Children should be changing their own reading books in school).
PE Kits - Wednesdays and Fridays
Forest schools equipment - Wednesdays (alternate weeks)
Homework - Given out on Fridays to be returned by the following Wednesday.
Spellings and times tables - Fridays
PSHCE
As part of the PSHCE curriculum the children will study a range of topics relating to real world issues.
Please see this document for more details.
Homework
Autumn Term
Week 1: Maths: Rounding numbers
Spellings - adding suffixes to two syllable verbs
Week 2: English: Possessive apostrophes
Spellings - adding suffix 'ous' to convert nouns and verbs to adjectives.
Week 3: Work Meaning
Spellings - adding suffix 'ous' to build nouns
Week 4: Negative numbers
Spellings - prefixes re, de and pre
Week 5: Grammar Hammer
Week 6: Alternative Endings
Usful information
Year Three and Four transition presentation
Reading questions to support comprehension
Lower Key Stage Two English Objectives
We encourage Year 4 to go on Times Tables Rockstars and EducationCity every week to support their learning at home. Your child's login should be in the front of their reading records.
Homework - Maths Key Skills 12
For those of you that find grammar as exciting as teachers then The school run is a brilliant website with definitions and examples of some of those more tricky elements of grammar. In addition, here is a cheat sheet full of grammar terms that may help as well.