Welcome to Koalas Class Page

Teachers: Miss Collins

Learning Support Assistants: Mrs Jiggens

Welcome to Year 4! 

We have got a busy term planned, please see the information below for details of what we will be learning about!

Sutton Hoo

We had a fantastic time visiting Sutton Hoo! Check out some photos of the fun we had in this slideshow...

Curriculum Letter

Our topics this term will be 'The Clash of the Saxons' and 'Route to the Rainforest'. Below is a copy of our Spring Term curriculum letter.

Meet and Greet

Please find below the slides for our Meet and Greet presentation, introducing the staff and curriculum for the year.

P.E.

This half term (Spr 1), our P.E. days are Wednesday (outdoor PE - basketball) and Friday (indoor PE - dance). Please ensure that your child comes to school in a P.E. kit that is suitable for colder weather. Please also make sure that long hair is tied back on these days and any jewellery is removed. 

PSHE

Here is a copy of the Alresford PSHE curriculum for your information. 

Times Tables

In maths, there will be more of a focus on times tables. These are really important as this forms a large majority of the work the children will cover within the year. In addition, the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check will be administered in June 2023. Please encourage your child to play Times Table Rock Stars (TTRS) at home (let us know if your child needs reminding of their log in details).

This document gives families more information about the times tables check.

Spellings

Spellings will be sent home weekly on a Wednesday, once we have taught the children the spelling rule/pattern that will be the focus for the week. Spelling tests will no longer be taking place on a weekly basis, but it is still as important as ever to ensure that your child learns and practises their weekly spellings. We will be looking to see whether the children are able to spell particular words on a half-termly basis and whether they can apply the words they are learning at home to their writing.

Below are some strategies for practising spellings. 

Common Exception Words

Each year, the children will learn to read and write a set of common exception words. These are words that cannot be spelled using sounds as they are exceptions to the rules that the children learn. The children will learn these words and bring them home to practise in their word bags. 

Below are the common exception words for Year 3 and 4.

Reading

Reading regularly is paramount as reading is a transferable skill across all areas of the curriculum. It is really important that your child is reading for at least 80 minutes each week so that they are improving their fluency and comprehension skills and consolidating what has been taught in class. 

We also use 'VIPERS' during our reading lessons. 'VIPERS' is an acronym to aid the recall of the 6 reading domains as part of the UK’s reading curriculum.  They are the key areas that we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts.

VIPERS stands for:

• Vocabulary
• Inference
• Prediction
• Explanation
• Retrieval
• Sequence or Summarise

This helpful document gives you example questions that link to the Vipers that you can ask your child when you read with them to help their comprehension.

We firmly believe it is important for every child to enjoy reading! Here is a list of books that your Year 4 child may enjoy reading themselves, or having read to them. Don't forget that you can borrow books from your local library, so having a range of books to read at home doesn't need to be expensive!

The Year 4 Curriculum

Below are some documents that outline what the children will be learning in reading, writing and maths throughout the year. 

This is our Long Term Plan for the year, detailing what we will be covering in Year 4.