We are a nut and citrus free school
We hope you have enjoyed a relaxing summer break and that you are ready for an exciting, challenging and action-packed Summer term! This year, our Year 4 team is Miss Gwatkin, Miss Parmar (teachers), Mrs O’Donoghue and Miss Eady (Learning Support Assistants).
At Iver Heath Junior School, we are passionate about children’s learning and their wellbeing. There may be occasions where you wish to speak with your child’s teacher. The best time to do this is at the end of the school day, on the playground. If there are pressing situations that you feel may affect your child that day, please write a brief note in the homework diary so that we can read it at the start of the day.
Homework
Throughout Year 4, your child will receive weekly homework for English, Maths and Spellings, plus their daily reading.
As a school we have invested in an online system that allows children to complete tasks within a unique account created for them. Children will shortly receive their ‘Education City’ login details. Once they have this they will be able to access their homework via: Educationcity.com This will become available weekly and will need completing within 7 days. Homework goes out on a Monday and is due the following Monday. Any children unable to complete their task out of school time will be given opportunities to complete it using the school’s ICT suite during a Monday lunchtime.
Reading
Reading is very important and all children are expected to read in total, six times a week for ten minutes. This is expected to be Monday to Friday plus one day at the weekend. Reading records are to be filled out by the children with the date written in the left hand column. We then ask that an adult signs to say the child has read and which pages. We do not advise that children read a whole book in one night, particularly the higher level books. It is important that your child understands what they are reading and so one or two chapters will be enough if they would like to read a little more than a few pages! This is really important to monitor who is and who isn’t reading at home. Children who do not read will be required to read at break to catch up.
Water Bottles
We encourage every child to bring a clear, plastic water bottle to school with their name clearly labelled on it. Research shows that good hydration helps children to concentrate in lessons. Please ensure that only pure water is sent to school. Squash, fruit juice, flavoured waters or soft drinks, are not acceptable in class.
Healthy Snacks
Bringing in a healthy snack such as fruit or vegetables is actively encouraged. Research has shown that children with good nutrition have better concentration and are healthier overall.
Punctuality
Learning begins promptly at 8.45am so it is vital that your child arrives punctually. If they are late they may miss vital instructions or learning opportunities. If this repeatedly happens it will have a detrimental effect on your child’s education. It also disrupts other children’s learning and can embarrass your child.
Equipment and uniform
To ensure that your child is able to reach their potential we must maximise every learning opportunity. One way to aid this is ensuring your child has the correct equipment. Children in Year 4 are expected to have:
Pencil or Pen (where appropriate), 30 cm ruler, glue stick, white board pen, pencil sharpener, rubber
Optional items that would further enhance their learning include:
Colouring pencils, highlighter pens, art shirts and protractors.
Please ensure that your child wears the correct school uniform every day and that it is clearly labelled with their name, including their PE kit. Please ensure your child has their P.E. kit in school all week.
For further information about Iver Heath Junior School please visit www.iverheathjunior.co.uk.
Iver Heath Junior School
Year 4 Term 1
Subject / Your children will learn...English / Innovation
In English we will be focusing our ideas around the theme of innovation. We will investigate stimuli such as extracts from stories, short stories, film trailers, animation, poetry, pictures, adverts and soundscapes. From these, children will develop ideas for writing for a range of purposes and audiences. Writing will be created by the children across a wide range of curriculum areas in preparation for teacher assessment towards their end of year attainment.
Maths / In maths children will further develop their skills using a combination of Singapore maths and traditional maths to prepare them for their move to secondary school.
This term the children will focus on:
Shape: including properties of shape, movement, translation and angles
Area: including decimals and percentages
Measure: including length, area, volume and time Problem solving using a wide range of skills
Science / Changing States:
During this unit children will learn how to classify materials as solids, liquids and gasses. As wells as explore and explain how objects change shape and state.
DT / Pizza Faces:
This term the children will be learning not only what makes a good and healthy pizza, but also how to decorate them in the style of famous artists.
Computing / Jacqueline Wilson:
Children will learn how to search for information, safely, as well as to learn how to source truthful information. They will also be continuing learning in coding.
Music / Theory and the Language of Music:
Children will be taught all of the elements of music theory; Staff notation, dynamics, tempo, pitch, rhythm, pulse and time signatures. They will learn through games, playing instruments and singing children are introduced to music theory.
RE / Creation Stories and The Natural World:
Children will learn about how different religions believe the world was created. They will read through the different stories to compare and contrast them with each other.
PE / Dance:
Children will learn different ways they can move their bodies and explore different shapes. By the end of this unit the children will be able to create and perform a whole dance routine to a single piece of music.
Rounders:
Children will learn the skills needed to play the bat and ball game. Each week we will build on these skills, resulting in a final whole class game.
PSHCE / Relationships and Loss:
Children will be learning about how to act during different situations, what they can do to help others, as well as how to cope with looking someone or something.
Geography / Volcanoes:
Children will be learning about all the different types of volcanoes, how they are made and what happens when they explode. This is building on last terms topic from the Romans, when the children learnt about Mount Vesuvius.
Rivers:
Children will be learning about what makes rivers move, how they are formed and why we need them.
Singapore Maths
As a school we have undertaken an exciting and revolutionary approach to teaching maths from this year onwards. We have adopted a Singapore Maths style approach to delivering the curriculum. A great deal of research has been carried out related to maths teaching around the world. Much of it has found that Singapore schools consistently produce world-class levels of achievement in mathematics.
As a school we have invested significantly in the ‘Maths No Problem’ system. This company is a British company who have developed a Singapore style teaching system for British schools. The programme is designed to deliver the curriculum in a systematically and engaging way which can be accessed by all children.
The concept of teaching mathematics to mastery is to ensure that topics are well developed. Pupils will spend enough time to fully explore a concept before moving on to a different topic.
As idea is well formed they reinforced by ample practice. New knowledge is then used on subsequent lessons so that all ideas build on top of each other and pupils have ample opportunity to develop relationships between the topics. Ideas are revisited in a spiral as pupil’s progress through the years, each time at a higher level.
Children will be taught in mixed ability classes and will each have a textbook, work book and maths journal. Throughout their learning they will use a:
Practical > Pictorial > Abstrapace through the challenge that face them.
For more information about this new approach to maths please visit our website where you will find a set of videos created by one of the maths consultants for Maths No Problem designed specifically for parents.