Thelwall Community Junior School

Welcome to Class 4!

First off, I would like to say how excited I am to begin my teaching career at Thelwall Junior School. As a previous student at the school myself, I am very aware of the educational journey that the students are currently on. I am very excited to get started and believe I can be a positive addition to the culture of the school.

I have been very impressed with the start to the year that class 4 have made after the summer. The children have all made a positive contribution to the learning that has taken place so far, as well conducting themselves with a fantastic attitude towards their lessons and friendships within the school. Mrs Greenfield and I are very excited for a great year of learning, exploring and fun! Please see below the areas in which the children will be studying throughout the Autumn term.

Reading: In class 4 this term, the children are expected to read at least 3 times per week, this can be reading their books in which they are given at school or their own books at home. The school is continuing to use the ‘Boom Reader’ app to log any reading completed at home, this will be checked every Friday by myself. Your child has been given a school log in and a unique pass code to allow you to log into the Boom Reader app. Reading is obviously very important to the development of a child, studies show that a child who can read out loud, as well as be asked questions about the text, will make greater progress in their reading and comprehension skills. As you read with your child, encourage them to make predictions, inferences and deductions about characters or author’s intent as this will support their understanding. Please try to encourage your child to read books and other text that they have not come across before – hearing and learning new vocabulary and grammatical structures and discussing this with them will greatly improve their reading and writing skills. During this term in class, we have been reading ‘The Demon Headmaster’ by Gillian Cross as our daily class read.

English Writing: This half term, our English lessons will be focused on a book called ‘The Whale’ by Ethan and Vita Murrow. The children will be tasked with writing setting descriptions, using a wide range of vocabulary and punctuation and grammar elements, as well as writing newspaper articles about the exciting discovery of a mystery whale. They will cover aspects of grammar including nouns, adjectives, fronted adverbials, similes and how to write sentences with the aim of building tension within their written work.

After the October holidays, the children in class 4 will be reading the book ‘Leaf’ by Sandra Dieckmann. The children will read the book and continue to develop their skills of deciphering the text, as well as reviewing and annotating their own written work. As a class, the children be focusing on the structure of their writing as well as improving their understanding of punctuation and grammar elements such as prepositions, inverted commas for speech and using emotive language.

English Reading: During this half term, Class 4 will be reading texts about ‘Habitats’ in our shared reading sessions. These sessions take place every day and build on the child’s ability to use evidence from the text to answer questions. It has a focus on vocabulary, understanding of language, fluency and comprehension.

Spelling: The children in Class 4 will have additional spelling sessions alongside our daily English sessions, where we will focus on different spelling patterns and continue to build on the statutory word lists for year 3 and 4. Our new spelling programme links together handwriting, phonic knowledge, spelling rules, grammar and punctuation. The children will have spellings sent home each Friday and be tested on them the following week.

Maths: In Maths, we will continue to develop children’s arithmetic, fluency and mental maths skills as well as applying their understanding to a variety of problem-solving contexts. Across the term, we will look at place value, addition and subtraction and multiplication and division.

The children in Year 4 will be encouraged to learn all their times tables up to their 12’s. This can be aided at home by using ‘Times Table Rock Stars’ to reinforce their rapid recall skills. The children have been sent home with their Times Table Rock Stars username and password.

Science: During the first half term, our topic will be ‘Plants’. The children will learn to identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants. They will investigate what plants need to grow. They will also investigate the way in which water is transported in plants and explore pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal in flowering plants.

In the second half term, our topic will be ‘Forces and Magnets’. The children will carry out various investigations to observe, compare and group materials which are attracted or repelled by magnets and compare how objects move on different surfaces. Children are encouraged to work scientifically and will have plenty of opportunities to explore questions they may think of throughout the topic as well as presenting and explaining their findings.

P.E: Class 4 will have PE on a Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon. PE kits will be worn on PE days with plain black or navy jogging pants or leggings if the weather is cold. School sweatshirts and cardigans can also be worn. During one lesson per week, children will develop skills and learn rules to play games such as hockey and basketball. The second PE lesson will be a skills-based session developing children’s sporting skills with a variety of fun challenges.

R.E: This term in RE the children will focus on both Christianity, considering how people serve God, and in the second half term, looking at Islam and why the prophet Mohammed was a good example for Muslims. The focus is on learning about religions as well as from them and how we can link positive messages into our own lives.

Design & Technology: During the first half term, our topic is ‘A healthy and varied diet’. Children will research where our food comes from, learn how to prepare food safely and then design, create, and evaluate a healthy meal. Following this, we will move on to our next topic which is ‘Shell structures’. During this topic, we will explore materials used to make and strengthen packaging and use them to create a box with a purpose. Throughout both topics, children will be encouraged to investigate different ideas and make changes where necessary to create a high-quality product. Once complete, they will critically evaluate our products to see if any further improvements could be made.

History: Our topic for the Autumn term is ‘Ancient Civilisations’. During the term, we will be learning about and comparing four of the oldest civilisations: Ancient Sumer, Shang Dynasty, Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley. During the second half term we will be looking at Ancient Egypt in more detail and developing our historical enquiry skills through looking at artefacts. The children always enjoy learning about times gone by and love investigating more about Egyptian mummification and pyramids.

The children will also have lessons based on the History of Thelwall as part of Thelwall’s 1100 year anniversary.

French: In our French lessons, we will be learning how to greet each other, sharing information about ourselves and being able to ask questions of others. The children will learn the names for colours and numbers up to 20. In the second half term we will use our knowledge of colours to write bonfire poems in French as well as learning classroom commands. We will also look at how Christmas is celebrated in France.

Computing: During the first half term, we will be exploring how to keep safe online; in particular, what information is safe to share online. We will then be developing our coding and programming skills.

Music: Year 4 music will be focused on singing. The children will practise singing different songs from different genres of music using the ‘Charanga’ app. There will also be many opportunities for the children to experiment with different instruments and techniques, with the aim of encouraging their passion for music.

PSHE: Our PSHE work focuses on building good relationships in the first half term and looks at different families and how people care for each other. In the second half term the children focus on Respectful Relationships and Health and Wellbeing. Alongside all of this the children will complete the My Happy Mind programme which helps children to understand their brain and their emotions.

Homework: Children are asked to read three times a week and complete an activity on Spag.com or Maths.co.uk each week for their homework. The children will have Spag.com homework for the first half term and Maths.co.uk homework for the second half term. Homework will be set on a Friday and is due the following Friday. Children also need to practise their spellings which have been sent home in preparation for their test. They will also have access to the online platform ‘Times Tables Rock Stars’ which they can use at home as often as they like.

The children, Mrs Greenfield and I are very much looking forward to an enjoyable, happy and successful year of learning together in class 4. If you have any questions, queries or concerns during the course of the year, I will be happy to discuss this with you via email, or on the phone at a mutually convenient time.

Mr Taylor

My email: jtaylor@thelwalljunior.co.uk