Welcome to the Year 4 page!
In Year 4, there is a big focus on reading. By Year 4 we would expect the majority of children to be reading Grey or Black book bands and to be able to read with fluency. Throughout the year we will be teaching children how to accurately answer comprehension questions and will focus on identifying the different types of questions they could be asked (retrieval, inference and choice). Children will be able to frequently change their book banded book or bring home catch-up reading books.
We also use the Oxford Reading Buddy where children can access further texts:
Learning times tables will also be a key focus. By Year 4, all children should have rapid recall of all of their times tables and they will sit a government test in the summer term. To ensure all children feel confident and ready to take the test we work hard to help prepare them and also highly value the benefits of having a rapid recall of these facts as this helps children to reduce their cognitive load when tackling more complex multiplication word problems. TT Rockstars is an exciting way to engage all our children and is something we would strongly encourage all children to have go at when they are at home. In school, we regularly check children’s progress and how often they are logging onto the app and it is also regularly celebrated within assemblies with ‘rock battles’ and ‘battle of the bands’ competitions between classes.
Times Tables Rock Stars (ttrockstars.com)
Year 3 and 4 spelling words:
The national curriculum in England – English Appendix 1: Spelling (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Wider curriculum learning
As scientists, the children will identify how sounds are made, associating these with vibrations. They will recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear and find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it. In DT, the children will learn how to control and monitor models using a classroom sound monitor. As artists, the children will annotate their own sketches and develop their shading skills, to reveal light and shadow. The children will also begin using fabric and specifically focus on creating weavings. The children will use watercolour paint to produce washes for backgrounds and use different brush techniques, using thick and thin brushes. As historians, the children will understand the concept of change over time using a time line. They will describe the social, ethnic and cultural diversity of past societies, with a focus on historical empires. They will suggest suitable sources of evidence for studying history and debate why some sources are more reliable. As geographers, the children will describe the key aspects of human geography, with a focus on settlements. They will use atlases and maps to locate contrasting settlements in the world and they will begin to explain they own views of a given location.
Home learning
Children should read a minimum of 3 times a week and record this in their home school book by colouring the reading book picture each time they read. Children have a home learning book which they take home on a Friday and is due back in on the following Wednesday. Home learning will be a maths task which focus on increasing your child’s fluency and arithmetic skills. We also encourage all children to log on to TT Rockstars as much as possible.
