Year 4 is a stimulating year where independence grows. High expectations enable children to take pride in their work and begin to critically assess their own writing.

Year 4 Staff

Class Teacher: Mrs Wilson, Mrs Healey
Teaching Assistant: Mrs Burden

Homework is given out on a Friday and handed in on a Wednesday.

Spelling Tests are on a Monday.

P.E kit should be in school every day, including tracksuit and trainers for outdoor games in winter. 

Autumn Term

Welcome to the start of the Autumn Term! Year 4 is going to be a busy year, but hopefully one full of fun and exciting opportunities. We are all very eager to get started.

Our topic for the Autumn term is ‘Lights, camera, action!’ Although the title immediately makes you think of Hollywood, we will be visiting the other side of the world and investigating Bollywood! Through this topic, we will visit The Roses Theatre, to be able to get a better understanding of how a theatre works. We will have the opportunity to go back stage, into the auditorium and the control room. We will also visit The Regal in Evesham.

You can see from our ‘overview’ that we are planning to cover a lot in the coming months. In science we will be looking at electricity and sound. We will be digging deeper about what life is like in India, comparing things like the climate, the physical features of the landscape, homes, schools etc with what it is like in Tewkesbury. We will also be finding out about Indian style dancing and music, creating our own dances and teaching them to the children in other year groups. Please help your child by discussing these topics and please do not hesitate to let us know if there is any way that you can support us within the class.

*Hearing your child read is so important as this helps them to access the curriculum. Many of the children will read and record in their reading records independently however we feel that it is still important that they read to an adult. Please can you record when you have listened to them as they will not be able to change their book unless there is a comment.

*Times tables are very important for the children to access other areas of the maths curriculum. It is very important that they build on what we are doing in school at home. This can be done through a range of interactive games which can be accessed through a computer or tablet to help improve speed of recall and confidence.

*Help your child learn their weekly spellings. They will be tested each week and will receive a new list.

*PE this term will be on a Tuesday (outdoor) and a Friday (indoor). Please ensure that your child has the appropriate kit in accordance with the school policy, with them at all times.

As always, please pop in and see us if you have any questions or worries.

Mrs Wilson and Miss Taylor

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Spring Term in Year 4

Welcome back! We hope you have all had a restful break over the holidays .

Our topic for the Spring Term is ‘Tumbling Through Time’ where we will be thinking a lot about time travel! We will be travelling through time in different subjects such as history and art, to gain an understanding of how things have changed and developed into what we have today.

We will be using the story of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as a catalyst for our journey through time. The children will really get to grips with the text and use it as a source of inspiration for a range of writing. In geography we will be comparing settlements found in the UK that have been built by different settlers, investigating what makes a good place to settle and create our own in our forest school area.. Next half term we will also be visiting The Black Country Museum, where we will carry out a historical enquiry, following the lives of the children that lived in the Black Country. Please read our topic overview for further details.

Year 4 have a busy term coming up with our class assembly where we will be able to share the work that we have been doing. We are all looking forward to this. We will also be in charge of organising the upcoming ‘Mitton’s Got Talent’ event. We are excited to be able to put our organisational skills to use. Please look out for further details, closer to the time.

We would like to say ‘Thank you’ for the participation in the reading challenges that were set last term. We were so pleased with how many children from Year 4 managed to gain their Tudor Rose books. There are a new set of challenges for the children to have a go at this term, which they will bring home. Don’t forget to ‘sign off’ each challenge in their reading records!

*Please make sure that your child reads regularly to an adult and that a comment is written in their reading record. Please ensure that a comment is written as this will assist us when changing books.

*Please continue to support your child with learning their spellings. They will continue to get a new list of spellings following a test each Monday.

*Times Tables are an important and essential skill for the children. These are continuously referred to and built upon at school. Please encourage your child to rehearse these at home, through their Olympic Maths sheets or through the interactive games suggested.

*PE lessons will continue to be on a Tuesday (indoor) and a Friday (Outdoor). Please ensure that the children have the appropriate kit (please see the school policy), including warmer clothes for outdoor sessions.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Wilson and Mrs Healey

Summer Term 

Welcome back after the Easter break, we hope you had a restful holiday. We are all really looking forward to the Summer Term in Year 4.

Our topic for this term is called ‘Survival of the Fittest!’ We will be looking at a range of animals from various habitats around the world and use our scientific skills to classify them in different ways. We will also be researching which animals are endangered as we have had lots of discussions in class previously about plastic pollution and global warming. This is something that Year 4 have found very interesting in the past and we would like to further our understanding of how we as humans are affecting the world, to the detriment of other inhabitants.

Through our topic work, we will also be finding out all about the Stone Age and what life was like then and how it changed as we moved towards the Iron Age. We have two texts that we will be reading throughout the term ‘Stig of the Dump’ and ‘Stone Age Boy’. These are going to be the stimulus for a lot of our writing this term, including a narrative set in the Stone Age.

We are also looking forward to our swimming sessions this term. These will be on a Tuesday so please ensure that the children have the appropriate kit (Swimming costume / trunks, goggles and a swimming hat) with them each week. There will be children from other classes swimming on the same day, so please make sure that all items of clothing are named as things can get a little muddled in the changing rooms! Our second PE session will continue to be on a Friday with Mrs Healey.

As ever, please ensure that your child reads with an adult regularly at home and that this is recorded in their ‘Reading Records’. The children will only be able to change their books, if there is a relevant comment in their reading record from an adult.

Spellings will continue to be sent home every Monday, ready for a test the following Monday. Please makes sure that your child practices these every day to make sure that they ‘stick’, rather than just being there for the test.

Please continue to practice timetables in readiness for their weekly ‘Olympic Maths’ test on a Friday. It is vital that these are learnt as they support in so many areas of Mathematics. Try to focus on the times tables that they might find tricky (x6, 7, 8, 12). There are many interactive games that can be used to help make the children’s learning fun, including BBC Super Movers, where you can learn songs and dance moves to help you remember!

We are all looking forward to the last term of Year 4 and as always, please come and see us if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs Wilson and Mrs Healey