Year 4
| Dickens Boulevard | Ruskin Drive |
| Kestrel Class | Toucan Class |
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Mrs Hathaway Mrs Ramjug(supporting both classes) Mrs Hart
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Miss Caldwell Mrs Beach Mrs Lawrence
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| Kingfisher Class | |
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Miss Barham Mrs Gatward Mrs Ramjug (supporting both classes) Mrs Lawrence
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Welcome
Hello and welcome to Year 4!
We have two classes at our Dickens Boulevard site and one class at our Ruskin Drive Site. Both classes enjoy learning both inside, with the use of the hall and drama studio as well as our learning streets, and outside in our school’s grounds allowing us to bring our learning to life. When outside, we promote active opportunities with each class taking it in turns to play on our play equipment and fitness zones. We believe this helps develop their motor skills whilst being sociable and through play.
Every morning, members of our Year 4 team will welcome you on the door and you’ll find a morning activity on the board in the classroom; this gets your brain working and ready for the day. In our lessons, we enjoy using practical resources, this might be maths equipment to iPads and laptops to a host of artefacts to help us understand more about geography or a time in history. We promote the use of talk partners and group discussions wherever possible to aid learning. There are also a number of school adults that can help you too. Reading is important to us in Year 4 and we provide lots of opportunities to develop our reading skills, we take the time to explore lots of different texts and look to develop our vocabulary while also becoming more of a fluent reader. There are a wide range of books to choose from in our class library as well as opportunities to take trips to our school library.
In Year 4, independence is key. We continue to build on the independence gained in Year 3 by encouraging this when learning but also when organising themselves for key times of the day, for example PE and at the end of the school day in preparation for their move to middle schools. We always provide them with lots of encouragement and support with this and differentiate wherever needed. Towards the end of Year 4, we promote independence further by giving them the opportunity to walk home if agreed with parents.
Daily Routine
At Dickens Boulevard, children can access the Year 4 cloakrooms by entering the schools main gates and heading to the left of the main doors. At Ruskin Drive, children enter the playground through the main gate from the car park and can walk down to the Year 4 classroom where they will enter the cloakroom.
We open the doors at 8:45am for ten minutes to allow the children to come in and start the day. We have a playtime at 10:20am, followed by snack time in the class at 10:40am for 10 minutes. In Key Stage 2, children can bring a piece of fruit or vegetables in a small named container to have at snack time. Milk is available to drink, if it has been ordered by parents or carers. More information about this can be obtained from the Office.
Upon arrival, children start the day with a Morning Challenge which is a chance for them to settle into the day. These vary each day and can include: practising maths methods, handwriting, describing a picture, practising spellings or reading quietly. When the year groups doors are closed, the teacher will start the register.
The children are encouraged to bring a bag to school with them with their reading book and reading record in as well as a named water bottle. We ask that the bottle is just used for water and not squash or flavoured water. Children can access these water bottles regularly during the day and when it is a warm day, will be able to take them outside during lunch time. We believe that keeping hydrated is all part of keeping healthy body and mind so encourage this.
In Year 4, our lunchtime is from 12:30pm until 1:30pm. We go into the dining hall first and then head outside to play with our friends and use the play equipment. We aim to stay out in all weathers, so if rain or cold weather is forecast, please don’t forget to bring your coat with a hood or hats, gloves and a scarf so that you can keep warm and dry! At lunchtime, each Year 4 class will be assigned a Midday Supervisor who takes them into the hall and outside.
At the end of the day at 3.20pm, parents and carers can wait where they dropped off to collect the children. At Dickens Boulevard, this is through the main gates and just left from main office doors, to dismiss the children will be either Mrs Thanki, Miss Barham or Miss Hargreaves. At Ruskin Drive, please collect where you dropped off on the playground and to dismiss the children, it will be Miss Caldwell.
If you would like to give permission to someone else to regularly collect your child, please complete a “green safeguarding slip” (regular change of collection form) so that we maintain a record of who is authorised to collect your child as the safeguarding of your child is important to us. If your child will be collected by someone as a “one off”, for example for a play date, please complete a “white safeguarding slip” (One-off Change of Collection form).
The Year 4 team, would really appreciate the forms to be filled out and handed back as soon as possible to allow the end of the day to run smoothly. On the rare occasion, that someone comes to collect your child and they are not a parent/carer or listed on a safeguarding slip, we will call the parent/carer to obtain permission to permit the child to leave with that person. The children will stay with the Year 4 adults until this is confirmed.
Collecting Pupils from School – Safeguarding slips for One off collection / Regular collection
Curriculum
Click on the link below for the Year 4 curriculum map.
Phonics, Spelling and Handwriting
During Year 4, spelling is a key focus. We will explore new spelling rules, spot different patterns and learn a number of words from the National Curriculum Year 3 and 4 statutory word list, which we have split up in school between the year groups and call them our Words of the Week. Children may still use their phonic knowledge to spell trickier, unfamiliar words, however we aim to give the children enough time to practise these to allow for fluency when writing.
When practising our Words of the Week as well as words that follow our spelling rules, a range of different methods are used in a multi-sensory approach. To encourage and support our visual learners, the Words of the Week, is written on our classroom doors and we encourage children to look at it every time they pass!
Words of the week and the spelling rule with examples, will be sent home each week on the Learning Log (which is our approach to homework); this allows us to communicate to parents which words we are working on in school and encourage the children to practise them. Before the following learning log is sent, a dictation will take place in school checking their spelling memory of the words. To support spelling further in class, children have access to word mats, prompts and displays around the class to help them recall their spellings. Key vocabulary words encouraged to be used in certain lessons, e.g. Topic and Science, will be written on the board to support.
As handwriting is practised and promoted throughout the school, Year 4 is no different. We believe this is a key part in keeping our work neatly presented. Throughout Year 4, the children will be given the opportunity to practise writing with a pen in a range of different books, e.g. English and Topic.
We also use Spelling Shed to enhance our spelling practice at school. You are able to access this at home using your school log in. On Spelling Shed, you can practice your weekly spellings, play games and apply your spelling knowledge. Please speak to your child's class teacher if you are unsure of your child's log in details.
PE
PE days at Dickens Boulevard are Tuesday and Wednesday and at Ruskin Drive are Wednesday and Friday.
Our PE kit includes a white t-shirt or polo top and either burgundy shorts or tracksuit bottoms and trainers. Please ensure they have the most suitable clothing for whatever the weather, this includes their Fairfield Park hoodie to wear outside and if it is really cold, gloves and a hat. If it is very cold, your child can wear their coat on top of their PE kits.
All long hair should be tied back for PE lessons and earrings should be removed or covered with micropore tape if they cannot be removed. Please send your child in with a roll of micropore tape for your child to cover their own earrings if this is appropriate for them. If your child can not participate in bare feet for our gymnastics and dance units, please let us know on the door.
Homework
Our Learning Log books are sent home with the children on a Friday and the task sheets are emailed out to parents also on Friday before the end of the day. They can be completed whenever is easiest for you at home however need to be returned on a Wednesday. Any Learning Logs returned after Wednesday may not be marked that week. We encourage all children to complete the learning log work independently however you may wish to read the tasks with them as an opportunity to discuss their learning. The tasks are carefully planned and may be used as an opportunity to consolidate their knowledge or to practise new knowledge; we recognise however, that there will be some occasions where completing the tasks will not be possible – please just let us know but return the learning log at the next opportunity.
There will be a number of optional activities in a mindmap style, which allows your children to choose how they share their knowledge with their teacher. There will also be opportunities for them to practise times tables and spellings as these are a priority in Year 4. We have school subscriptions to Times Tables Rockstars and EdShed. These enable children to practise their times tables and spelling knowledge. These will be discussed in class with the children and can be used as extra tools at home to support their learning.
In addition to the Learning Log tasks, we also encourage children to read as regularly as possible to an adult at home and for this to be noted in the reading record.
Reading and Library Books
In Year 4, we have a range of fiction and non-fiction books that follow our coloured book band scheme. We also have some Phonics books to support anyone who needs them, which will match the phase(s) that your child is learning or has learned and enable the child to practise or re-visit previously learnt sounds. We feel this is important and will support all. In addition to our book scheme, we have lots of ‘free reading books’ that range from some classics, e.g. Famous Five, to other popular novels, e.g. Harry Potter, which we believe will open their eyes to varied and rich vocabulary. These have been carefully selected and are appropriately pitched for your child’s age.
In Year 4, we encourage children to read regularly to an adult at home and for this to be noted in their reading record. We encourage the children to change books when they have finished it, please write “finished book” in the reading record so that this can be arranged and noted by adults at school. As previously explained, our class libraries have a range of books for children to read during the course of the day and we also encourage children to read for pleasure, share their book recommendations and encourage others to read those that they have enjoyed. In Guided Reading, we experience a host of genres – poems, non-fiction texts and extracts of fiction books that develop the children’s vocabulary and also reading comprehension skills. We also have a class reading book too, enjoying this at moments during the day.
When reading with your child, you may find it helpful to ask questions to support their comprehension. Please find some question prompts to support when reading with your child by clicking here.
10 Things to do before you are 9
There will be times throughout the year for you to share your journey with your class teacher:
| Learn to sew | Make a cup of tea | Climb a tree | Watch the sunset | Overcome a challenge |
| Take part in a debate | Learn to tie a tie | Pay in forward with a random act of kindness | Listen to the favourite | Find out about an inspirational person |
