Year 4
Welcome to Silver Birch Tree class!
Our class teacher is Miss McGrath with Mrs Fenty, Mr Scofano and Mrs Field to support our learning.
Welcome to Cedar Tree class!
Our class teacher is Mr Pearce with Mrs Fenty and Mrs Osborne to support our learning.
Autumn 2022
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome to Year 4 for what will be another busy, exciting, challenging and ‘normal’ year at Great Dunmow… along a new corridor! This term’s experiences for the children are as follows:
In English, the term has started with a focus on STORIES IN UNFAMILIAR SETTINGS through the use of ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell. This story of survival will also be used as a stimulus for DISCUSSION texts to be produced by the children. They will create and listen to a range of PERFORMANCE POETRY and as we move into the second half of the term we will be using our History topic the stimulate the writing of INSTRUCTIONS. Through all work, we will be focussing on the development of key skills to improve detail, appropriate style and description within writing.
In Maths lessons, we’ll begin by continuing to learn about PLACE VALUE (rounding and ordering). The four rules of ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATION & DIVISION (including factors, word problems, multiplying and dividing 2-digit numbers and the application of multiplication facts from 1 – 12) feature strongly to continue to enable the children to be confident and accurate in these areas. The learning and understanding, as well as speed of recall, of multiplication facts is of particular importance in Year 4. The Year 4 multiplication tables check will take place within the 3-week period from Monday 5th June 2023. The final area covered this term is LENGTH & PERIMETER, where the focus will be on calculating, measuring, converting and comparing lengths and perimeters.
In Science, the children will be learning about ‘States of Matter’ and then ‘Electricity’. Geography will be led by the enquiry ‘Why are Rainforests Wet and Deserts Dry?’ whilst history sees us travel back a few thousand years to discover how Britain changed from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. During the first half term, in Art we’ll be developing our ‘Doodling’ skills and then follow that up with our Design Technology project by designing and making torches. is the main focus for Religious Education is ‘Where do Religious Beliefs come from?’ with ‘Collaborative Learning’ being the main thrust of Computing lessons. Children will continue to learn Spanish, on a Tuesday morning, with Mrs Riddell.
PE
Please make sure that children come to school with all the relevant P.E equipment: shorts, T-shirt and a tracksuit. It is particularly important that the children have suitable footwear for outdoor sessions. No jewellery is to be worn at any time (children need to be able to remove their earrings) during PE sessions and long hair needs to be tied back. Children will not be permitted to borrow kit from other children. Please let us know if your child is unable to partake in any PE lesson.
In addition, please ensure your child has a water bottle to take with them to PE lessons.
P.E days for the first half term are as follows:
- Monday (outdoors) BASKETBALL
- Friday (outdoors) CRICKET (with visiting coach from Essex CC)
Both classes will be given the following homework:
- Reading - records will be checked daily, where possible
- ALL OTHER HOMEWORK WILL BE ONLINE VIA MIRODO with SPELLINGS on SPELLING SHED.
- Maths - A weekly task will be set as appropriate to the group which they are in.
- Spelling- A weekly set of spellings (taken from ‘Spelling Shed) and supporting activities will be set by class teachers to reinforce work which is being covered in class.
- Other Subjects – Work may be set for foundation subjects to help re-enforce, or prepare the children for, work undertaken in school.
- Work will be set on a Tuesday and is to be completed by the following Monday.
Important dates this term
Wednesday 21st September – WOW! Explorer Day
Thursday 22nd September – Year 4 Residential Trip Meeting (3.20pm)
Wednesday 5th October – CEDAR Class Assembly
Wednesday 12th October – SILVER BIRCH Class Assembly
Monday 12th December – Year 4 Christmas Play (6pm)
Tuesday 13th December – Church Christmas Service
Thursday 15th December – School Pantomime trip (pm)
A further information event is planned to discuss the Year 4 Multiplication Check on Monday 9th January at 3.20pm.
Mr Pearce and Miss McGrath