Year 4 Autumn Term 1 Spellings

Here are the spellings for Year 4 for the first half of the Autumn term. 

Week 1 Test: 15.9.17	Week 2 Test: 22.9.17	Week 3 Test: 29.9.17
knowledge knowledgeable learn length lengthen lengthening library librarian material materialistic incessantly exasperated	medicine medicinal medic mention minute natural nature naughty notice notification trepidation despondent	occasion occasionally often opposite opposition ordinary ordinarily particular particularly peculiar dilemma legion
Week 4 Test: 6.10.17	Week 5 Test: 13.10.17	Week 6 Test: 20.10.17
perhaps popular popularity position possess possession possessive possible possibly possibility cohort cavalry	possibilities potatoes pressure depression probably probability promise promising purpose quarter artefact ancient	question questionable recent regular reign remember sentence separate separation special chronology historically

Year 4 Learning Challenge

Learning Challenge

8th September 2017

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are delighted to provide you with the Learning Challenge for the first half of the Autumn Term.

The activities have been split into Basic, Advanced and Deep Learning. This is designed to ensure that children not only acquire factual knowledge but also gain a further understanding about how their new skills or knowledge can be applied to their own lives or be used to further their cognitive and social development.  

The theme of the Learning Challenge for this half of the Autumn Term is “The Romans” It is entirely up to the child whether they select the poem, significant person, music or painting, or a combination of all 4. They can also select the activities that they want to attempt, though we would encourage them to deepen their learning as much as possible.

Although the Learning challenge is entirely optional, and in addition to the daily expectation of 15 minutes reading, 15 minutes times tables rehearsals and 15 minutes spellings practice, we have found that a large proportion of children have voluntarily taken up the challenge and have gained a great deal from it. We would therefore be grateful if you could encourage this at home. The children will receive a special Learning Challenge certificate at the end of the half term on completion of a project that shows a significant level of effort and challenge undertaken by the individual child.

We thank you again for your continued support, and look forward to seeing you in the near future.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Spinks

Italy Class Teacher

Year 4 Lead

Literacy and Language Lead

	Poem	Painting	Person	Music
Basic	Learn it off by heart	Find out 10 facts about the painting/artist	Draw a portrait of the person	Listen to a piece of music
	Find another poem by the poet	Produce a collage of other paintings by the artist	Produce a timeline of their life	Identify the instruments.
Advanced	Create a performance as part of a pair/group	Draw a picture in similar style	Produce a poster to advertise their achievements	Research the life of the composer.
	Write a short biography about the poet	Transform the medium of the painting: use collage instead of painting	Write a letter asking them about their life	Attempt to recreate the piece of music
Deep	Write your own poem inspired by the topic	Use the image as a stimulus for 100WC	Explain how the world would be without this person	A mind map of different emotions you feel at various points in the piece
	Compare and contrast two poems by the poet	Describe the painting: what it represents, how it makes you feel, what it is based on	Give five reasons for and against why they should be in ‘The Hall of Fame’	Produce a piece of art/collage based on how the music makes you feel.

Person Boudicca	Painting ‘An Eloquent Silence’ by Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Piece of Music ‘Mars: The Bringer of War’ by Gustav Holst	Poem ‘The Romans in Britain’ by Judith Nicholls

Year 4 Curriculum Letter

8th September 2017

Year 4 - Autumn Curriculum Newsletter

A warm welcome back to the Autumn Term from the Year 4 team!  We hope you find this letter informative; please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions relating to the curriculum.

Homework:

Our expectation at Mead is that every child should do the following every night:

● 15 minutes reading to themselves or an adult (signed in the reading record)

● 15 minutes practising spellings

● 15 minutes rehearsing times tables facts (including multiplication and division)

If children would like to attempt an additional challenge, we have a new Learning Challenge for children to attempt this Autumn Term. All of the activities are based around a significant person, poem or painting relating to our topics. Children do not have to attempt every activity, but instead select the activities that they are most interested in and compile a project that reflects the extra time and effort that they have put into their challenge. We hope that children will take their time with the challenge and be proud of the work they produce. The children should hand this into their teacher at the end of the Half Term.

Spellings:

Spellings will be given out at the beginning of every half term, they will also be put onto the blog weekly. The children should practice their words every evening. Spelling tests will take place on a Friday.  

P.E and swimming

All classes will have PE on a Thursday. Please ensure that your child is in possession of a full, named PE kit with plimsolls for their lessons. The children in Year 4 also attend weekly swimming lessons. Italy and Greece classes session is every Monday and Germany class will attend swimming every wednesday.

Parental help:

It is always extremely valuable to have parents who are able to volunteer time to help hear the children read, or support them with their times tables. If you think that you are able to give a small amount of regular time to support the children then it would be warmly welcomed.

Curriculum Information

We have included a summary of the topics which the children will be covering this term. If you would like to make any suggestions of what you or your child would like to learn in relation to the topics taught, please inform your child’s class teacher. We welcome any suggestions you may have.

We look forward to meeting you over the next few weeks; please do come and see us if you have any questions at all or if you would like to offer yourself as additional support on any upcoming trips.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Spinks Miss Woodgate Miss Doherty

Italy Class Teacher Greece Class Teacher Germany Class Teacher

Year 4 Lead

Literacy and Language Lead

Autumn Term
	1st Half Term	2nd Half Term
Literacy	Fiction: Dilemma Story Non-Fiction: Information Texts	Fiction: Poetry Non-Fiction: Balanced Arguments
	Please fill in the reading journal after hearing your child read. For a good selection of children’s books, visit your local library. Useful web links: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy/ http://durham.schooljotter.com/coxhoe/Curriculum+Links/Literacy
Maths	Place Value Addition and subtraction	Measurements - Length and perimeter Multiplication and division
	Please practice the times tables with your child. The school is continuing to focus on Mental maths this year and it would be of great help if your children could learn them. Useful websites: www.mymaths.co.uk (login to follow) www.mathszone.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/numeracy.shtml www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1numeracy.html
ICT	Coding
Science	Environment, Ecology and Evolution
History/Geography	What was life like in the Roman, Greek and Anglo Saxon Army?
RE/PHSE	Hinduism	Being valued
PE	Tag rugby and gymnastics
Music	Music around the world Rhythm and Pitch	Christmas production
Art/Design and Technology	Collage and 3D
French	Greeting someone Numbers Days of the week Colours Equipment
Trip	Roman army inspiration day (date to be confirmed) Moana Cinema trip - 9th November