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. * 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. Handwriting pens will be issued when the children receive their pen licence. 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 Mr Davis Set 2 will be taught by Miss Taylor Set 3a will be taught by Mrs Mara Set 3b will be taught by Mrs Hampton and Mrs Long Pupils may change sets throughout the year depending on their individual progress.

Science 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. Year 4 will be learning about: Scotland The Water Cycle

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. Other opportunities are made for children to use computing in other curriculum subjects such as through the use of the iPads. Developing an educational game Producing digital music Producing a wiki Presenting the weather Prototyping an interactive toy Editing and writing HTML

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. 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

*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.

Important dates Thursday 10 th September: Individual photographs Friday 18th September: ‘Jeans for Genes’ day Friday 2nd October: Harvest Festival (9.30am) Tuesday 6th October: Visit to Colchester Castle Monday 19 th October: Year 4 Test Week Tuesday 10 th / Thursday 12 th November: Parents’ Evenings Monday 23rd November: Maths Parents’ Evening ‘drop-ins’ Thursday 17 th December: Carol Service (9.30am) Further dates/information will be sent home via Parentmail

Thank you for coming! Any questions?