Year 4 Class News

Week beginning 29 November 2021

We hope you’re managing to stay happy, healthy and safe while you’re not with us here in school. You are still very much a part of our school community so please get in touch with us if you need to.

Maths

Have a go at these maths lessons and worksheets.

• Lesson 1 video, worksheet and answers.
• Lesson 2 video, worksheet and answers.
• Lesson 3 video, worksheet and answers.
• Lesson 4 – watch the Supermovers video about counting in 2s and the 2 times table. Write down all the twos, as high as you can go (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25…). Challenge : write the 2 times table facts.
• Lesson 5 – watch the Supermovers video about counting in 5s and the 5 times table. Write down all the fives, as high as you can go (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25…). Challenge : write the 5 times table facts.
• Lesson 6 video, worksheet and answers.
• Lesson 7 video, worksheet and answers.
• Lesson 8 video, worksheet and answers.
• Lesson 9 video, worksheet and answers.
• Lesson 10 video and activities.

You don’t have to print the worksheets. Your child can write or draw their answers on paper. Your child’s learning will be most effective if you sit with them to pause the clip and check / praise / support your child as the clip moves on.

Don’t forget to practise number bonds on Numbots or times tables on Times Table Rock Stars. Email your child’s class teacher if you need your login and password details.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes of Maths and 15 minutes of Numbots/Rock Stars daily)

Reading fluency

This is the reading fluency that we’ll read in class this week. In school, we generally follow this sequence:

• Day 1: Read the text aloud with your child listening. Read it clearly and slowly, pointing to each word as you read. Have a chat about any unfamiliar words.
• Day 2: Read aloud each sentence (a full short sentence or part of a longer sentence), and have your child read it back to you. Do this ‘echo reading’ for the whole text.
• Day 3: Read the text and talk about the effect of the punctuation on how you read it – pauses for full stops and expression for exclamations (!) or questions (?). Your child reads the text aloud.
• Day 4: Read together with expression (just like you practised on Day 3).
• Day 5: Your child reads independently and fluently.

(Suggested time: 15 minutes daily)

Phonics

We teach a phonics lesson daily at school. Your child should have a ‘Practise Phonics’ book that they bring home from school. The sticker on the front will indicate which phase they’re working at. On Phonics Play, the activities and games match the phases. If you’re unsure which phase your child is working on, email your class teacher.

If your child has completed the phonics reading books, they can use some Phase 5b, 5c, 5d or Phase 6 resources.

Use a different Phonics Play activity for :

• Revisit: Flashcard Speed Trial, Flashcard Time Challenge or Tricky Word Trucks
• Practise: Play Buried Treasure, Dragon’s Den or Picnic on Pluto
• Apply: Have a go reading one of the Comics or the Reading Robots

Login details are Sphere (user name) and Spher3 (password).

(Suggested time: 20 minutes daily)

Reading

We’ll be using this ’RIC’ text in class to practise comprehension skills.

RIC stands for:

• Retrieve: finding information in a text
• Interpret: using clues in the text or pictures to unlock information
• Choice: thinking about the author’s choice of words, techniques or organisation that make the text interesting and enjoyable to read

Read for 10-15 minutes daily. You could read the books you have brought home from school or any other books you have at home. Remember that the ‘Practise Phonics’ book is designed to be read more than once, to help with segmenting (sounding out), blending (putting the sounds back together) and fluency.

(Suggested time: 10-15 minutes daily)

Writing

These writing lessons all about non-chronological reports. There’s a whole series of lessons, but start at Lesson 1 and work through, doing one (or maybe even two) each day. (If you’re self-isolating in your second week, stick with the series of lessons you’ve already started and aim to complete the full series.)

(Suggested time: 30-40 minutes for each)

Spelling

This week’s spellings are on our spelling page. Complete one task each day:

• Day 1: Copy the words out in your best handwriting (like in our handwriting guide) – using a lead-in line or joined handwriting. (You could look out for the words in the book you’re reading at home, or any other text.)
• Day 2: Practise the spellings using two of the ideas in our super spelling strategies guide. (Set yourself and others at home a challenge of using some of the words when you’re speaking, too!)
• Day 3: Write separate sentences, each containing one of the spellings. (Don’t forget to show off really neat handwriting and make sure you sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?).
• Day 4: Repeat Task 2 or 3.
• Day 5: Get an adult at home to test you on your spellings. Practise any you spell incorrectly – you could write them out carefully until you’re sure.

(Suggested time: 15-20 minutes daily)

Topic

Our topic this half-term is art. Look at these lessons on printing. Or you can get creative using ideas from The Let’s Go Club on the BBC.

(Suggested time: 30-40 minutes)

Science

Our science lessons are all about investigating. Have a go at these six lessons. Start at Lesson 1 and work through, doing two or three in the week.

 (Suggested time: 30-45 minutes)

PE

Don’t forget to do some daily exercise!

Do two of these Five Minute Moves from Joe Wicks each day – spread them across the day as if they were playtimes, maybe!

Have a go at one of the Change for Life indoor activities or a Cosmic Kids yoga session each day.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes daily)

Extra stuff…

As an extra (or as an alternative, if this helps to motivate your child)…

This sequence of lessons is all about The Nativity story.

Living and Learning is important to help us live and learn together. Here are some lesson from Oak National Academy called Forever Friends.

This week’s message (Friday 26 November 2021)

This week’s message comes from Paula Allaway, who’s the Maths Leader across Sphere Federation…

Is your child engaging with the number fact fluency homework?

Number fact fluency – the quick recall of addition and subtraction facts, and multiplication and division facts (times tables), is really important for all children. The ability to recall these facts quickly (rather than taking too long working them out) helps children to answer questions in lots of areas of Maths much more easily.

If these facts are learnt and stored, rather than being calculated or counted, they require less activity from the brain. Essentially, memorisation frees up working memory space to allow children to focus on learning new mathematical ideas and applying mathematics to solve problems, and not the facts themselves.

Addition and subtraction facts

For younger children, the crucial numbers facts are simple addition and subtraction facts. We want children to know facts like bonds of ten (eg 3+7 and 4+6) without having to count on or back using their fingers. How fluent are your child’s number facts? Regularly accessing NumBots will help with this.

Multiplication and division facts

For older children, number facts also includes times tables up to 12 x 12. By the end of Year 4, children should know their times tables without having to count through to reach the answer. Times Tables Rock Stars will help with this. In June 2022, Y4 children will take part in a statutory national assessment – the Multiplication Tables Check. They’ll be tested on 25 randomly selected facts.

Without secure knowledge of times tables facts, many future Maths topics are more difficult to learn. In Y5,6, for example, progress in column methods, fractions, area, ratio and proportion can all be hampered because they involve recall of facts.

Children who do well in our assessments are the children who are spending more time practising on NumBots and Rock Stars. Likewise, the children who need to learn these facts more aren’t using this resource at home.

We know that being fluent with number facts leads to high confidence in maths generally. To support this, we’ve slimmed back what we ask for homework to help make sure our children’s Maths (and also Reading) skills are strong. Your child should spend about 10 minutes practising number facts each day. Look out for the focus on the homework sheet we send home.

If you need help accessing these, please contact your child’s class teacher.

26 November 2021

Next week, we’ll be learning about making words plural.

Plural is where there is more than one of something.

To help consolidate this learning, please practise spelling these words at home. We’ll test ourselves on Friday 03 December to see how we’ve got on.

Y3                                                                              Y4

boy             –   boys                             group         –   groups

group         –   groups                          wolf          –   wolves

box             –   boxes                           address      –   addresses

bus             –   buses                          bicycle       –   bicycles

church        –   churches                     church        –   churches

fox             –   foxes                             potato         –   potatoes

jelly             –   jellies                            jelly             –   jellies

lorry             –   lorries                          lorry            –   lorries

For some tips and tricks on how best to practise your spellings at home, click here.

Rainbow science, Matisse and Christmas

This week, we’ve had lots of fun being scientists. In Literacy, we read Potion Commotion by Peter Bently. After reading the story, we had a go at making a rainbow with Skittles. First, the children helped by placing the Skittles in a circle on the white plate. Before pouring the warm water onto the plate, we talked about making predictions and what that word means.
“I think it will make a rainbow.”
“I think the Skittles will turn white.”
“I think the water will turn purple.”

When the water was poured, the children observed carefully what was happening.
“Wow! It’s a rainbow.”
“The Skittles are turning white.”
“They are disappearing.”

After the experiment, the children wrote a sentence about what they saw.

On Tuesday, we had a go at another rainbow experiment. This time, we used felt tips, a piece of kitchen roll, and some water. We made predictions and then observed to see if we were right.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Who says it’s too early to put up the Christmas tree?

Writing Christmas wish lists.

Getting the home corner ready for Christmas.

Making cvc words using phoneme baubles.

Wrapping presents in Santa’s workshop.

The children have made their calendars. We used Matisse’s cut-outs as inspirations for our calendars. They will be bringing them home at the end of this half-term. Click here to see a sneak peek.

In maths, we finished learning all about the number 5. The children are fantastic at recalling number bonds to 5.

Making 5 using the balance scales.
The children put the Numicon pieces 5 in one side and had to work out which pieces could go in the other side to make it balance.

Using Christmas hats to help us with part-whole models.
How many children are wearing a hat?
How many children are not wearing a hat? 

Drawing pictures that represent 5 inside a handprint.

Subitising arrangments of dots up to 5 and matching them with the correct numeral.

Using beanbags to help us with part-whole models.

Important!

• Next week, your child will start bringing home a library book. The children will choose a new book every week during library time. Please make sure this book is returned every Thursday.
• Due to us starting to use our new phonics scheme, we will be collecting all reading books on 13 December. The children will take home a library book to enjoy over the Christmas holidays.

Home-Link Challenge

Finally, thanks to all the parents that have brought in a star costume for the Christmas production. We look forward to posting the performance for you to enjoy watching at home with your child.

 Have a lovely weekend!

26 November 2021

This week’s spelling list is the next group of words from the common exception words list. Write them in your neatest handwriting. Remember that letters sit on the line. Start each letter with a leading line and, if you’re feeling confident, try to join your letters, too.

Year 1

• has
• he
• here
• his
• house

Year 2
• of
• once
• one
• our
• pull
• push
• put
• said
• saw
• says

26 November 2021

This week our spellings are based on the suffix -ible. Please learn the following words for tea test on Thursday 2nd December.

• horrible 
• terrible 
• possible
• forgivable 
• disposable 
• enjoyable 
• enviable 
• incredible 
• sensible 

26 November 2021

The Talk Time for this week leads on perfectly from the previous week’s statement.

I am confident that I would tell someone if I felt bullied, or if I know someone who was being bullied.

I can name people I would go to, and can explain why I’d choose them for help.

During last week’s discussions, you recalled the two meanings of ‘STOP’: Several Times On Purpose (our definition of bullying) and Start Telling Other People (our response to bullying).

We suggest approaching this Talk Time in two steps.

First, discuss why it is important to tell someone if bullying is happening. Remember, everyone is responsible for helping to prevent bullying. If you see someone being treated unfairly, don’t assume someone else will report it or that it’s a one-off.

How many reasons can you think of to tell someone if you feel bullied or know someone else is being bullied? On the other hand, why would not telling someone be a bad idea?

Second, come up with a list of people you could go to. Consider what makes someone a good person to talk to.

This week’s Remember 2s are question prompts to help you when creating your list:

• Who can not only help you feel better, but also help to explore and solve the problem? (Think of people outside of school as well as people at school.)
• What do we mean by ‘trusted adult’?
• Is talking the only way you can alert someone to a problem like bullying?

Science with Skittles – observing closely, asking and answering questions

Today, we enjoyed our science lesson. We poured water onto a plate of Skittles and observed closely to see what happened. The children offered suggestions as to what they thought.

What happened to the Skittles in water?

“The colours came off and mixed together”.

“The water made them disappear”.

“They cracked in the water”.

“The water changed to brown because the Skittles mixed with it”.

“They dissolved”.

Living and Learning: I know that being active is mentally and physically healthy.

This week, our Living and Learning statement is I know that being active is mentally and physically healthy. This statement is a simple one: the more active we are, the happier and healthier we can be!

In today’s lesson, the children discussed the benefits of exercise and the effects it has on our bodies. After learning about the heart and lungs, the class went outside to explore the importance of exercise. The children learnt how to measure their heart rate by taking their pulse. They counted their pulse rate before and after exercise.

Ask your child about this activity. Can they remember what happened to their heart rate after some exercise? Can they tell you why there was a difference in the rate and how their body felt?

This is the guidance of recommended activity from the NHS.

This week’s bible story

Keep Going! Nehemiah 1: 1-7

Perseverance means keeping on trying and not giving up even when it is difficult.

If you’ve got some blocks, have a go at building a tower of twelve blocks. Was it easy? Now blindfold yourself and try again. Was it easier to do it when you were blindfolded or did it take more perseverance? Although the game was only a bit of fun, in life, it can sometimes be hard to keep going when things seem difficult or we feel discouraged. Our story today comes from the Old Testament part of the Bible. The Jewish people had not been listening to God, and they had been living in exile, away from their own homes. As the story starts, this situation is about to change. Read it carefully and see if you can work out why the people needed to have lots of perseverance and what helped them to keep going.

Reflection:
– In the story, what three things needed rebuilding?
– What kind of things discouraged the people from getting the building work done?
– What helped them to keep going?
None of us have to rebuild the walls around our towns and cities this week, but there might be some things that we are finding difficult or occasions when we feel like we want to give up.
Have a moment of silence as we think about the things that we are finding difficult or that we are worried about.

Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that you always listen when we pray to you.
Thank you that you are always there.
Please help us to keep going when we find things hard.
Please help us to encourage others.
Amen.