We hope you had a very enjoyable summer holiday! Our term is already looking full of exciting activities to enhance your child’s learning and we hope you can join us sometimes to share these with your child. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call in to ask at the office or speak to your class teacher. The Year 4 Team Your child will be working under the guidance of the teachers; Mr Hodder/ Mrs Robson (Trainee Teacher) (4MH), Mr Biddle/ Mrs Stanners (4JB), and our invaluable teaching assistants; Mrs Holmes, Mrs Withers and Mr Arden. How can you help your child? • • • • Talk to them about their day. Enjoy reading with them and to them. Discuss and help them with their homework. Come into school and talk to your child’s teachers. If you could help as a reading volunteer - either on a regular basis in a morning or afternoon or an occasional session for a particular subject area - please let us know! Other Curriculum Areas: Curriculum overview RE – we’re learning about Judaism this term. History – How we learn about the past, key historical dates and facts ICT – Research, presenting information, word processing Maths – Data handling, measuring, word problems, money, time and more! Geography – Places of the world, migration Why do we know so little about the Anglo-Saxons? English – Recounts, information texts, historical texts, diaries, stories Art/DT – drawing skills, clay Science materials, habitats, sound PSHE – learning about our learner values: resilience, confidence, creativity, motivation, independence, positivity, aspiration and being adventurous PE/Games – learning about the effect of exercise on our body, how to improve our fitness and the ball skills required to play a range of games. Music – understanding rhythm and pulse, leading to whole class clarinet lessons Spanish – how to greet people, say numbers and ask people how they are. PE Our weekly PE sessions are on: Tuesday – Indoor PE Friday – Outdoor PE Your child will need named PE kit on these days, including warm trousers and jumper/tracksuit as well as trainers for their outdoor session. Please ensure that your child has their full PE kit on both days because we will sometimes swap round when we do outdoor and indoor PE depending on the weather. Reading Journals We hope you will continue to support your child with their reading every day by listening to them read or reading to them. Our reading journals have plenty of space for writing because we would love the children to take more time to respond to their reading. This will really help their understanding, so please encourage them to write down their thoughts and reactions to their reading. Please remember to make use of the local West Earlham library, which is open: Ø Tuesday and Thursday: 9am - 1pm, 2 - 6pm Ø Saturday: 9am – 1pm Smileys This year, we’re continuing to use a merit system called ‘SMILEYS’. Children can earn smileys for lots of different things including showing a great attitude, for showing respect to others and for reading at home. Their challenge is to earn their bronze prize by Christmas, silver by Easter and gold by the end of the year. Times tables The new National Curriculum says that children should know all of their times tables up to 12x by the end of Year 4. With this in mind, we’re going to be having a big focus on times tables this year so please help your child to practise them at home. Little, and often, is usually the best way to learn them so even 5 minutes a day will make a big difference. Important dates (more details to follow) Tuesday 7th October Wednesday 15th October Tues 14th / Thu 16th October Thursday 23rd October Mon 27th – Fri 31st October Friday 19th December Friday 19th December School photos School closed – Staff training day Parent/Teacher consultations Halloween Disco Half Term Whole-school pantomime trip Last day of term There have been lots of new clubs starting this term and it’s great to see so many of the children getting involved. It’s really important that we know which children to expect at the clubs each week, so please let the office know if your child can’t attend the club for any reason, or if they no longer wish to be involved. Homework We believe that daily reading at home is the most important activity that you can do with your child. On top of this, we will also give out regular Maths and English homework, usually on a Monday, to be returned by Friday. Your child should spend no more than about 15-20 minutes on each piece of homework, which may include x tables practice or extra reading. Please feel free to send in any voluntary work or individual successes your child achieves to share with the class. We love celebrating these with them!