Year 4 Sunflowers

In Year 4 Sunflowers, our class teacher is Miss Myers and Mrs Trout is our teaching assistant. Throughout the week, we also have Miss Jamil and Mrs Bell working with us. We are so lucky to have such a fabulous team and we are here to support you and the children however possible.

Our School Rules

Our three school rules; ‘Be Ready, Be Respectful, Be Safe’ help us to focus on our learning and maintain a positive working atmosphere. We show we are ready to learn by being prepared with the right equipment at the right time. We are respectful of ourselves, our friends and our property. We show we are safe by following the routines, expectations and instructions given in class.

We use Class Dojo as a way of rewarding the children at Carrwood Primary School. Children receive Dojo points every time they are demonstrating our school rules which can then be exchanged for prizes and rewards. Children who consistently go ‘Above and Beyond’ receive additional rewards from Miss Malt in the form of Fantastic Friday treats.

Visits & Experiences

Throughout the year we will be going on lots of exciting trips and visits. We will be exploring our curriculum topics through visits to Bradford Industrial Museum, Yorkshire Water and Yorkshire Wildlife Park. We will also be taking part in whole school events such as the Pantomime and visiting the cinema.

Reading

Reading is so important to us at Carrwood and we read every single day. We start our day with a reading skills lesson and have a daily story time where we enjoy sharing our favourite books. We love to read for pleasure and we get to pick our own books from either our school library or our class reading corner. We also choose reading for pleasure books to take home and share with our families.

Our Year Group Authors are:

-Jeff Kinney

-Jess Butterworth

-Serena Patel

These are authors we will get to know really well over the year and we will read a range of their books each term. They are in our reading corner so we can also choose to read them during the day.

We also have a selection of books that are specific to our year group. These are our Core Read Aloud books:

As reading is so important to us at Carrwood, children will bring home two reading books. A colour coded RWI book if they are still engaging with phonics, or a book from our Year 4 book spine, and a reading for pleasure book to share with our families. Our book bags need to be brought into school every day so the adults in school can also listen to the children read their books. Books will be changed every Monday – please remember to bring your book bag in then too!

Curriculum

History

In our History lessons this year the children will be learning about the Maya Civilisation, Anglo-Saxon Britain and how people lives have changed. We will be using a range of historical evidence to find out about the different periods of time and exploring what life was like in the past.

Geography

In our Geography lessons we are continuing to work on learning the seven continents and learning about the countries within them. This year we will be focusing on Antarctica, volcanoes and rainforests. We will be learning to use atlases and other sources to research and find out more.

Art

In Art we will be learning about tone and texture, light and dark and the fabric of nature. We will use our sketchbooks to record all our artwork and our opinions about different pieces of art. We will explore and practise drawing, painting and printing using a range of different tools and medium.

DT

In DT lessons we be sewing seasonal stockings, making mini greenhouses and cooking with seasonal food. We will evaluate existing products, make our own and evaluate them against our criteria.

Music

We use Charanga to support our music lessons and will be completing units on Mama Mia, Glockenspiel Stage 2, Stop and Blackbird. We use instruments to support our lessons as well as having lots of fun singing.

MFL

In our Spanish lessons this year, we will be practising our pronunciation and learning how to read, write and say words and sentences relating to: My Family, In the Classroom and At the Café.

Computing

Our computing lessons take place in the Media Suite where we use Purple Mash to support our learning. We will learn more about how to stay safe online, coding, creating games, spreadsheets, databases and word processing.

RE

This year in RE the children will have a focus question for each unit. They will be thinking about;

-What faiths and beliefs can be found in our community?

-How do different people express spirituality?

-How are the stories of Holy Week important to Christians?

-How do the lives of the Gurus inspire Sikhs?

PSHE/RSE

In these lessons the children will learn about relationships, valuing difference, keeping themselves safe, growing and changing, being their best, and rights and respect.

P.E

Our P.E lessons are on a Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday we have PE outside and on Thursday we have P.E. in the hall. We will be focusing lots on our fitness ability through playing many different sports games, which will also enable us to demonstrate our team playing skills.

Homework

This year, we would really love you to focus on reading at home for homework. The more you read with your children the more confident and fluent they will become. Please spend 5-10 minutes reading with your child every day.

Towards the end of this academic year, the children will complete the Multiplication Tables Check. It is really important that we start to practise our times tables regularly now so they are ready for the test when it is time. All children have a log in for TT Rockstars. This can be used to support learning of times tables. We believe it is important to recognise the hard work our children are putting into learning their times tables so children will also receive certificates as they progress and begin to answer questions more quickly.

Below are some other useful websites to help support your child.