CURRICULUM NEWSLETTER
 
Class: Year 4  Teachers: Terry Prowse & Shirley Green  
Term: Spring 1st Half 2009 - 2010
 
This half term your child will be covering the following curriculum areas:
 

 

Literacy
  • This unit has oral and written outcomes including a quest or adventure narrative in the fantasy or science fiction genre.
  • Children will discuss how settings influence the reactions of characters and express opinions about the mood and atmospheres created by different authors.
  • To read, compare and contrast a range of texts with fantasy settings.
  • Children will study poems that can be performed and using different techniques to perform. Children will read and recite poems and discuss vocabulary, structure and language used.
  • After children have presented their poems, they will evaluate their presentations of published poems.
  • To support children's writing, ICT will be used to extend ideas from class activities.
 
Numeracy
  • Add or subtract mentally pairs of two-digit whole numbers (e.g. 47 + 58, 91 – 35)
  • Refine and use efficient written methods to add and subtract two-digit whole numbers including use of money.
  • Recognise and continue number sequences formed by counting on or back in steps of constant size.
  • Derive and recall multiplication facts up to 10 x 10 and multiples of numbers to 10 up to the tenth multiple.
  • Develop and use written methods to record, support and explain multiplication and division of two-digit numbers by one and two-digit numbers, including division with remainders.
  • Use knowledge of rounding, number operations and inverses to estimate and check calculations.
  • Answer questions by identifying what data to collect; organise, present, analyse and interpret the data in tables, diagrams, tally charts, pictograms and bar charts, using ICT where appropriate.
  • Choose and use standard metric units and abbreviations for them when estimating, measuring and recording length, weight and capacity.
  • Use time, resources and group members efficiently by distributing tasks, checking progress, and making back-up plans.
  • Find fractions of numbers, quantities or shapes; identify pairs of fractions that total
  • Use and apply different methods to solve problems.
 
Project – What are molecules?
  • This half term the children will be studying the topic ‘What are molecules?’ They will be undertaking experiments that look at the different changes of state. The children will continue to develop their predictive, analytical and evaluative skills.
  • We will also be revising the water cycle and looking at the process of how we make pizza & chocolate.
 

 

PE – Skittleball and Indoor P.E.
  • This half term the children will be undertaking a weekly session of Skittleball. We will be teaching children the basic skills to participate in the game.
  • Indoor P.E. session will be taken by a professional coach. These sessions will involve teaching children skills to perform in various invasion games.  
 
ICT
  • This half term the children will be undertaking a weekly ICT lesson with their class teacher. The focus will be on writing for different audiences, Word and Powerpoint publishing programmes.
 
French
  • Children at this stage should already have a basic understanding of greetings, numbers from 0 – 10 and colours. This term, we will revise asking other people how they are and responding appropriately. We will learn how to tell our age in numbers and revise vocabulary covered thus far.
 
Other information
 
  • Our PE sessions will be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Children will need to bring appropriate clothing for these sessions (t-shirt, jogging bottoms, sweatshirt and trainers).
  • Homework will be given on Fridays. This will consist of a range of written, practical and investigational activities alongside the learning of spellings and times table facts. Children must hand in their homework books by Thursday. Children are also expected to read, either with you or alone, for 20 minutes every evening.
  • Children will also be given weekly spellings (test on Wednesdays) and times tables to learn.
  • It is vital that your child brings water to school that they can drink during lessons. This is one way to ensure that their brains are working to their full potential.
  • We will be using a wide range of Accelerated Learning techniques in class including: model mapping, using colour, VAKtive spelling, Brain Gym and Learning Journals. These strategies will support your child in their learning. If you have any questions about the Accelerated Learning techniques we use, do not hesitate to come and ask.
  • If you would like to discuss anything to do with your child, please do not hesitate to make an appointment with me.
 
Terry Prowse and Shirley Green
 
Class teachers