Otter Class (Year 4) 2025 - 2026

Welcome to the class page for Otter Class.

Class Staff

Teacher: Miss Jervis

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Harrison and Mr Lambert

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

Miss Jervis, Mrs Harrison and Mr Lambert

Autumn 1

In our writing lessons we will be reading The Whale by Ethan Murrow and Vita Murrow

"There is a legend that a Great Spotted Whale lives in the ocean; local fishermen still talk of it, although the first sighting fifty years ago was never corroborated. Now, two young whale watchers each set out to find the whale, one armed with sound recording equipment, the other a camera. Mid-ocean their boats collide, so they pool their resources and set off together to capture incontrovertible proof that the mythical Great Spotted Whale exists.

The eventual sighting is a magical moment: the whale is truly phenomenal, and swimming along beside her are two small whale calves.

The children return to shore, solid proof in hand. As an added twist to the story, they discover that it was their own grandparents who first sighted the Great Spotted Whale fifty years ago.

The Murrow's epic, wordless adventure is brought to life with Ethan's stunning graphite drawings, which convey the drama and haunting beauty of the ocean, and capture the majesty of this awe-inspiring creature."

Writing outcomes:

Narrative: Setting Narrative.

Non- Narrative: Newspaper Report.

In reading this half term, we are looking at 'The Train to Impossible Places'

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 focusing on place value, addition and subtraction as well as using our White Rose Maths booklets.

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 'Living things and their habitats'. We will be learning all about the different animal groups and how we can classify animals. We will be completing lots of fun and exciting practical lessons!

Our humanties focus for this half term is History. We will be learning all about the Anglo-Saxons whilst exploring the historic question 'How hard was it to invade and settle in Britain?'. The children will become historians by analysing and making inferences about Anglo-Saxon artefacts. 

This half term in music we will be learning all about changing pitch, tempo and dynamics through listening and creating Rock 'n' Roll songs.

Your child will have 2 PE lessons each week. Please also check the timetable for the class PE days.

This term, the children will be taking part in swimming lessons on a Wednesday afternoon. Please remember to bring in the children's swimming costumes and a coat as they will be walking to the swimming baths. 

On Monday's the children will be taking part in PE and they will be looking at improving their dodgeball skills as well as learning how to make bridges in gymnastics. 

 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. As well as this pupils will be given a maths callenge to complete in their scrap books with a family member at home!

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.