Welcome to Squirrel Class
We are Year 4 children (8-9 years). There are 16 children in our class and our teacher is Miss Fox. Within our class, we also have Mrs McCabe who is a Higher Level Teaching Assistant. We are taught in our single-aged class on a morning and then merge with Owl Class (Year 3) on an afternoon so we also work with Miss Short and Mrs Lishman.
To find out what we will be doing this year, look at the Our Curriculum section of our website. To help us with our spelling and reading look at the phonics and reading section of our website. As we get older, we access the internet more and school wants us to stay safe online. To find out how you can support us in staying safe online, check out the Online Safety section of our website.
Spring term 1
Important information
- Page turners are to be returned and changed on a Friday.
- Home readers will be changed when needed so children can bring these back in at any point throughout the week- to be able to achieve ‘green’ on traffic light trackers children should be reading three times per week and have comments in their reading records.
- Homework- This is set on a Friday. All homework is completed online and is on Spelling shed and Times Table Rockstars. Children also have books assigned on Bug Club. It is very important to access this as it will support your child to develop their confidence and fluency. If you have issues accessing this, please let me know as soon as possible.
- P.E will take place on a Thursday.
Traffic light tracker descriptors-
Attendance
Red
Below 96%
Yellow
96-98%
Green
98% and above
Punctuality
Red
Late more than once a week/ 3 times in a half term.
Yellow
Usually in school on time – late no more than 3 times in a half term.
Green
Always at school on time.
Behaviour
Red
Frequently upsets children and adults.
Lacks self-control and often makes wrong choices.
Often fails to follow school rules.
Has been in Reflection many times to consider their behaviour.
Yellow
Sometimes gets involved in disputes and this disrupts learning.
Mostly follows school rules but needs occasional reminders.
Has been in reflection on several occasions to consider their behaviour.
Green
Always forms strong friendships and is a caring friend.
Manages disputes with friends appropriately.
Always follows school rules.
Always polite, friendly and helpful.
Has never been in reflection to consider their behaviour.
Effort
Red
Work is well below expectations.
Needs constant reminders to concentrate on their learning.
Work is careless and often of an unacceptable standard.
Work is often unfinished.
Often loses equipment.
Yellow
Work is usually of an acceptable standard with no scribbling.
Needs occasional reminders to stay focused on learning.
At times work may not be their best.
At times could work harder.
Green
Always gives 100%.
Work is completed on time and is of a high standard.
Work is presented thoughtfully and carefully.
Always remains on task and is self-motivated.
Reading Homework
Red
Reading Record not up to date.
Rarely reads at home or completes reading activities.
Reading homework rarely handed in or not completed.
Reading homework standards well below age expectations.
Yellow
Reads occasionally at home (only 2/3 times per week) and often needs reminding to get reading tasks done.
Reading journal occasionally not signed, and homework not consistently handed in or completed.
Green
Reads regularly at home and takes responsibility for this.
Reading journal is updated regularly.
Self-organised for reading homework and reading homework always completed to a good standard.
Accessing Online Homework
Red
Rarely accesses school’s online resources outside of school and doesn’t access after-school club to support with this.
Yellow
Occasionally accesses school’s different online resources at home and often needs reminders to access tasks to support learning.
Green
Regularly accesses a range of school’s online resources at home and takes responsibility for this.
Uniform
Red
Regularly needs reminding to wear correct uniform.
Has incorrect/no PE kit 2 times or more in a half term.
Earrings are worn for school.
Hair does not follow guidelines in Parents Handbook: extreme hairstyles, hair untidy regularly
Yellow
Occasionally does not wear full uniform.
Uniform is mostly clean and tidy.
Occasionally forgets PE kit (1 or 2 times in a half term).
Hair is usually clean and tidy.
Green
Always wears full uniform including PE uniform and swimming kit.
Always clean and tidy.
Always has correct school PE kit when needed.
Always looks after own belongings.
Hair is always clean and tidy as described in Uniform Policy.
English
Our text this term is ‘The Boy with the Bronze Axe by Kathleen Fidler.
Set in the Stone Age village of Skara Brae on Orkney. A strange boy arrives in the village with a sharp axe of a type never seen before. Conflict soon arises, and a deadly storm threatens the village.
We will be using this text to inspire our writing which will include a persuasive speech, an explanation text and a narrative set in Brodgar!
This term we are finishing off out prefixes and moving onto suffixes! We will be looking at the following spelling rules-
- Prefix re-
- words with the ‘ou’ spelling- double, trouble, enough
- Suffix -ly
- suffix -cious
- Suffix -action
Below are our Y3/4 statutory spelling words which need to be practised as much as possible!
Maths
Our maths focus is multiplication and division this term, so our times table practise is very important! We will be exploring formal methods such as the written and column method.
Science
Science this term is States of Matter and it will be taught by Miss Short. We will be exploring this topic within our school trip to the Centre of Life which is very exciting!
Geography – Why does Italy shake and roar?
For Geography this term we will be taking ourselves to Italy! Miss Fox will be leading teaching this term. We will be exploring volcanos and earthquakes, looking at what triggers them and the impact they have. We will also be learning all about the disaster in Pompeii. We are very excited to recreate this disaster within our P.E lessons by using dance to show the moment when the volcano erupted! We hope you are just as excited as us to see it!
P.E – Thursday
P.E this term will be dance! Miss Short will be leading P.E this term and looks forward to choreographing an exciting history based performance.
French
This term Miss Short will be leading teaching. Our topic title is Mon Anniversaire!
Computing
Miss Fox will be leading computing this term. We will be exploring the world of animation and how it has developed over the years. We will be looking at flip books and stop motions. We will finish the unit by creating our very own stop motion animation! For our online safety we will be looking at how to be internet safe and internet kind!
R.E
Mrs McCabe will be leading R.E teaching this term, our topic is Christianity- What do christians believe about Jesus?
Art
Mrs McCabe will be leading Art teaching this term, our topic is Italian art.
Music
Miss Fox is leading music teaching this term. We will be exploring rapping!
Autumn term 2
Important information
- Page turners are to be returned and changed on a Friday.
- Home readers will be changed when needed so children can bring these back in at any point throughout the week.
- Homework- This is set on a Friday. All homework is completed online and is on Spelling shed and Times Table Rockstars. Children also have books assigned on Bug Club. It is very important to access this as it will support your child to develop their confidence and fluency. If you have issues accessing this, please let me know as soon as possible.
Term highlights!
English
Within English this term, we will be exploring a range of different texts and clips to inspire our writing. We are going to spent time exploring an ancient Egyptian myth, The Story of Ra. This tells the story of Ra who was the first king of Egypt and how he protected his kingdom from Sekhmet the Lioness. At the end of this unit, we are going to be writing our own myth and creating an Egyptian god. We will then be moving onto looking at script writing. We will be watching the clip ‘The Egyptian Pyramids’ . Year 4 will then become script writers and write dialogue to match the clip. Finally, we will be looking at fantastic poems by Judith Nicholls, the first poem is ‘Lord Neptune’. Year 4 will then be recreating some of their own poetry.
Within spelling we will be exploring the following rules;
- ‘i’ sound spelt /y/.
- Prefix sub
- Prefix inter
- Prefix auto
- Prefix anti
Maths
This term we will be completing our addition and subtraction unit and then moving on to developing our knowledge of length and perimeter. Within maths basic skills we are practising our 3 and 6 times tables. Children can access Times Table Rockstars as part of their homework and this will support them to develop their fast recall of multiplication and division facts. Do not forget that White Rose home videos are free to use and will support your children to develop their confidence within maths!
Science
Our Science unit this term is all about electricity! We will be exploring electrical circuits and all of their different parts. We have started this unit by looking at what household appliances use electricity and whether they use mains electricity of electricity stored within batteries. Children have already shown how confident they are so we are very excited to start working on circuits very soon! By the end of the unit, children will be able to identify the different parts of an electrical circuit and use scientific vocabulary to describe a model of a circuit.
History
In History this term we will be exploring prehistoric times. Our topic question is ‘Who were Britain’s first builders’. We started our unit with an interactive online session with staff from Durham University. We had a fantastic prehistoric session where we looked at how we have learnt so much about prehistoric life through exploring skeletons and we looked at objects found by archeologists. Year 3/4 really enjoyed investigating different items and guessing their purpose.
Autumn term 1
English
During this term, Year 4 will be exploring the text ‘Secrets of a Sun King’ by Emma Carroll. They will be using this book to inspire them to write a letters, narratives and newspaper articles. This story is all about a little girl called Lil who goes on an adventure to Egypt to stop a curse and save her Grandfather. Although this is a fictional text, this does explore the history of Egypt in a fun and engaging way. Year 4 have already started to read this text during the first week back to school, they all loved listening to the story and are already excited to read even more! In our spelling lessons we are exploring prefixes and suffixes, we will look at how these change the meaning of words when added. Below are links to support both children to learn their spellings. Children also have access to SpellingShed accounts.
- What is a prefix and suffix?
- Adding the prefix un-.
- Adding the prefix dis-, mis-, un, im-.
- Adding the suffix -ing and -ed.
Maths
Within maths, we are currently working on our place value unit. All children could benefit from having as much practise as possible. Children can access their Mathletics accounts to practise place value work which has been assigned to them. Within our maths basic skills sessions, we are focussing on number bonds to 100. There are lots of fun and interactive games that children can play at home to support them to recall these number bonds. Children can also access maths home videos created by WhiteRose. These videos will recap the lesson taught within school and are a very valuable resource to support your child’s learning. For our times tables we will be focussing on the 3x, 4x and 6x this term. Children love to sing along to the Supermover songs to help them remember the multiplication facts.
Science – What do our bodies do with all the food we eat?
We will be exploring the human digestive system this term and be looking at how our body digests food and uses it to produce energy. Both Year 3&4 used their first session to share questions that they had about the topic, they all generated some fantastic questions and I am looking forward to exploring them all within our topic.
Geography- We’ve got it all! Why is the North East so special?
Art and DT- Local Landmarks
Within our Geography and Art we will be looking at the North East and what makes it so different to the rest of the UK. We have a fantastic trip planned to the Laing Art Gallery and a tour around Newcastle to see all the local landmarks. All pictures of the trip will be added to our class page.
Music- Mamma Mia
Within music, we are going to be focussing on ABBA and their song, Mamma Mia. We will be learning to play the Glockenspiel and creating our own performance of the song.
French- Les Amimaux
Within French, we will be exploring animals and how to say the names of animals, short conversations, and greetings.
