Year 4
Introduction-
Please open the following letter from the teacher for the 2024-2025 academic year:
The attached PowerPoint will give you further information about the year group:
Teachers & LSAs
What are we learning?-
Please click on the link below to see what we will be learning this term:
How can you help?-
Reading with your child is vital. Research shows it is the single most important thing that you can do to help your child’s education. It’s best to read little and often, so try to put aside some time for it every day. Think of ways to make reading fun – you want your child to learn how pleasurable books can be. If you’re both enjoying talking about the content of a particular page, linger over it for as long as you like. Books aren’t just about reading the words on the page, they can also present new ideas and topics for you and your child to discuss. Children need to be able to confidently segment and blend the words they are reading, apply a wide range of spelling rules as well as being able to comprehend the content of what they are reading.
In years 3/4 we are keen for children to read a wide variety of text and encourage them to read these in addition to their school reading books. For example, children could read magazines, e-books, comics, instruction manuals, menus, catalogues, to name a few.
We have also invested in the top 100 reads for years 3/4 and 5/6. The children are allowed to select one of these books as well as a rainbow book to take home and enjoy.
Tips for helping your child to enjoy books:
- Encourage your child to pretend to ‘read’ a book before he or she can read words.
- Visit the library as often as possible – take out CDs and DVDs as well as books.
- Schedule a regular time for reading – perhaps when you get home from school or just before bed.
- Buy dual-language books if English isn’t your family’s first language – you can talk about books and stories and develop a love for them, in any language.
- Look for books on topics that you know your child is interested in – maybe dragons, insects, cookery or a certain sport.
- Make sure that children’s books are easily accessible in different rooms around your house and in different formats, such as e-books.
- Please record in their reading diaries whenever reading at home takes place.
- The best motivation for your child to become a keen and confident reader is to have a positive role model! So, pick your favourite book up and enjoy a good read!
Children may record for themselves on some occasions. It is important that children have their reading diaries and books at school every day.
Please note – due to current circumstances the library is closed after school and the children are able to change their books in class during the school day. We will notify you when we able to open properly.
In year 4 the children will be completing the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check, which is an annual check that Year 4s have a good level of times tables knowledge. This is an online test with 25 questions; children must answer each question within a 6 seconds time limit so the whole test will take less than 5 minutes. It is vital that the children are practising their times tables recall and practise the times tables they are less confident with. As well as TTRS there are lots of other websites which can help support you with this –
https://www.timestables.co.uk/
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables
As with reading, try to make maths as much fun as possible – board games, computer games, puzzles and jigsaws are a great way to start. It’s also important to show how we use maths skills in our everyday lives and to involve your child in this. Identifying problems and solving them can also help your child develop maths skills. If you see him or her puzzling over something, talk about the problem and try to work out the solution together. Don’t shy away from maths if you didn’t like it at school. Try to find new ways to enjoy the subject with your child.
Tips for helping your child to enjoy Maths:
- Promote a confident attitude to Maths – encourage children to keep trying to come to a solution and explain how they got there.
- Practice times tables as much as possible. Children in Year 3 need to be able to confidently recall the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 times tables. Year 4 children are expected to know them all by the time they leave LKS2. Regular written and verbal practice, as well as fun interactive games are very helpful in the learning of times tables. Children need to be able to mentally recall them randomly.
- Take your child shopping and talk about the quantities of anything you buy as well as the cost of items. Encourage children to use coins to buy things, adding up the cost of multiple items, calculating change and becoming confident with money.
- Point out the different shapes to be found around your home in and the environment.
- Involve children in everyday activities such as baking and DIY. By allowing children the opportunity to weigh out ingredients and measure lengths and heights, this allows for children to put maths into context in the wider world.
http://www.ictgames.com/resources.html
http://www.coolmath-games.com/
http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/
https://play.ttrockstars.com/ttrs/dashboard
Tips for good homework habits
- Find a quiet place at home to use as a homework area. It needs a flat surface, a good light source and the right equipment eg pens, pencils, ruler, scissors, glue.
- Be aware of modern teaching methods, eg in long division – please consult your class teacher or LSA if you need support in any areas of the curriculum. Please do not teach your child methods you may have used at school as it could confuse them.
- Plan a homework timetable and agree on when your child will do their homework.
- Allow your child to have something nutritional to eat before starting on homework.
- Discuss homework tasks with your child and discuss how it connects with what they are studying at school so they can see its purpose.
- Turn off the TV.
- Don’t give your child the answer in order to get a task finished. Instead, give prompts and
- Don’t let homework become a chore. Keep it fun and make it a special time that you both look forward to. If parents are positive about homework, then children will also be positive.