(Year 4) Pavo

Welcome to Pavo

Year 4

Mrs Batty – Class Teacher

Mr Delahaye – Learning Support Assistant 

Mrs Joul - HLTA (Friday afternoon)

Miss Oddy - Teacher 

Pavo Newsletter, January 2020                           Pavo… proud to show our potential.

Happy New Year and welcome back to school!

We hope that you have all had a great Christmas break and are ready for the new term ahead, we have lots to get on with. We have a small change for the children this term. Mrs. Meah will no longer be teaching the class first thing on a Wednesday, instead Miss. Oddy will be in class then until playtime. However, I will be in school if there is an important reason for speaking with me.

NOTE: Most children will find themselves working with a new partner for Literacy and Maths lessons. Guided Reading groups will not change.

What your child will be learning this term:

Literacy   This term our work links with Topic and will be centred on Ancient Rome or Rome today; work will be mainly non-fiction but we will have a story set in Ancient Pompeii after half term. We begin by learning and writing about the Colosseum. We will be learning about the Colosseum today, why and how it was built, what it was used for and how it has changed over time. Skills will include researching, note-taking and writing. Writing will include using varied sentence constructions and ways of organising information.

Spelling and Grammar work, plus Guided Reading, will continue within and alongside this work. Our class story is: The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket by John Boyne. Your child might wish to get their own copy from the library or shop if they are enjoying it.

Maths We continue learning, based around the Maths No Problem texts. We begin with subtraction methods, both written and mental which is linked to our understanding of addition and place value. This will be complemented by short teaching sessions, on number fluency and reasoning, each day. This roughly follows the No Nonsense Number planning.

PE We continue to have a Swimming lesson each Tuesday afternoon. This follows the same pattern as before, so lessons begin in Week 2. Please ensure your child has swim-kit and appropriate coat, footwear and hat for Tuesdays at school. Your child may have a healthy snack following the lesson. Treat weeks, where any reasonable size choice of snack may be brought, will continue to be the last week of swimming of each term (March and July sessions remain).

Our PE session is on Wednesday morning and will be taught by Miss Oddy. For this, your child will need an indoor kit. This means mud-free trainers, t shirt and shorts. Our focus will be on increasing our skipping skills, both in terms of speed and number of skipping styles. This is in preparation for the Y4 Skipping Festival – I will send you more information about this nearer the time. Each child has already been allocated their own skipping rope; this may be taken home to practice over the weekend but needs to be in school all week. We ask children to have kit in school on Monday because there may be timetable changes or an extra session if we need more practice!

Topic.   Our work this term is History based and about Ancient Rome/ Ancient Romans. As mentioned, it is also a focus in Literacy too.

Science.  This half term our unit is on States of Matter. This refers to solids, liquids and gases. We learn to identify the state of different materials and consider some things, like water, which exist in more than one state – as ice and steam as well as liquid. This work will link to Geography and Computing.

Computing will include ongoing Internet Safety and email, Using WORD and use of simple spreadsheets and some data-logging. Some of the data-logging will link to Science work.

PSHE/RE This will be taught by Mrs Joul again this term, following the Leeds scheme of work.

Art / DT Our work will include some focus on Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) and his work. We will also use mosaics as a start to our own work, drawing inspiration from Gaudi or Ancient Rome.

We will also be making muffins this term – Mr Delahaye will be working with small groups later in the term. I will contact you again about this since we usually ask for £1 to cover the cost of ingredients.

Music This half term we begin with a refresher on playing a Descant Recorder. Then we will use a Charanga unit called Glockenspiel Stage 2.

Homework: A task will usually be sent home on Wednesday and must be returned by Monday, at the latest. All children also have a weekly task on Times Table Rock Stars – this re-sets on Monday, first thing. In addition, it is expected that all children will read for 10-15 minutes a minimum of three times each week (See below).

Please note that children who are in Maths booster will also have a Monday homework which re-enforces their learning. This must be back in school by Wednesday when it is reviewed during the second booster session.

How you can help.

It is expected that all children will read for a short time each evening. This may be from a fiction or non-fiction book they have chosen. Encourage your child to make this part of their routine, perhaps at bedtime as a way of winding down. Also, please try to hear your child read at least one during the week. If your child is a competent reader, perhaps share reading a more challenging book, discussing new words and what they mean in context. You may find yourself reading together most nights if you find an interesting book! I will be sending a sheet home for them to write in the books they have read since September. This should be relatively easy to complete because they have been using reading journals to log reading. The list will need returning to school to be glued into their Literacy book. Thank you for your anticipated help in organising this!

• I cannot stress how important it is that your child keep acquiring and using new words correctly, within sentences. The level of Literacy required by the end of KS2 is high now. This means the more time we all spend demanding full sentences, which include a good level of language/vocabulary, will help your child. If they can speak it, they can begin to hold sentences in their heads and write it more easily.
• Maths fluency-wise, all Y4 children need efficient recall of multiplication and related division facts. Please start learning these again at home, ensuring your child is improving. Please remember that they will be tested on this later in the year. The government are testing all Y4 children; I want all our class to feel confident that this is something they can achieve well in so practice must start if it hasn’t already! I will be testing (paper copies) in class nearer half term.
• Making sure your child has somewhere quiet to do their homework and encouraging them to tell you about it would also be invaluable. If you feel your child is struggling with work set, ask them to speak to one of us before the weekend so we can help. All tasks are related to current or previous learning.
• Water bottles should be named and can be left in the classroom Monday to Friday; they do need a proper wash over the weekend. Often, children need a drink if they have been running around a lot at playtime and having their own bottle means they can access a drink quickly. Whilst we do have a few plastic cups, it is preferable for each child to have their own bottle. This is particularly important at this time of year when there are lots of colds and viruses about.
   
  Visits.

• The Y4 Skipping festival is on Wednesday 4^th March, during the morning. I will contact you about this nearer the time, to gain consents for participation and travel. The cost of the travel will be covered by school since it is a PE event. It was exciting last year and I’m certain many of your children will remember attending one in Y2.
• I am hoping to secure a date to go to Thwaite Mills, in May. Whilst there, we will participate in a workshop entitled Back to Nature. This will link in with our work in Science. Once I have a date, I will check on costings and let you know. I may also need a couple of willing volunteers to help with groups.
   
  We look forward to meeting all parents again over the coming weeks. If you have any queries or difficulties please come and talk with us, at the end of school is best, unless it’s urgent. You can also email me at rachel.batty@manston.leeds.sch.uk if that is more convenient.
   
  Rachel Batty, class teacher.
  Karl Delahaye, LSA.