Year 4 – Summer Newsletter 2025

Dear parents/carers,

Welcome back, I hope you all had a lovely Easter break!

English

Listening to your child read continues to be very important, as does discussing their understanding of the texts they are reading. There will be daily classroom time for reading, handwriting, grammar and spelling activities. Children must bring their reading records and books to class every day. We will also continue visiting the library every Thursday, where children will be allowed to borrow a book of their choice. In English our next text types are: Haikus, Persuasive writing, List poems and Kennings, Biography, Non-chronological Report Writing. We will also be continuing with our weekly spellings and regular grammar lessons.

Maths

We continue to focus on learning all the X tables up to 12. We are prioritising times table practise in class, doing the same at home would be extremely beneficial. Children should be spending 15/20 minutes per day on this. The statutory times table check will be in June. We will also be learning about Fractions, Decimals, Time, Money, Shape and Position and Direction.

Science

We will be continuing with our work on Habitats; forest school sessions will be arranged to compliment this topic. We will then be learning about animals including humans.

RE

We will begin the term by thinking about the question: how do/have religious groups contributed to society and culture? We will then be learning about key humanitarian figures: Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa.

PSHE

Areas covered: Keeping safe in the home, Sun safety, Drugs and alcohol, healthy sleep and Medway sex Education.

PE

Children will be having two PE sessions weekly on a Tuesday (With Mr Snelling) and Thursday (with myself). We will be focusing on athletics and rounders. Please make sure your children have their kits in school for the whole week (including trainers and PE socks) as there are sometimes opportunities for extra PE lessons.

Topic – Geography/History

In History lessons children will be learning about events leading up to and during World War II and will develop an understanding of key moments including ‘The Blitz’. They will write a letter home from the point of view of an evacuee. To support this, we will have a class trip to the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. A letter will be sent out with further details in the coming weeks. Later in the term children will be learning about ‘Rainforests’ and the positive and negative impact of deforestation.

ART/DT

In DT children will be exploring different types of pastry, then designing and making a new puff-pastry tart. In Art we will be taking inspiration from nature and the children will sketch, design and produce a 3D clay tile.

Computing

Children will be continuing with learning touch typing, to support this we use the BBC touch typing dance mat. This will lead us into our Digital Literacy unit called ‘We are bloggers’.

French

Our topic is ‘Les Vacances’ and children will be practising familiar vocabulary and phrases as well as learning to read and repeat simple sentences. We will learn to ask and answer questions about travel and holiday activities in French whilst continuing to improve our pronunciation.

Music

Children will continue to listen and appraise pieces of music from a range of genres and engage in different musical activities including learning to play the Glockenspiel and recorder.

Homework

Learning task- Each week your child will have a learning task. This will either be linked to school English, Maths, Topic or Science. This task should take 20/30 minutes. This is set on a Friday and should be returned the following Thursday (to allow marking time!)

Handwriting- We are continuing the additional handwriting sheets alongside your child’s learning task. Please encourage the children to take care with neat handwriting! These sheets will be repeated at lunchtime if they are not (within my consideration) to the child’s best standard.

Spellings- These are being sent home on a half termly basis. Your child still must learn weekly words for a weekly test. Tests will continue to be on a Monday morning. Children can practise their spellings using look, write, cover check at the back of their learning log.

Times Tables- It is SOOO important all children are practicing their times tables. This should be done a minimum of 3 times a week but ideally daily. They should be valued in the same way as all homework activities. I will be awarding points/ certificates for those playing Times Table Rock Stars if you are using an alternative way to learn times tables this is ok.

Reading- Reading is still crucial, even once on a free reader! Books and reading journals MUST be in school every day as they use these whenever there is time for quiet reading.

Reward system

We have started to use ‘Dojo points’ (in class) as a reward incentive rather than table points. This is a more individual reward system to encourage positive behaviour and effort with work. Children can gain points for reading and using Times Table Rockstars as well as through behaviour, work and manners at school. The top scoring child of the week will receive a prize from my prize box and the 6 highest scoring children will be ‘table of the week’. The points are added together to give a class total. We have a target number, once this number has been met, we will have a class treat day.

If you have any questions or concerns at any time, please email me via the office and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

Miss Hagger