Year 4

Welcome to Year 4

Autumn 1 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

A huge welcome back after the summer holidays! I do hope you and your families had an enjoyable and relaxing time together!  We start the new school year feeling fully refreshed and ready to learn new and exciting topics! 

In Year 4, we will continue to adhere to our school values of Respect, Good Manners, Patience, Perseverance and Honesty. We will understand the school rules of 'Be Safe, Be Kind and Be the best you can be!'  We will continue with our 'Brookhouse Dojo' rewards scheme to acknowledge positive attitudes and behaviours that are consistent with our values.  Homework will be collected in on a Wednesday to be marked and returned by Friday.  There will also be online tasks to complete on Purple Mash, SPAG.com, Reading Plus and Times Tables Rockstars. 

Our topic for this half term is 'Sparks Might Fly!'.

English

The first unit for this half term will be explanation texts. We will focus on the text, 'Until I met Dudley' by Roger McGough.  We will explore the features and the vocabulary of explanation texts from a variety of examples. We will be able to identify key elements of a process and select appropriate connectives to link our writing.  By the end of the unit, we will write an explanation text with complex sentences using, if, when, so and because; write in sequenced steps using time and causal connectives.  The following unit of work is the topic if film and playscripts. We will explore a variety of plays and scripts; their features and structure. We will perform extracts from scripts using intonation and expression. We will discuss how characters may be feeling and why. At the end of the unit we will learn to convert dialogue from a story into a playscript using the genre conventions. 

*Reading is a priority of ours at Brookhouse, therefore Whole Class Reading sessions take place everyday, where children are expected to read a range of texts and answer questions by summarising, retrieving, making inferences and explaining.  We also have a specific focus on vocabulary, which will be sent home to learn before the lesson.  In school, we will continue to use the online reading resource called 'Reading Plus' and encourage children to complete lessons at home.  It is imperative for you to support your child with reading; please use the question stems to ask your children questions to check for understanding.  Also, ensure your child is learning their spellings for ten minutes daily. 

Mathematics

In Maths, our aim is to improve Maths fluency, reasoning and problem solving.  We do this through concrete, pictorial and abstract models.  In Autumn 1, we will be focusing on place value up to 10 000. We will count in multiples of 25, 100 and 1000 in order to count larger numbers more comprehensively. We will learn about the relative size of numbers and complete number sequences up to 10 000. We will learn place value to 4 digits and will link numbers in numerals and words. We will use symbols such as <, > and =. We will be rounding numbers to the nearest 1000, 100 and 10; we will use this knowledge to approximate, total and find the difference. Next we progress to addition and subtraction within 10 000. We will be using different methods and models to support adding and subtracting 1s, 10s, 100s and so on. We will be using the column method to complete problems.

Please encourage your child to practice their timetables through the year - up to 12x tables- as they are required to complete the official Multiplication Tables Check next year in the summer term.  During the Multiplication check, children will have 25 questions to answer with only 6 seconds per question.  In order to aid them with this, your child can use Times Tables Rockstars, UR Brainy MTC and the maths area on Purple Mash, all website links can be located on the Website Star. Please familiarise yourself with the multiplication tables, check parent guidance in the useful documents section above. 

Science

In Science we will be learning about electricity.  By the end of this unit,  will be able to construct a simple electrical circuit, identifying and naming the basic parts. We will investigate whether a bulb with light in a simple series circuit. We will draw diagrams to represent our models, labelling the components clearly.  We will record the findings of investigations, using simple scientific language, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of our conclusions. We will be able to name metals that are conductors and materials that are insulators. They will use scientific evidence to answer questions or support their findings.  Please encourage your child to learn their knowledge organiser which will assist them with their weekly quizzes.

Design Technology

In Design Technology, we will be designing and making a prototype electrical board game. We will be looking at different types of electrical games, thinking about the use, practicality and making sure the game is appealing to a specific user. We will plan, design and then make our product, we will then evaluate its effectiveness recognising whether or not it fits the design brief. We will be able to state why we chose particular materials for our games plus explain and demonstrate how we connected an electrical circuit to our final product. 

Geography

In Autumn 1, we will be developing our locational knowledge, by looking at physical and human geography. The focus this half term will be locating the U.K. border counties and describing how these counties differ or are similar to our own county. We will then focus on the growth of U.K. cities including London. We will explore the impact on physical geography on our modern cities, their growth and significance due to the topography features of the land. We will then compare and contrast London to another major worldwide city, naming the differences and similarities.   

Physical Education

P.E sessions will take place on a Monday afternoon, our unit is Dance.  Pupils will master the fundamental movement skills, using dance to represent their understanding of electricity. Please ensure your child comes into school wearing their full P.E kit.  The kit should include a yellow P.E top with the school's logo matched with black shorts, joggers or leggings and black pumps or trainers.  Over the top, children will wear their school jumper or cardigan.  All jewellery must be removed, please ensure earrings are taken out before the session or covered with plasters.

PSHE

The unit for Autumn 1 is 'Be Kind'. Throughout the unit we will be discussing and exploring different emotions and feelings. We will discuss how we can have many feelings at once and how this may effect us. Explain the benefits of sharing our feelings and support we can offer to others. We will discuss how bullying can negatively impact people and  understand several strategies for solving arguments with peers. 

Music

The unit we will be covering is the music of ABBA.  We will be identifying the structure of a piece thinking about the introduction, verse, bridge and chorus. We will be using our voices and our own compositions. Using instruments, we will begin to read notation and compose a simple melody. We will be appraising our own work and that of others.

Oracy - Voice 21

As a school we are developing our oracy, learning through talk and learning to talk.  In class, we have created discussion guidelines to aid meaningful discussions.  We encourage children to fully participate by taking on a range of roles and utilising sentence stems to articulate their ideas.  We will provide opportunities for discussion in all areas of the curriculum.

If you have any queries, do not hesitate to discuss these with us at the end of the school day or arrange an appointment through the school office.

Thank you for your support.

All the best from the Year 4 team!

Miss Woodhouse (Class Teacher)

Mrs Sheikh (Special Support Assistant)

Mrs Momoniat (Teacher Assistant) 

Mrs Patel (Higher Level Teaching Assistant)