(Year 4) Pavo

Welcome to Pavo

Year 4

September 2019

Mrs Batty – Class Teacher

Mr Delahaye – Learning Support Assistant 

Mrs Joul - HLTA (Friday afternoon)

Mrs Meah - Teacher (Wednesday morning)                          

                                                                                       Pavo… proud to show our potential

Pavo Newsletter, September 2019.                        

                                                  Pavo… proud to show our potential.

We hope that you have all had a great Summer break and are ready for the new term ahead, we have lots to get on with. Your child’s teacher is Mrs Batty, helped by Mr Delahaye who will mainly support in-class and help pick-up children who need a little more help in Maths before the next lesson. He will also take some small groups and work with individuals for ALK, Literacy and reading skills.

Mrs Meah will be working with the class first thing on Wednesday morning – teaching one of their Computing lessons during Management time. This half term, the children will also be taught by Mrs Cartwright for most of Wednesday afternoon, using lessons prepared by me. After the October break, I will be in class again.

PPA time and French lessons are covered by Mrs Joul on Friday afternoons.

What your child will be learning this half term:

Literacy   We begin by writing recounts about something which happened during our break from school. Following that, we will be using an animation, Tadeo Jones, as the basis of both fiction and non-fiction work. After half term, we will focus on a non-fiction text about Ancient Egypt and a play, set in Ancient Egyptian times.

Spelling and Grammar work, plus Guided Reading, will continue alongside this work. Guided Reading follows the same pattern as last year but the groups have been changed so that children are working alongside different people from last year.

Maths Maths

In addition, we will also be having short teaching sessions, on number fluency and reasoning, each day. This roughly follows the No Nonsense Number planning.

PE We will be having Swimming lessons each Tuesday afternoon. This will follow the same pattern as last year; lessons begin in Week 2. As before, 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. As with last year, snacks may include fruit, whole or chopped, or no more than two plain biscuits (rich tea/digestive) or a squeezy fromage frais. Whilst there are other healthy options, we have stuck to these to keep things straightforward and fair between the Y3 and Y4 classes. Treat weeks, where any reasonable size choice of snack may be brought, will continue to be the last week of swimming of each term (in December, March and July).

On Thursday afternoons this half term, the children will have a coach teaching their PE lesson. For this, your child will usually need an outdoor kit. This means trainers, t shirt, sweatshirt / lightweight zipped jacket, and shorts / track-pants or joggers. If the weather is poor, we will stay indoors.

It would be sensible to bring PE kits to school each Monday morning and to leave them in school until Thursday or Friday afternoon. This will ensure that you child always has a pair of trainers on-hand in school. Some days, we may have a short break to run around the edge of the field and it is important that your child has supportive footwear.

Topic.   Our work this half term is Geography based and includes some map and atlas work linked to Egypt and the River Nile. We will consider the present and historic presence of the River Nile as we lead into our History work. After half-term, we switch to work on Ancient Egypt.

Science.  This half term our unit is Sound, followed by a unit on Electricity

Computing will include Internet Safety, use of email/ Outlook,

PSHE/RE This will be taught by Mrs Joul this year, following the Leeds scheme of work. Lessons will alternate each Friday, ensuring good coverage of all the required work.

Art / DT Our work will focus, in part, on the work of leading sculptor of abstract expressionism David Smith.

Music This half term we will use a Charanga unit called Mamma Mia, after half term our focus will be on the Christmas production.

Homework:

• This will usually be sent home on Wednesday and must be returned by Monday, at the latest.
• Reading diaries will be sent home for all children. I will explain to your child how I expect this will be used and will include a sheet inside the cover for you to read. 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 once 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! The diary is to track reading progress; your child can log the start and finish date of books they read. As a minimum, I will expect to see a short amount of writing which explains what the book was about and whether it was enjoyable or not, you might also mention if it was a shared book or an independently read one. Additionally, some children might wish to use it to copy down useful words and phrases they meet, to “Magpie” ideas for future use when writing in other contexts. Pictures and any other relevant work will always be welcome too. We will ask to see your child’s diary at intervals across the half term, so please keep it in your school bag just in case! We have books at school that may be borrowed, you do not have to start buying lots.
• All Y4 children need efficient recall of multiplication and related division facts. Please start practising these again at home, ensuring your child is improving. Times Table Rockstars homework will be set each week. It is important that you do not help your child online – they must do this for themselves. Progress is monitored and there will be a paper test each week – this will be easy if your child practises at home too.

How you can help: 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. Together, we must help our children grow confident learners who know how to organise themselves to get tasks done and when to ask for help.

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.

Visits. Our first visit is to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Wednesday 18^th September. A letter is being sent out along with the form you need to fill. Payments will need to be made via Parent Pay. If you have any problems with this, please go to the office. If your child is entitled to a free school meal, we can order a packed lunch from the kitchen. This comes with a drink, but you may wish to send your child with a second drink or their water bottle. If you would like your child to have a school packed meal, please let us know as soon as possible so we can get this ordered for you.

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.