Talented Turtles (Year 4)

Spring 1 Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely Christmas break. It was great to see the class meet Mr Hodgetts today; they made a wonderful impression.

This half term, we will be exploring a fascinating topic entitled ‘Revolting Romans.’ The children will learn how the Roman Empire's invasion affected Iron Age Britain through many different engaging activities and discussions.

In English, the children will write diary entries and non-chronological reports about Roman Britain, which will develop their writing skills while applying their historical knowledge.

Our Maths lessons will cover  multiplication and division, as well as length and perimeter in order to build a strong foundation for future learning.

PE

Our PE days are on Thursdays and Fridays, led by our specialist coaches from Bolsover District Council, as well as by Mr Hodgetts. Please make sure that your child comes to school in their P.E uniform on these days. At the moment we will all be doing PE outside wherever possible.

Reading

The benefits of reading are almost endless and it is the most important aspect of school: it improves focus, memory, empathy, and communication skills. It can reduce stress and improve your mental health. Not to mention the fact that reading is a fundamental skill for life.

Please remember to keep a record of the number of reads your child is completing, by recording in their reading diary. These will be collected in and counted every Friday.

Olympic medals are available for those children who read regularly at home:

Bronze- 30 reads

Silver- 70 reads

Gold- 130 reads

Platinum- 200 reads. An extra special prize be award for this.           

 As a class, we will read Roman Diary by Richard Platt. In this excellent book, the year is AD102 and Iliona, an educated Greek girl, has been orphaned and sold as a slave in Rome. Apart from her beloved diary, she hasn't a friend in the world... But the family she works for are not unkind, and as Iliona begins to make friends and look around her, she discovers that the teeming city at the heart of the empire is a fascinating place.

We will also continue to read ‘The Boy With the Butterfly Mind’ by Victoria Williamson. We made some headway with the story before the Christmas break and the children were absolutely engrossed.

Jamie Lee is a boy living with ADHD. When Jamie and Elin's families blend, the polar opposites of chaotic Jamie and ordered Elin collide. As their lives spiral out of control, Jamie and Elin discover that they're actually more alike than they'd admit. Maybe there's no such thing as normal, or perfect.

Science

In Science we will be studying a unit simply entitled ‘Light’. We will learn that we need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light. The children will be taught that light is reflected from surfaces and recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect your eyes. Finally,  the children will learn that shadows are formed when light from a source is blocked by an opaque object and also find patterns in the way that the shadows change.

Online Safety

E-safety is a substantive part of the curriculum and all computing lessons will begin with a discussion around it. This half term we will explore the importance of being respectful when contributing online.

Homework

Your child will continue to receive homework every Friday which is to be handed in by the following Wednesday. The first homework will go out on Friday  10^th January in their CPG books.

We will continue to have spelling tests every Friday starting Friday 10^th January. Spelling books will go home on Friday night so that you can see how your child has done in the test but these then  must come back to school with your child on a Monday morning.

I am truly excited about all the brilliant learning opportunities we have planned, and I know the children will flourish during this half term.

If you have any questions or if there is anything we can do to help, then please do not hesitate to ask.            

Kind regards,

The Y4 team

Mr Reardon, Mr Hodgetts, Mrs Humberstone and Mrs Beach

Curriculum Web and Topic Knowledge Organisers for this half term. 

Please take a look at the wonderful things we will be learning about this half term. 

Knowledge Organiser 

Autumn 2 Newsletter

I hope this letter finds you well and that you had an enjoyable half term break. We have made an excellent start to the academic year, and I am thrilled to share our plans for the coming half term as we move towards Christmas!

Our topic for this half term is intriguingly titled “Shop ‘til You Drop,” which will focus on human geography. The children will engage in exciting learning activities that explore our local shopping environment. Weather permitting, we will venture into Chesterfield to conduct surveys amongst the shoppers, providing a hands-on experience that will surely enhance their understanding of the topic.

In English, the children will be diving into the world of science as we learn to write explanations on how magnets work. This will encourage them to develop their writing skills while applying their knowledge of scientific concepts.

Our Maths lessons will focus on vital skills such as multiplication and division, as well as length and perimeter. These core areas will help your children build a strong foundation in mathematical understanding that they will use in future learning.

I am truly excited about all the brilliant learning opportunities we have planned, and I know the children will flourish during this half term.

 PE

Our PE days are on Thursdays and Fridays, led by our specialist coaches from Bolsover District Council, as well as by Mr Reardon. Please make sure that your child comes to school in their P.E uniform on these days. At the moment we will all be doing PE outside wherever possible.

Reading

The benefits of reading are almost endless and it is the most important aspect of school: it improves focus, memory, empathy, and communication skills. It can reduce stress and improve your mental health. Not to mention the fact that reading is a fundamental skill for life.

Please remember to keep a record of the number of reads your child is completing, by recording in their reading diary. These will be collected in and counted every Friday.

Olympic medals are available for those children who read regularly at home:

Bronze- 30 reads

Silver- 70 reads

Gold- 130 reads

Platinum- 200 reads. An extra special prize be award for this.

We will will complete ‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King as the class novel in the first few weeks. In this novel we meet Stig, a caveman with long black hair, who has made his home from rubbish dumped by other people. When Barney meets Stig, they become friends and Barney helps Stig to refurbish his home using discarded rubbish. It soon looks more attractive, and Barney spends a lot of time with Stig, enjoying many adventures together.

Later on the half term I will also endeavour to read ‘The Boy With the Butterfly Mind’ by Victoria Williamson. This is a personal favourite of mine and comes highly recommended.

Jamie Lee is a boy living with ADHD. When Jamie and Elin's families blend, the polar opposites of chaotic Jamie and ordered Elin collide. As their lives spiral out of control, Jamie and Elin discover that they're actually more alike than they'd admit. Maybe there's no such thing as normal, or perfect.

 Science

In Science we will be studying a unit entitled ‘Forces and Magnets’ in which the children will learn how to: compare how things move on different surfaces; notice that some forces need contact between 2 objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance; and observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others.

Online Safety

E-safety is a substantive part of the curriculum and all computing lessons will begin with a discussion around it. This half term we will explore the importance of being respectful when contributing online.

Homework

Your child will continue to receive homework every Friday which is to be handed in by the following Wednesday. The first homework will go out on Friday 8^th November in their CPG books.

 We will continue to have spelling tests every Friday starting Friday 8th November. Spelling books will go home on Friday night so that you can see how your child has done in the test but these then  must come back to school with your child on a Monday morning.

If you have any questions or if there is anything we can do to help, then please do not hesitate to ask.            

Kind regards,

The Y4 team

Mr Reardon, Mrs Humberstone and Mrs Beach

Curriculum Web and Topic Knowledge Organisers for this half term. 

Please take a look at the wonderful things we will be learning about this half term. 

Knowledge Organiser 

Autumn 1 Newsletter 

It is a great pleasure to welcome you and your children into Y4. I hope you’ve had a fantastic summer and everyone’s raring to go for a new academic year of learning.

We’ve got some brilliant learning planned for the coming half term, that we’re all very excited about:

Our topic is entitled ‘Stone Age to Iron Age’ during which our learning will be linked to the period 15,000 BC to 2500BC.

As you already know, our educational visit this term will be to Creswell Crags on Friday 4^th October. Here we will be visiting the caves which evidence prehistoric human activity, as well as attending workshops focusing on the lives of people living locally around this period of time.

In English, we will be writing instructions for stone aged living, as well as writing setting and character descriptions for a prehistoric world.

Our Maths lessons will focus on place value, addition and subtraction methods, measuring area and multiplication and division methods.

 PE

Our PE days are on Thursdays and Fridays, led by our specialist coaches from Bolsover District Council, as well as by Mr Reardon. Please make sure that your child comes to school in their P.E uniform on these days. At the moment we will all be doing PE outside wherever possible.

Reading

The benefits of reading are almost endless and it is the most important aspect of school: it improves focus, memory, empathy, and communication skills. It can reduce stress and improve your mental health. Not to mention the fact that reading is a fundamental skill for life.

Please remember to keep a record of the number of reads your child is completing, by recording in their reading diary. These will be collected in and counted every Friday.

Olympic medals are available for those children who read regularly at home:

Bronze- 30 reads

Silver- 70 reads

Gold- 130 reads

Platinum- 200 reads. An extra special prize be award for this.

We will read ‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King as the class novel in the first few weeks. In this novel we meet Stig, a caveman with long black hair, who has made his home from rubbish dumped by other people. When Barney meets Stig, they become friends and Barney helps Stig to refurbish his home using discarded rubbish. It soon looks more attractive, and Barney spends a lot of time with Stig, enjoying many adventures together.

I will also endeavour to read ‘The Boy With the Butterfly Mind’ by Victoria Williamson. This is a personal favourite of mine and comes highly recommended.

Jamie Lee is a boy living with ADHD. When Jamie and Elin's families blend, the polar opposites of chaotic Jamie and ordered Elin collide. As their lives spiral out of control, Jamie and Elin discover that they're actually more alike than they'd admit. Maybe there's no such thing as normal, or perfect.

Science

In Science we will begin a unit simply entitled ‘Rocks’. With obvious links to our topic, we will learn how rocks and soils are made and be able to identify the three different types of rocks: metaphormic, sedimentary and igneous.

Online Safety

E-safety is a substantive part of the curriculum and all computing lessons will begin with a discussion around it. This half term we will explore the importance of being respectful when contributing online.

Homework

Your child will continue to receive homework every Friday which is to be handed in by the following Wednesday. The first homework will go out on Friday 13^th September in their new CPG books. If they used a book from a younger year group last year, we will try to provide them with the Y3 book this year.

We will continue to have spelling tests every Friday starting Friday 13^th September. Spelling books will go home on Friday night so that you can see how your child has done in the test but these then  must come back to school with your child on a Monday morning.

If you have any questions or if there is anything we can do to help, then please do not hesitate to ask.            

Kind regards,

The Y4 team

Mr Reardon, Mrs Humberstone and Mrs Beach

Curriculum Web Autumn 1

Please take a look at the wonderful things we will be learning about this half term

Knowledge Organiser Autumn 1