Rabbit Class (Year 4) 2023 - 2024

Welcome to the class page for Rabbit Class.

Here you will find all of the exciting and wonderful things that your child will be learning during their time in Year 4. If you have any questions, please use Class Dojo or speak to a member of our team at drop off/ pick up.

Thank you

Summer 1

In our writing lessons we will be reading Journey by Francesca Sanna.

“I look up to the birds that seem to be following us. They are migrating just like us. And their journey, like ours, is very long, but they don’t have to cross any borders.”

What is it like to have to leave everything behind and travel many miles to somewhere unfamiliar and strange? A mother and her two children set out on such a journey; one filled with fear of the unknown, but also great hope.

We will be putting ourselves in the shoes of the characters and writing a narrative, as well as a diary entry. 

We will be continuing to practise fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and speech punctuation. 

In reading this half term, we are looking at Fantastically Great Women who Saved the Planet by Kate Pankhurst. 

We will be using our different VIPERS skills: Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise to improve our understanding of what we read.

Reading plays a significant role in children's development and we encourage it as much as possible! It comes with many benefits including:

Inspires imagination and creativity.

Enrinches cultural awareness and understanding. 

Increases empathy and improves relationships with others.

Lifts well-being levels and improves mood.

Improves progress in vocabulary, spelllings and even maths.

Encourages children to take a screen break.

You can support your child at home by reading with them daily and recording it in their reading diaries to help them add stamps onto their Book Worm. 

You could ask your child about what they think might happen next in the story, how do they think the character is feeling, who is the author and what do they do. 

In maths this half term, we will be learning all about decimals and money. We will be looking at tenths and hundredths, putting them in order and comparing them, as well as dividing by 10 and 100 to create decimal numbers. 

In June, all Year 4 pupils take part in the Multiplication Tables Check where they are given 25 questions on any multiplication facts up to 12x12. To ensure that our children are ready for this, we will be practising our times tables daily. As part of our practice, each child has their own login for Times Table Rockstars which they can access both at school and at home. Just a few minutes of practice each day can really help children to improve their knowledge and speed! 

This half term in science we are going to be learning all about electricity! We will be learning about different electrical devices, how to stay safe around electricity and how electrical circuits work. 

In French, we will be learning how to talk about the weather. We will be building upon our knowledge of days and times to describe the weather at different times and in different places. 

Our humanties focus for this half term is Geography. We will be learning all about 'Wonderful Winsford'! We will be looking at the human and physical features of our local area, as well as how it has changed over the past century. 

This half term in music we will be exploring 'Building' in music, layering different beats and sounds using body percussion and tuned instruments. 

Your child will have 2 PE lessons each week. Their days this half term are Tuesday and Friday. Please ensure they come into school in their PE kit on these days. This half term we will be learning how to play tag rugby! 

 Mondays- Each Monday, your child will be given 10 spellings to learn over the course of the week which are tested on Friday. They will have opportunities to learn their spellings each morning in class, however, extra practice at home is essential.

Thursdays- Each Thursday, your child will be given either maths or English homework (alternating weeks) which is posted online on our class Dojo page. Homework is expected to be in the following Tuesday. If you need a paper copy of the homework, please ask! . 

Other useful links:

Oxford Owl - Linked to our phonics Read, Write Inc programme https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/free-ebooks/   

Story Nory - A range of stories by classic authors as well as poems musicals and fairytales. https://www.storynory.com/archives/classic-authors 

Story Berries- Read along with audio clips. https://www.storyberries.com

Monkey Pen-  Free downloadable children’s books in PDF format. https://monkeypen.com/pages/free-childrens-books

Free Children’s Stories-  https://www.freechildrenstories.com

Keeping Safe Online-  www.esafety.gov.au/kids 

Topmarks- A great way for children to practise many of their maths skills https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=16&AgeGroup=3

Newsround is a very good outlet for your child to watch each day to gain a wider understanding of what is happening not only in our country, but the rest of the world. We will be watching newsround every afternoon in class.