Welcome to the Summer Term in Year 4! Finally, the longer days are upon us and fingers crossed we get to see a sprinkle of sunshine soon too!

Before we begin, we would like to take the time to thank you all for your support throughout the Spring Term. We are so incredibly lucky to have such a supportive cohort of parents and carers! 

As we begin the final term of Year 4, we thought we would share with you an overview of learning for this term. We will continue to structure much of our learning around feature topics, however, some subjects will still be taught discretely, as they may not easily link into the overall theme. 

During the Summer Term, our main focus area will be based on Geography, and our new topic will be ‘Rio and Rivers’. We will be learning all about physical and human geography within South America, and comparing this with the United Kingdom. We will learn all about the parts of a river, about the different layers of the rainforest, as well as learning about Rio de Janeiro and comparing and contrasting life in Rio, to our own lives here in the UK.

We will be exploring the Amazon River and the Amazon Rainforest; finding out more about deforestation and the effects this has on the environment. This will link beautifully with our writing, as we will be publishing persuasive letters linked to preventing deforestation.

Later in the term, we will be utilising the pupil’s incredible imagination skills within our writing, as we will be creating setting descriptions based on the Amazon Rainforest.

Finally, our Geography topic will also link into our Art where we will look at the artists Andy Goldsworthy and Beatriz Milhazes, where our art will be inspired by nature and the bold, bright colours of Brazilian carnival!

PSHE

Later in the Summer Term, we will be teaching our Sex and Relationship programme (SRE) - ‘Growing Up’. This unit is part of our Personal, Social and Health Education, and will involve discussions to help children think about their ‘relationships’ and ‘changes’. A letter will be sent out in due course, inviting you to attend an information event regarding this subject.

TIMES TABLES TEST

On the week beginning Monday 3rd June 2024, the children will be completing their times tables check. Please continue to support your child in practising their timetables at home, using the links providing in their home learning.

The check is:

• done online using a computer or tablet
• can be done one pupil at a time, in groups or as a class
• will take no longer than 5 minutes
• will feature 25 questions and children will have 6 seconds to answer each question
• there’s no problem solving or division, just simple “3 x 4 = ?” type questions
• during the test, there will be an emphasis on the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 times tables, which will form the majority of the questions.

The results are for the teachers. There is no pass or fail mark. The results of the test are not published publicly. They are for us to use so that we can provide the appropriate support where necessary. Your child’s score will be given to you in a letter.

I am sure that along with you, we do not want our children worried or stressed about the check. The Government has called it a “check” rather than a “test” or “exam” for a reason.

REMINDERS:

HOME LEARNING

This will continue to alternate between MATHS and ENGLISH, set on a Monday, to be returned the following Monday via Teams. A learning log task will be set each term, where children are given two weeks to complete a mini project relating to our current topic, which will allow them to apply other curriculum skills. In addition to this, the children should also be practising their spellings or times tables weekly, ready for their test the following week. 

READING RECORDS
Thank you for your support with home reading and completing reading records. We are so impressed with the amount of home reading that the children are doing! Just a reminder, please can these be returned to school every Friday. 4W and 4F will have their library day every Friday and 4P will have theirs every Wednesday.

REMINDERS

P.E. – A reminder, that all children are to wear P.E. kit to school every Monday and Tuesday, as well as on their class P.E. day (see below for days).  For reasons of safety and personal hygiene, it is important that they are appropriately dressed for the P.E. activities. Children are encouraged to wear black shorts and or jogging bottoms; their hoodie; their house coloured PE t-shirt. Please ensure that your child has appropriate footwear, such as trainers.

Additional safety precautions during PE: Earrings need to be removed or covered with plasters or tape (to be supplied from home) and long hair needs to be tied back. No watches or rings please.

P.E. Days:  

4F, 4P and 4W- Monday and Tuesday.

We are confident that we will have a happy and successful Spring and Summer Terms; please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have via the office email:   solentjunior@thesolentschools.org

Yours sincerely,

The Year 4 Teachers

Miss Fear, Miss Parsons and Mr Dearing