Year 4

Summer Term 1

Year 4 is taught by Mrs Walters on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Mrs Dinham, our school SENDCo, teaches the class on a Monday. Our class TA is Miss Law.

Reading

Our class text, on which our daily reading sessions are based, is ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell. We begin each week by learning the definitions of new vocabulary coming up in the text and recap on these each day. We then read the text together and work on a range of tasks focussing on author choice, vocabulary, compare, contrast and comment, retrieval, inference, summary and prediction.

We also read a non fiction text weekly and use our skills to retrieve information from it. This half term, our non fiction text is  ‘The Amazon Basin’.

English

Our class text, on which our daily reading sessions are based, is ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell. We will be writing rhyming poetry based on the layers of the rainforest, a discussion text ‘Should people cut down trees in the rainforest?’, a missing chapter for ‘The Explorer’ and writing leaflets to persuade people to look after the rainforest!

Geography

We will be learning about the Amazon rainforest, what it is like there, what grows/lives there and how we can look after it.

Computing

We will be continuing to learn about internet safety and learning about repetition in computing games.

DT

We will be designing and making moving rainforest animals using levers and linkages.

Science

We’ll be learning about living things local to us and how they can be classified. We will then look at how environments change naturally and are changed by humans and how this can pose dangers to wildlife.

PE

Each week, we will be enjoying 2 PE sessions: rounders on a Friday and  athletics on a Thursday. Please make sure your child has a full PE kit at all times.

RE

We will be asking how and why do people in Cornwall mark significant events in community life?

 

MFL

Our French unit this half term is learning how to say things we are able to do.

Music

We are learning how to play ukeleles!

PSHE

We will be learning about Health and wellbeing, by reading and discussing a range of books on this subject.

Learning at home

It is expected that all children read every day for at least 15 minutes. Please sign your child’s diary to confirm that they have read, even if they read independently. Thank you.

Times tables are set on Times Tables Rock Stars for your child to practise regularly. Again, the best way to really embed these key number facts is, little and often. It is essential that children are working on these often as there is a compulsory times tables assessment at the end of year 4.

All children should be practising their times table skills regularly on TTRockstars please, alongside practising the ‘format’ of the online times table assessment in June. This can be found at:

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check

This is particularly important this year as, in June, the children undertake an assessment of all tables up to 12X12.

‘Maths whizz’ can also be used to practise maths skills at home; your child’s log in is stuck in their reading diary.

We now do all spelling practise in school which will give you more time to complete reading and times tables practise.

Thank you for your support- it really makes a difference!

More on reading

We love reading at Lanner!  Reading to, and with, your child is one of the greatest gifts you can give as this early acquisition of a love for reading will ensure your children becomes a reader for life.  Research shows that reading and talking to your child about stories, information books and poems from an early age benefits them for life.

Sometimes, knowing which book to choose can be a little confusing with such a wide range available, so why not have a look at the recommended reads below for Year 4 children.  Many of these books are also available at the local library so, if you’re not already a member, why not take a look at the link below to join up?

2025-Checklist-50-Best-Books-Y4