Boreal Owls Y4

This week's learning   

English

Our writing this week will be based on writing up and presenting our Big Science Investigations. The children will be writing as part of a team, as well as writing as an individual. 

Spellings

Maths

Guided Reading

Topic

Science

RE

We will be continuing with our learning on Christianity and Judaism. 

Homework

Hello everyone and welcome to Year 4!

Year 4 - Boreal Owls

Teacher: Miss Lois MacDonald 

TA: Mrs Alison Wheeler

Dear Boreal Owls and Parents,

 Welcome to Term 5 (Summer Term 1) of Year 4. I am looking forward to delving into the learning this term with the class and starting our learning journey together.

The topic for this term is All Around the World - geography focus. I am very much looking forward to starting this topic with Boreal Owls. For more information about the topic, how we will be exploring this and what other areas of learning we will be covering this term, please see the topic web, at the top of the page, under Term 5 Important Information. 

Important information

• The children need to enter the school through the new green gate in the corner of the car park. The arrival time is from 8:45 am until 9:05 am. 
• Collection time for the children with no sibling in school is at 3:15 pm. If your child does have a sibling in the school or is travelling home on the bus, the collection time is 3:30 pm. We have done this to reduce the number of people present at collection time. 
• The children will have PE on Tuesday afternoons with Mr Sykes. Children will need to come to school in their PE kit for the foreseeable future. Also, as it will still be cold, please make sure the children are sent in with plenty of warm layers. 
• Homework will be set and handed out on a Friday and should be completed and returned by Wednesday. When the homework is completed, the children return it to the classroom where they have to tick their name off a checklist once they have handed it in. On a Wednesday, the children will go through their homework together as a class, taking part in peer and self-marking. 
  • Each week the children will be set 1 main piece of homework. The main piece of Homework will either be related to Maths, English/Reading, Handwriting or chosen from the homework choosing grid. This will change from week to week and will be based on learning completed that week and also on how the children have coped with the weeks learning. I want to ease the children back into Homework as they have done an awful lot of home learning in recent months, due to covid. 
  • The children will be given a set of spellings each week that they will practise in class, as well as being taught the Year 4 spelling rules. To reduce stress and pressure around spellings, the children will not be set spelling practise as homework.

• The children have been given reading journals to record their daily reading entries. I am trying to increase the children's involvement in reading, as well as trying to spark a sense of enjoyment when reading. When recording in their reading journals, I would like them to think about what they have read and how it has made them feel. I want them to share their excitement and wonder about the books they are currently reading or have read in the past. The reading journals are for the children and is there to record their thoughts about a book. 

• Times Tables Rockstars is a platform that we are using to help the children practice their times' tables. We use this alongside written times tables tests and maths lessons based around specific times tables. The Times Tables Rockstars platform enables me to see how frequently the children are practising their times' tables but also how quickly they are able to complete the questions. As part of the Year 4 curriculum, the children will take part in an end-of-year times table test in June and this test will be on a computer. By getting the children to practice on Times Tables Rockstars, it will get them used to the computer format of the times tables but will also get them used to the speed at which they need to answer the questions. 

If you have any questions or wish to discuss anything with me, please let me know. 

Kind regards,

Miss Lois MacDonald