Class 4. Mrs Davidson
Welcome to Year 4 and 5, where we love to learn and have fun together!
In our class we have our Deputy Head Teacher Mrs Davidson and our wonderful Teaching Assistant Mrs Brown!
Autumn term revolves around firmly embedding the skills we have learned so far and developing our stamina and perseverance in all tasks that we take on.
English: We are basing our shared reading and writing on our whole class text: ‘The Midnight Fox’ by Betsy Byers. Our exploration of this delightful text involves some lovely work on visualisation and discussing how the author has crafted the story; drama activities and children recognising and using specific vocabulary for effect. We are also working on some extended pieces of writing such as – diary and letter writing ‘in role’ as a character. We will also be researching information in order to create our own non-fiction ‘explanation’ writing linked to our history topic.
Maths: We are working on our understanding of place value and the four calculation methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This is followed by exploring ‘measurement, (length & perimeter)’. We are enjoying practising our ‘Rock Star’ tables; trying to improve our speed with our times tables. It is our aim to become more proficient / fluent at applying our maths skills in problem solving and mathematical reasoning.
Science: This term as we are studying ‘Animals including Humans’ – learning about the digestive system and teeth. This will be followed by ‘States of matter’ – in which we explore materials and how they can change state.
History: We are studying the ‘Ancient Egyptians’. We will explore: the Gift of the Nile; the iconic images of pyramids; the centrally important religious beliefs and the way we can work out details of people’s daily lives by interpreting the fragments of evidence that have survived. In our visit the Oriental museum, we will be travelling back in time to the land of the Pharaohs and experience what life was like thousands of years ago. We will take part in workshops around the life and death of the ancient Egyptians.
Design Technology: we are getting busy with our hammers and nails building bird boxes and feeders down in the woods, as part of our involvement in the John Muir award.
ART: we will be working with clay to sculpt one of the ancient Egyptian god’s heads. This will form the head of a canopic jar, which will be painted and decorated with hieroglyphics.
Spellings: Spelling rules are taught on a Tuesday, when we are given words which follow a particular rule, alongside some common exception words. Our test (using different words from that spelling pattern) will be on the following Tuesday. Our spellings are becoming much more complex so they must be practised even more often at home.
Reading: We have an ‘Accelerated Reader’ programme, whereby children take Reading Practice quizzes – which asks questions that measure their comprehension of a book. Children are encouraged to take these levelled reading books home and to read for a minimum of ten minutes every day. We have a dedicated ‘Guided reading’ session in class each day and whenever possible, we have individual ‘one-to-one’ readers – but children do need much more. Working both at home and in school will help your child improve his/her reading skills immensely. Thank you in advance for all your support at home.
Homework: is given weekly and should be returned on a Thursday. The work given always supports work done in class and will help children to consolidate learning. Please encourage children to complete homework on time each week.
As always, I would like to thank you for you continued support as your child progresses through this term. I have an open-door policy – so if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress or their well-being, please contact me to discuss them.
Many thanks,
Mrs A. J. Davidson