Welcome to Y4 Thor

Teacher: Mrs Kelly

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Simpson

Class email address: RSPThor@southbankprimary.co.uk
 

Thor class has an exciting year ahead, learning lots of new things and exploring a wide range of topics. Our topics this year are ‘Invasion’, ‘Blue Abyss’ and ‘Bottoms, Burps and Bile’. Along side our classroom learning, we will also be embarking on various trips and visits outside of our school to further our learning and enjoy alternative educational experiences.
Thor class are a lovely, lively, and enthusiastic group of children who love to learn and share their thoughts and ideas. We will be enjoying written and practical based tasks throughout our year and can’t wait to share our work with you.
Please check our page regularly to see all the wonderful things that we have been doing and share our learning journey with us.

Our Learning

Reading

Children will continue to build on their existing reading skills by working on their fluency, pace and tone when reading. They will understand how to read in the ‘author’s’ voice and how to use punctuation and natural pauses for emphasis when reading or performing aloud.
They will also develop their comprehension skills by completing retrieval and inference questions as well as learning how to summarise a text and make accurate predictions. They will also expand and broaden their vocabulary through exposure of new words and learning techniques to allow them to discover the meaning of new vocabulary.

The children will explore a range of texts such as narratives, non - chronological reports and poems. 

Writing

The children will learn how to identify text types and how to produce writing to suit a variation of writing styles. They will complete research tasks to widen their knowledge and create multiple pieces of effective and exciting writing.
We are also currently developing our spelling, punctuation and grammar skills and do this through learning and understanding the place value of punctuation and grammar. Children learn how to create an independent clause and the importance of a subject and a verb and how to identify different word classes.

This half term, Thor class are developing their skills in order to write a set of instructions. They will understand the importance of instructions and where they would find a set of instructions. They will learn how to use key writing features such as imperative verbs, adverbials of time, adverbials of manner and how to write in the present tense. Each child will develop their own set of skills to confidently and independently produce their own set of instructions. 

Maths

In year four, we are working towards a times tables test that takes place in the summer term. Therefore, we practice our times tables daily and have a focused times table of the week where we complete various challenges and learn strategies to help us learn and remember them.

This half term we are focusing on measure (length and perimeter), order and compare fractions, simplify fractions, converting fractions and identifying equivalent fractions. 

The children also use programmes on their IPad’s such as times tables rockstars, freckle, hit the button and purple mash to enhance their mathematical skills. We also complete regular arithmetic challenges.

Science

Our topic in science this half term is ‘The Digestive System'. Children will be able to describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans. They will follow the journey of a cracker and see how it passes through each part of the digestive system and discover what happens to the cracker as it makes its way through the body. 

Creative Curriculum

River Tees  – The children in Thor class have been selected to take part in a programme that enables them to learn all about the River Tees. So far, the children have had the opportunity to visit a section of the river and create some poetry of their own inspired by the river. 

Computing – This half term, children will be exploring and expanding their skills on coding by completing a variation of activities. 

PE – The focus for the children this half term is rounders. Children will develop skills in throwing, catching, batting and fielding. They will also build on teamwork, communication and coordination skills.

PSHE – The focus for these lessons over this half term is ‘Relationships'. This explores the celebration of each individual and their rights and responsibilities and understanding of a positive relationship. 

We Are A Rights Respecting School

In our school we explore our rights across all areas of our school through our learning and social times. We make links in our lessons and explain why or how they relate to a certain right.

We also have a ‘Right of the Half Term’. This is where we dedicate time in our week to explore a specific right in detail.
This half term, our focus is Article 32 – Protection from Harmful Work. Here, we will explore protection and safety. 

Key Information:
 The children will take part in Kidz Konnekt  sessions every Thursday and should wear outdoor clothes that are comfortable and practical. Please send your child with clothing that is suitable for all weather conditions as lots of activities take place outside.

PE lessons take place every Friday. All children have been provided with a school PE kit and will change in to this on their PE day. 

Key Dates:

Book Fair - Wednesday 17th - Monday 22nd April 

Carlton Residential - Wednesday 1st May - Friday 3rd May 2024 

May Half Term - 27th May - 31st May. Children return to school on Monday 3rd June.