Year 4 Class Routines

Mrs Millis (Mon, Tue, Wed): Spelling, Dictation, Handwriting, Mental Maths, Tables, Non-Fiction, Science

Mrs Boyce (Wed, Thurs, Fri): Number, Fiction, Grammar, History/Geography, Art/DT, RE

The overall goals for Year 4

Organisation and time keeping
Using their initiative
Encouraging independence
Social development - circle time/jobs
Good manners

School Day

Children may arrive from 8.30a.m and will be directed to the playground. Children will be supervised in the playground from 8.30a.m by a member of staff. The whistle will blow at 8.50a.m, when the children will line up.

When they come in from play they should hang up their blazer and bag on their peg, and bring all that they need to the classroom for registration at 8.55a.m.

Please call the school if your child is going to be absent for any reason.

Snacks should be brought into the classroom and should be healthy. No nuts please.

School finishes at 3.50 and at the end of the school day, the children will collect all their belongings and be dismissed from the front door, children will need to line up in the entrance hall and wait for a member of staff to dismiss them to their parent/carer outside.  All children must stay with a teacher until an adult comes to collect them (please let us know, in writing, the alternative adult if it is not you picking them up).  At 4pm they must go to late club and be collected from there.

Timetable

Download the Year 4 timetable

Messages

The homework and reading record book work very well as communication tools between school and home.  Anything you would like us to know, please write in the homework book e.g. homework took 50 mins, found this aspect particularly difficult, lost swimming trunks etc.  This prevents small problems becoming big problems and is a good tool for communication.  Please tell your child you have put a message in their book and ask them to show us.

If you have a message you would like to convey personally we are in school, but this time is often used as preparation for the day and we will need to be in the playground promptly by 8.50am to collect your children, so would prefer you make an appointment if the discussion is likely to be longer.  Always come to us first with any problems, if we cannot help you we can refer you to Mrs Lovatt-Young.

Parents’ evenings are held every term with short reports in February and October and full written reports issued in the final term.

Children’s targets will be stuck in the back of their homework book each term.  We will set both individual and group targets.

For those children previously on IEP’s, we will no longer be compiling IEP’s but ‘Provision Maps’ to help with your child’s progression.

Termly Topics

Spellings/Dictation are given out on Monday as homework, and need to be learnt by the following Monday.  For spellings a SACAWAC sheet is available, if requested.  However, this does not have to be completed if you learn spellings some other way and will not be expected to be handed in.  Dictation must be written once neatly in the handwriting book to be handed in sometime before the following Monday, and then practiced on separate paper.  If you would like to know how your child has achieved, ask them to write their scores in their homework book.

The spelling/dictation lesson includes handwriting practice, instruction in common spelling rules and grammar.

Tables Tests occur on Wednesday.  As the learning of tables is such a crucial element in Mathematics you child will continue to participate in the ‘Tables Club’ to challenge them in a positive way.  Each week, the children are given questions on the tables they are learning and if they are able to answer them all correctly in seven minutes they will win a coloured badge.  The following week they will try the next table test and further challenges can then be introduced by reducing the time allowed to complete the tests.

This has proved to be an exciting system and the children are keen to improve their tables knowledge in an enjoyable way. They will also be shown websites to help with their tables. We hope you will practice with them and celebrate their success as they swap their badges for the next colour (see below for colour explanation).

Tables are important for mental mathematics speed.  Also, please ask your children some mental mathematics questions daily e.g. what is the product of 5 and 6 (5X6)?, I spend 58p. how much change from a pound?, 10 more than 23 etc.  Often the journey to school is a good time for this sort of mental exercise.

Tables Club

After this they use all their tables with division and multiplication and work their way up to a platinum badge.

Long Term Topics

2011-12 Topics

Download the 2011-12 Long Term Topics (word document)

Homework

Homework should never be more than 40 minutes per evening and none on Wednesday.  They may get extra at the weekend.  If a child is struggling or cannot complete the whole task, please stop and put a note in the homework diary to reflect this.

Generally homework should return the following day to foster good practice but if you decide this is not possible, again a note in the homework diary and work returned later is perfectly acceptable.  We generally do not send class books home, but if we do these must be back in school the next day regardless of whether the work is completed or not.  It can then be taken home again that night to complete the homework.

If a child does not complete their work in the time given, due to lack of concentration or effort, it will be sent home to finish.

See Year 4 Homework section for more information.

QCA Results

QCA tests are taken at the end of Year 4 to monitor your child’s progress in numeracy, literacy and science.  The numeracy test is divided into mental maths and written questions.  The literacy is divided into reading, spelling and writing (fiction or non fiction).  Science assesses the topics taken in Year 4. The results, as ever, will be on the final reports.  An average Year 4 child should be achieving 3B.

Lost Property

Remember to label all clothes clearly, and then it will always be returned.  There is a lost property box in the conservatory.

Birthday

We are happy for children to bring in treats for the class on their birthday but please either cut the cake into pieces, or provide individual cakes or sweets and these should always be given to the teacher to distribute at the end of the day.  As with all food in school, please avoid nuts.

We hope we can work together to make Year 4 both a pleasureable and productive year for your child