Spring Term Newsletter 2022 Year 4_5
Welcome to Year 4 / 5
Our class teacher is Mr Patterson and our teaching assistants who support us with our learning are Mrs Appleby and Miss Middleton.
We start our morning with a FlashBack 4 which is four maths questions to help us develop our understanding and knowledge retention of the whole maths curriculum. We then have our Maths lesson before playtime which is at 10.15am. After break we have English, which consists of handwriting, spelling, writing and whole class reading. Lunch begins at 12.00pm were we spend the first half of our lunch break playing outside then we eat our lunch in the hall.
After lunch is when we enjoy our Science leaning or our foundation subject learning such as History, Geography, French, Computing, Art and Design, PSHCE and RE and PE. Currently our P.E. day is a Wednesday and we go swimming, so children need to come to school with the appropriate clothing.
Spelling Investigation books continue to be sent home each Monday which contain a spelling pattern to practise through the week or a list of key words to learn at home and school. The idea is to investigate and collect as many words with this spelling pattern and on Friday there is a spelling quiz with random words containing the spelling pattern they have investigated. Or, when a list of key words has been given to learn there will be a spelling quiz based on those. Also there will be a different times table to practise each week.
A very important part of our curriculum this year is learning our times tables to 12. Please practice quick, random recall of times table facts, this will help greatly with the national times table test which the children may be given at the end of Year 4 to assess their times table knowledge and recall. The children have access to an online game called ‘TT Rockstars’ which they have access to both at home and at school. This is an excellent game to support the development of times table facts. If this becomes lost or forgotten, please don’t hesitate to ask and we can provide a new one. There will also be some Maths or English homework set each week which will be given out each Friday and should be returned by Wednesday of the following week.
To improve our reading we enjoy whole class or guided reading sessions in class. We love to share books in our class reading corner when our teacher reads to us or sometimes we share extracts from our favourite books that we have brought in from home. Everyone has a reading book and reading record which currently should be brought into school every Friday. Please make sure your child’s reading record is signed by an adult once, each day when they have read at home. This could be their class book, a magazine, newspaper, comic or a book of their own from home. When your child has read and had their record signed 70 times they will be able to choose a free book of their choosing from school.
In Year 4 we learn to play a musical instrument. Teachers from the Durham Music Service will be teaching the Year 4’s to play either baritone, clarinet or trumpet. They also teach fun songs and musical activities in their lessons each Thursday afternoon.
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