Rabbit Class (Year 4) 2023 - 2024

Welcome to the class page for Rabbit Class.

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

Autumn 2

In English this half term, we will be looking at the book Leon and the Place Between by Grahame Baker-Smith

. This is a wonderful story about a young boy named Leon who goes on an amazing adventure after he volunteers to take part in a magic show.

In our writing lessons, we will be building up to writing a diary entry in role as Leon to describe all the amazing things that he has experienced in the 'place between'. We will be focusing on building different

sentence structures, using fronted adverbials to start our sentences and introducing commas to more complex sentences. 

In reading this half term, we are looking at Greek Myths by Jen Menzies. We will be reading lots of fantastic stories about the Greek gods and the tales that the Ancient Greeks used to tell about them.

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 multiplication and division, with a particular focus on our times tables! We will be learning how to multiply and divide by 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12, as well as how we can link these facts to other times tables that we already know. 

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 diving into animal classification! We will be learning all about vertebrates and invertebrates and how we can separate them into groups based on their characteristics. We will also be researching the amazing Jane Goodall and all her incredible findings about chimpanzees. 

In French, we will be learning how to describe different clothing, as well as its colours. 

Our humanties focus for this half term is Geography. We will be looking at different climate zones, time zones and biomes!  

This half term in music we will be exploring songs from 'ancient worlds'!

Your child will have 2 PE lessons each week. Their days this half term are Monday and Tuesday. Please ensure they come into school in their PE kit on these days. This half term we will be learning how to play football and handball. 

 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.

Thursdays- Each Thursday, your child will be given either maths or English homework (alternating weeks) which is posted online on our class Dojo page. Homework is expected to be in the following Tuesday. If you need a paper copy of the homework, please ask! . 

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.