Year 4 Curriculum Share Meeting

Expectations and Routines * Homework is set each week on a Thursday and consists of one literacy task and a piece of mathematics work. Homework is then due in by the following Tuesday. * Spellings are set weekly and tested on a Friday. * We encourage the children to read to an adult at least 3-4 times a week and record this in their reading record; reading records will be checked on a Monday morning.

Being prepared Children should come to all lessons prepared, which means having the correct equipment. A small pencil case is allowed including a pencil, ruler and rubber. All children are given a school handwriting pen to use in class. Children should have their reading records in school every day as they are a useful method of communication between home and school.

Literacy Literacy is taught in classes; at Buttsbury our curriculum covers a range of narrative, non-fiction and poetry genres. Each text type lasts between 2 – 3 weeks including reading of the text type, spoken language opportunities, grammar, punctuation and written tasks.

Literacy Guided reading is taught separately to literacy, although this session is based around the text type that is being studied. Spelling and handwriting skills are also taught separately to the main literacy lesson, although opportunities for the skills to be transferred are included.

Maths There are 4 Maths sets taught in Year 4; Set 1 will be taught by Miss Carroll Set 2 will be taught by Miss Taylor Set 3a will be taught by Miss Pretty Set 3b will be taught by Mrs Hampton Pupils may change sets throughout the year depending on their individual progress.

Science Electricity Sound Animals (including humans) There are five core units of Science studied in Year 4: Electricity Sound Animals (including humans) Living things and habitats States of matter

History/Geography History is taught in the Autumn and Summer terms. Year 4 will be learning about: The Romans The Ancient Greeks Geography is taught in the Spring and Summer terms. Rivers and the Water Cycle Place knowledge: The South East of England

Design Technology/Art DT and Art are taught in rotation, with each unit lasting one half-term. DT: Designing and making clocks Cooking: bread making Sewing: Money containers Art: Emotions and feelings - surrealism Plants - colour mixing Portraits and figure drawing

P.E. Children have 2 P.E. lessons a week. From next February pupils in Year 4 will also have swimming lessons. Indoor P.E. is taught by Winger Sports coaches, who teach curricular units including gymnastics, dance and dodgeball. Outdoor P.E. includes netball, football, hockey, tag rugby, rounders and Kwik cricket. In the summer, all P.E. takes place outdoors and also includes athletics.

Languages Children will continue their French tuition focusing on three main areas: My family - family members and describing people The Very Hungry Caterpillar – food and days of the week At the Zoo – animals and further descriptive language

Computing Children will cover 6 core topics, each lasting a half-term. These are divided into opportunities for Programming, such as understanding inputs and outputs and Digital Literacy, such as computer networks and presenting data. Other opportunities are made for children to use computing in other curriculum subjects such as through the use of the iPads.

R.E. The R.E. curriculum continues to follow the Essex-agreed Syllabus. In Year 4 pupil will learn about; Islam Christianity Sacred Writings for different religions

PSHE PSHE is taught fortnightly by Mrs Yaxley-Smith In Year 4 pupils will learn about the following areas; Feelings, friends and friendships Me and my relationships Anti-bullying Separation and relationships Lifestyles and culture Personal safety Each class will also have 2 sessions led by the Anti-Bullying Crew

Music Music is taught fortnightly by Mrs Cripps following the Music Express scheme. Children continue their recorder tuition, as well as developing opportunities to perform together. Children also have the opportunity to learn about famous composers throughout history.

Further dates/information will be sent home via Parentmail Important dates Wednesday 27th September: Year 4 Colchester Castle visit Friday 6th October: Harvest Festival Monday 6th and Wednesday 8th November: Parents’ Evenings Tuesday 14th November: Year 4 Open Door Monday 20th November: Drop ins with Maths set teachers Tuesday 5th December: Whole school pantomime visit Tuesday 19th December: Carol Service Further dates/information will be sent home via Parentmail

Thank you for coming! Any questions?