Welcome to

In this section, you will find more detailed overview documents that you may download. The documents tell you about the exciting topics the children will be learning about on a term by term basis.

In Year 4,  we know that reading impacts hugely on children’s writing ability and general learning. We encourage children to read as much as possible, both at home and in school.

The children have access to a variety of books within our classroom, from the school library, from the library loan box or from home. Sometimes the hardest part is choosing what to read next! We encourage them to choose a range of fiction and non-fiction books and to be open to reading things which they may not choose for themselves.

Reading is taught formally in literacy sessions and in guided reading. Additionally, individual children reading to an adult is considered a vital part of teaching and of encouraging a love of reading. This is where we can focus on personal targets as well as engaging with children as readers and getting to know their personal preferences.

Reading for pleasure is at the heart of our classroom. We aim to generate excitement about books and cultivate long lasting, positive attitudes towards reading.

The expectation is that children should be reading to an adult a minimum of 4 times a week. When you hear your child read, please record this in their reading diaries.

Your child’s reading book level is based on our assessment of their comprehension abilities. Being able to decode the words in the text is only one part of their reading. Once they are able to do this then they can work on reading with expression and on achieving a deeper understanding of the story. You can help your child to develop their comprehension abilities by asking them questions about the story as you listen to them read.

For example: What has happened so far? Can you predict what will happen next? What do you think about the characters? Are there any words you don’t know? How do you think the characters feel?

In Year 4, we know how much reading impacts on our writing. As such, our writing is usually linked to books we are reading as a whole class. These are often related to our topic or to a particular author we are focusing on. We make sure our writing has a purpose and gives us the opportunity to improve our writing skills. We have reading and writing books, where we collect ideas, vocabulary and great sentences we have been working on. Writers are magpies, so we take our influences from anything we read or hear – just like real authors!

Writing every day gives the children the opportunity to work on lots of different genres from fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The children learn which key features should be included in pieces of writing and help to put together marking ladders to use as a checklist.

By Year 4, they are beginning to appreciate the way that vocabulary, punctuation, grammar and sentence structure are tools which real writers use to enhance the content of writing. We are working towards quality pieces of writing which are imaginative, interesting and thoughtful. The children’s writing skills are used in other subjects as often as we can.

Above all we know that becoming a good writer takes time and a lot of practise, as Roald Dahl says:

“When you’re writing a book, it’s rather like going on a very long walk across valleys and mountains… The highest mountain on the walk is obviously the end of the book, because it’s got to be the best view of all, when everything comes together and you can look back and see that everything you’ve done all ties up.”

Every Friday during our celebration assembly, two ‘Authors Of The Week” are chosen. These children are very lucky as they will have their work published on www.pobble.com. As truly outstanding writers, it is a great shame that their talent is kept within the confines of school. Being part of Pobble means that these exceptional pieces of writing will be published on Pobble.com, shared with a huge, global community. As a parent, you will be able to view your child’s work online and even leave your own comments on it. Simply register for free at Pobble.com and then search for Park Primary School’s account.

Spelling test words are given out on Mondays. The dictation test takes place on Fridays.

Children will be provided with a spelling list giving example words for a particular letter string, spelling rule or word part. They will then also be tested on additional words to make sure they can apply their knowledge.

For example, if your child is learning ‘-dge’ words their spelling list may contain the words bridge, fudge and dodge and then they may also be tested on words that do not appear on their list such as badger.

These are statutory word lists provided by the government and children must learn to read and spell the words below.

Our aim in Year 4 is to make maths fun and lively; we want all our children to love maths. Part of this includes teaching our children that maths is a subject where it’s OK to get things wrong. In fact it is inevitable. If you never make mistakes, you aren’t discovering anything new.

Instead of learning procedures by rote, the children are taught to understand the methods they are using. In this way, they can find and work through their own mistakes. Of course, it is still essential to have a good knowledge of maths facts to support our learning. In year 4, we work towards knowing all our times tables up to 10 x 10 by the end of the year. The children practise these as often as they can in their mini maths sessions, focussing on personal improvements in speed and known facts.

Maths is taught and used every day, either in the maths lesson, or in other subjects. We do lots of investigations: challenging the children to be responsible for their own learning and search for patterns or make statements.

Support from parents is vital to the progress your children make in maths. Please feel free to pop in for a chat if you would like to know how you can help your child with maths at home.

Homework is given out on a half termly basis. Please see grids below. The four corners are essential:

• Children must read at least four times a week. Children will be awarded a raffle ticket each time they read. A raffle is drawn in the last celebration assembly of the half term and the winner chooses a book from a selection of high quality texts.
• Following on from this, it is really beneficial for children to comprehend what they are reading. As children are reading, please write a list of questions for children to demonstrate their understanding of the text.
• Times tables is the key to children’s confidence in maths. Please help your child to learn times tables facts. This includes division facts.
• Finally, please help your child to learn their spellings which they will receive on a weekly basis.

Additional homework:

I believe that telling the time and money are both very important life skills and is something children will need on a daily basis. Please help your child as much as possible to be proficient in these areas. Your help in this will be greatly appreciated.