Welcome to the Stars class page. We are looking forward to a busy year and we have some really exciting topics ahead. Stars class are lucky to have our LKS2 teaching assistants working with them supporting their learning. We have lots of enthusiasm and are looking forward to the year ahead. Please feel free to come and talk to Miss Bosworth if you have any questions.
|
Miss Rebecca Bosworth |
Year 4 Class Teacher and LKS2 Lead |
|
Mrs Kerry Smart |
Year 4 Class Teacher |
|
Mrs Karla Revoredo |
LKS2 Teaching Assistant |
|
Mrs Sarah Davies |
LKS2 Teaching Assistant |
|
Mrs Katie Stanford |
LKS2 Teaching Assistant |
* WCR = Whole Class Reading
PE days
Please come to school in your PE kits on Tuesday for indoor PE and Monday for outdoor PE.
In Year 4 our Cornerstones topics this year are:
What will my child learn in Year 4?
As in all other year groups, Year 4 follow the National Curriculum set out by the government. Children will access the full range of curriculum subjects. Generally speaking, reading, writing and maths will be taught daily; geography, history, art and design, music and computing will be taught in blocks to match the topics listed above, and PSHE, RE, science and Languages will be taught at least fortnightly across the year. At HCP, we strive to make teaching and learning personalised, exciting and creative.
The curriculum for English in Year 4
We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme ‘Pathways to Write.’ Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided. Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.
Here are some of the books we plan to use this year:
By the end of Year 4, children’s reading and writing should be sufficiently fluent for them to manage the general demands of the curriculum across all subjects. They should be able to reflect their understanding of the purpose and audience of their writing by selecting appropriate vocabulary and grammar.
In Year 4, children’s confidence, enjoyment, and mastery of language will be extended through public speaking, performance, and debate.
The curriculum for maths in Year 4
In Year 4, children will be consolidating and developing their learning from Year 3. There will be a large focus on place value and number, ensuring that children are now confident with place value beyond one thousand as well as being able to use a written method for each of the four functions. They will learn about different units of measure, fractions, properties of shape and statistics.
At this stage, children should develop their ability to solve a wider range of problems using both written and mental methods of calculation. Times tables will be heavily focused upon this year as there will be a times table check at the end of the year. Children need to be able to recall all of their times tables, up to 12 x 12, with speed.
By the end of Year 4, children should be confident using written methods for all four operations, and in working with fractions and decimals. They should be able to use the corect mathematical vocabulary to describe their working.
How will my child be assessed in year 4?
Throughout the year, our year 4 teaching team will be assessing children against the National Curriculum for year 4, making observations, looking at the work the children complete during lessons and gathering evidence to determine how children are attaining in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of year 4. This end of year teacher judgement will be shared with parents through your child’s end of year report and will show parents whether your child is working:
Updates regarding how your child is attaining will also be shared at our autumn and spring term parents’ consultations in November and March.
Y4 Partners in Excellence (PiXL) Tests
Throughout key stage 2 (from year 3 to year 6) we will continue to use PiXL (Partners in Excellence) assessments throughout the year. PiXL tests have been designed to check children’s knowledge and understanding against the end of year expectations for each year group in reading; grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) and mathematics.
As well as informing each teacher’s assessments of each child in their class, PiXL tests also enable diagnostic evaluation of gaps in children’s learning and are supported by therapies and interventions which can support children in closing their gaps in learning. If you would like a copy of your child’s test papers, please let the class teacher know.
Y4 Multiplication Tables Check (MTC)
In addition to ongoing teacher assessments in reading, writing and mathematics; children in year 4 undertake a statutory assessment of their times table recall in early June. The ‘Multiplication Tables Check (MTC)’ involves each child working on a 1:1 basis answering 25 times tables questions up to 12 x 12 using a computer or tablet to input the answer to each question. After each question is posed, children have six seconds to recall the answer and enter this using the computer or tablet keypad. At the end of the year, your child’s total number of correct responses out of 25 will be shared with you as part of their end of year report.
For more information, please click on the following link – Information for parents: multiplication tables check to read the leaflet produced by the Standards & Testing Agency (STA) regarding last year’s check.
The expectation for homework in Year 4 will begin with regular use of Times Tables Rockstars to practise times tables. Times Tables Rock Stars is a carefully sequenced programme of daily times tables practice. Each week concentrates on a different times table, with a recommended consolidation week for rehearsing the tables that have recently been practised every third week or so.
There is also an expectation that the children read at least four times a week and record their reading in their reading records. The children who do this will be issued with a raffle ticket with a chance to win a special prize at the end of each half term.
(Logins for TT Rockstars are stuck in the front of reading records)
In the Autumn term, the children will also be bringing home a maths and reading comprehension workbook. These will be sent home on alternate weeks and the children will be told which pages to complete. We will be keeping a record of the children who complete their homework on time and awards will be given.
At the beginning of each new topic, the children will also be set home an optional homework pack with suggested activities that the children can complete. These suggestions will link to the topic that the children are studying and will allow them to recap areas that have already been taught or areas that will be covered over the course of the topic. These are optional and children can choose to complete as many of the activities that they like over the half term.
Autumn Term 1 - Year 4 Home Learning Tasks - I Am Warrior
In year 3 we used an app on our iPads to help practise our knowledge of multiplication. It can be found in the AppStore and is called "Times Table Clock" if you wish to download it. The cost of this app is £1.49.
You can also practice the Multiplication Check on - https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/.
Please let us know if there are any other websites or apps that you use at home. We can add these to our website for other parents and children to enjoy too.