Valiant Vipers (Year 4)

Spring 1 Newsletter 

Dear Parents/Carers,

Happy New Year to all the Valiant Vipers parents and carers.

I can honestly say that I never seen a class come back from Christmas with such a settled and mature mindset. This term is obviously going to be a good one.

Mrs Winson will continue to teach Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings in order for Mr Reardon to support Mrs Pymm in running the school.

Our topic this half term is entitled ‘Going Underground’ and will focus on the local history of coal mining. The children are already highly engaged in this and there are some extremely exciting learning opportunities planned.  

In English, we will be learning to write instructions and non-chronological reports

Our Maths lessons we will continue to deepen our understanding multiplication and division, as well as fractions.

 PE

Our PE days are on Mondays and Wednesdays, led by our specialist coach-Bob, as well as Mr Reardon. Please make sure that your child comes to school in their P.E kit on these days. At the moment we will all be doing PE outside wherever possible.

 Reading

The benefits of reading are almost endless and it is the most important aspect of school: it improves focus, memory, empathy, and communication skills. It can reduce stress, improve your mental health. Not to mention the fact that reading is a fundamental skill for life.

Please remember to keep a record of the number of reads your child is completing, by recording in their reading diary. These will be collected in and counted every Friday.

Olympic medals are available for those children who read regularly at home:

Bronze- 30 reads

Silver- 70 reads

Gold- 130 reads (we actually have someone who’s already achieved this!)

Platinum- 200 reads. An extra special prize be award for this.

The children will read ‘Ironstone Valley’ by Theresa Tomlinson as the class novel with Mrs Winson.

We also will continue to read ‘The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle’ by Victoria Williamson.

Science
In Science we will focus on a unit entitled ‘Animals including humans.’ You may have already heard about the digestive system lesson!

Online Safety

Online Safety is a substantive part of the curriculum and all computing lessons will begin with a discussion around it. This half term we will explore the importance of being respectful when contributing online.

Homework

Your child will continue to receive homework every Friday which is to be handed in by the following Wednesday.  Spelling books will go home on Friday night so that you can see how your child has done in the test but these then must come back to school with your child on a Monday morning.

If you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to help then please do not hesitate to ask.            

Kind regards,

The Y4 team

Mr Reardon, Mrs Winson, Mrs Lodge and Mrs Armstrong

Curriculum Web Spring 1

Please take a look at the wonderful things we will be learning about this half term