Featherstone Wood Primary School

Year Four

Welcome to Year 4’s class page.

Your teacher this year is Mrs E Burghelea and your TA is Mrs S Jackson

My email address is Year4@featherstonewood.herts.sch.uk

Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries or concerns about your child or the work we are doing in class. We are always more than happy to speak to you.

We have PE on Monday afternoon and Thursday lunchtime - please ensure your children have the appropriate kit on these days although we advice parents to check their children have their PE kit in school every day as some sessions happen with very little notice. PE kits can go home Friday afternoon to get washed but must be back the following Monday.

Children go swimming every Wednesday this term. Please make sure children bring swimming kit and a towel to school every Wednesday. They could bing goggles and nose clip if they wish.

Homework will be given out on a Friday and is expected to be handed in by the following Wednesday. We expect children to read at home daily and this should be indicated in their reading diaries. We aim to check diaries daily to remind children about reading.

English

In Writing this term we are doing work based on the book Gorilla by Anthony Browne. Children always start a unit by exploring features of the text and they end the unit by writing a text in the style of the text studied and, depending on the type of the text they could publish or present their edited writing to an audience. Before writing their final piece of writing, children are taught how to write correct single clause and multiclause sentences, how to use fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and, where necessary, how to punctuate speech correctly.

Reading

This term we will explore the collection of folk tales and legends ‘A world full of animal stories’ through a combination of whole class sessions and group sessions where children will have the opportunity to predict, clarify vocabulary, read, retrieve and explain.

All children also have access to ‘Bug Club’ (usernames and passwords are in their reading diaries). Here, they are allocated books, which they can read online which are appropriate to their reading level.

All children are given a reading diary. Our expectation is they read for at least 5-10 minutes every evening. Reading diaries are checked and signed by the teacher or teaching assistant daily. Children can write in their own diaries to indicate they have read at home but I kindly ask parents to check and sign the reading diary. Reading certificates are given out when children have read 25, 50, 75 and 100 books.

Spelling

This term we will:

start the year by assessing our understanding of theYear 1, Year 2 then year 3 and 4 spelling lists and then move on to using our new Spelling scheme ‘ Superhero spellings’

Maths

In Maths this term we are learning Place Value, Addition and Subtraction Mental and Formal strategies, Multiplication and Division Mental and Formal strategies and measurement- area. As part of our fluency sessions, we reinforce what we learn during Maths sessions, we identify and try to address misconceptions from previous years and we practice times tables.

Times tables practice doesn’t have to be boring and you can help your child by encouraging them to visit these websites as often as possible

https://www.purplemash.com

https://ttrockstars.com/

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Science

In Science this term children learn States of Matter and Water Cycle. The children learn how to:

recognise everyday substances are solids, liquids or gasses
compare and group materials according to whether they’re solids, liquids or gasses
make clear distinctions between the properties of solids, liquids and gases
observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled
measure or research the temperate that materials change state
describe how liquids evaporate to form gases and gases condense to form liquids
sequence and describe the water cycle
identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature
identify a range of contexts where changes take place

Geography

In Geography this term children learn about rivers and England’s regions with a focus on West Midlands. The children learn how to:

explain what a river is, where it starts and ends and how it forms
describe the features of the 3 stages of a river
recall and describe the different features of a river
name the longest and biggest rivers in the world
compare England’s longest river, Severn with the world’s longest river Nile (History)
explain the importance of rivers and the impact of river pollution
use maps, atlases, globes and digital computing mapping to locate countries and cities in the UK, learn about and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features name and locate regions in England, including West Midlands region
name and locate counties and cities in West Midlands region
identify human and physical characteristics, key topographical features(including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers) and land use patterns of West Midlands region

History

In History this term children explore Ancient Egyptian Civilisation. They learn how to:

create a timeline of Ancient Egypt civilisation
explain the importance of River Nile for Ancient Egypt civilisation
explain how Ancient Egyptians changed from being hunters and gatherers to farmers
use artefacts to understand, investigate and make enquires about ancient Egyptians understand how evidence can give us different answers about the past– Tutankhamun understand the role of religion in the continuity of Ancient Egyptian civilisation
recall similarities and differences between rich and poor in Ancient Egypt
name ancient Egyptians inventions that are still used today

Computing

In Computing this term children explore CODING. They learn how to:

use selection in coding with the ‘if/else’ command
understand and use variables in 2Code
use flowcharts for design of algorithms including selection
use the ‘repeat until’ with variables to determine repeat
know about the use of computational thinking terms; decomposition and abstraction

French

In French this term children explore vegetables. They learn how to: