“A ship in port is safe…but that’s not what ships are built for

Dear Parents / Annwyl Rhieni,

Aims of Year 4 

• Developing confidence and independence in learning 
• Taking responsibility for their own work, learning and equipment 
• Participation and risk taking! 
• Prepare them for life in the upper juniors 
• Creativity and enjoyment in learning  

Class ‘Big Questions’ 

Autumn term – Why do we travel? 

Spring term – Can humans be replaced?

Summer term – Why do we push ourselves to the limit?

Working Together 

• This year is about building on all of the hard work the children do in Year 3 in starting to become more independent.  
• Encourage children to try to remember their homework, for example they should try to read independently without prompting or should remember to complete mental maths and spelling work before the hand-in day. 
• Ask children what equipment they might need for the following day – do they need a PE kit or their homework to go in? Remembering to bring in and take home their water bottle. 
• Support children in checking their equipment is correct – there’s always someone missing a random trainer!

Homework 

• The Year 4 children are set Mental Maths homework every Friday. Mental Maths books will be sent home weekly. Children will need to complete one test per week. 
• Please ensure Mental Maths books are brought in on a Friday so that they can be marked in class. 
• Children will be given a list of spelling words to learn at the start of term. These will be differentiated. The children will then be tested at the end of each term. 

Reading 

• We aim to listen to the children reading twice a week through guided reading and reading with an adult, but there will also be plenty of opportunity for the children to read across the curriculum as well.  
• Try to ensure your child reads every night, and please complete their reading diary.
  20 minutes aloud every day is the ideal! They can read from a range of sources, including Get Epic, especially if it interests them.  
• Encourage them to read a range of books including fiction and non-fiction. 
• Try to listen to your child read and ask them questions about the text. 
• Help them with the different skills of reading especially words that they may not be sure of the meaning, encourage them to use a dictionary to look the word up. 
• If your child finishes a book, please make a note in their diary so that we can get them changed as quickly as possible.  

Writing 

• Again, reading a variety of texts – the more children read, the more familiar they become with different text types, writing styles and widen their vocabulary and spelling knowledge.  
• Spelling – using learnt spellings and demonstrating a developing knowledge of spelling patterns, as well as encouraging the use of technical and subject specific vocabulary. 
• Handwriting and presentation – children are encouraged to write cursively and take pride in their work. Presenting it across the curriculum to as high a standard as possible.  

Mathematics 

• Children will further their times tables knowledge by working on the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 tables. Sumdog and J2Blast can be used to help and encourage with this.  
• Estimating, weighing, measuring are all good to discuss and do practically. If you are doing some baking or cooking for example, why not ask them to help out? 
• Money – using it in the shops, working out change, adding up bills, questions e.g. if a bag of bananas costs 56p, how much change will I get from £1? 
• Mental addition, subtraction, multiplication & division 
• Reading and writing numbers to 1000 and beyond 
• Doubling and halving, including decimals 
• Solving number and logic puzzles, such as Rubik’s Cube or word problems.  

Multilingualism  

• Children are taught about their Welsh heritage.
• Children are taught incidental Welsh (commands in Welsh in every lesson) 
• We have a 5-10 minute welsh drilling slot every day. 
• Emphasis on developing knowledge of the Welsh language.
• Children will begin to be introduced to incidental French 

How can you help? 

• Ask your children questions about what they have done, the blog can help with this.  
• Supporting homework and showing that you are interested in their learning, even ask them to teach you! 
• Good communication between school and home is vital. 
• Sleep is important as children need to fully rested and ready to learn. 

Other information 

• Parent Evenings – One in Autumn term and one in Spring term, reports Summer term. 
• PE days – PE will take place on a Tuesday (with Mr Humphreys) and a Wednesday.  
• Keep up to date on school blog at www.pontlliwprimary.co.uk 
• Class Dojo – children can take pictures of their work and send to parents if they wish.   
• Please can your child bring a pair of headphones to leave in their school tray, for their own personal use when using digital technology. 

 and finally… 

Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call or email the office and queries will be answered as quickly as possible. We hope your child enjoys their year in Year 4. 

Mr Hanford