Class teachers - Miss Lincoln, Mrs Morcom Lewis and Miss James

• January - Determination and Perseverance

• February - Honesty and Trust 

• March - Learning and Effort

This term, we will continue to build on literacy skills and learn new skills from the Literacy Tree scheme. We will start the term reading 'Varmints'.  Helen Ward and Mark Craste created this picture book to allow children to recognise that living things can be grouped in various ways, that environments can change, and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things. Pupils will be writing diary entries, persuasive posters, instructions, and letters and will finish the series of lessons explaining the life cycle of plants.  Throughout the book, pupils will plant seeds and dissect flowers to better understand the natural world. 

Once we have finished 'Varmints', Year 4 will read 'Baker by the Sea' by Paula White.  This is a story based on courage, loneliness and belonging. It will give pupils opportunities to develop cross-curricular skills linked with our Wonderful World focus: naming and locating counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time.  Pupils will write job applications and setting descriptions and finish by producing a tourist guide. 

On Mondays, all pupils will continue to participate in spelling sessions. 

This term is all about applying our knowledge to different contexts.  Pupils will start the term recapping multiplication and move on to using it as an inverse tool for division. Pupils will use these operational skills to answer procedural and reasoning style questions, developing their mastery and oracy skills.  As we continue to embed these skills, we will encourage children to learn their timetables at home, practising them in and out of order and using division facts.  This, in turn, will support Year 4 when they start learning about fractions, how to identify fractions, counting in fractional steps and dividing totals into equal parts.  Practising times tables daily will help pupils calculate problems more efficiently. In Year 4, pupils should know their 2,3,4,5,6,7 and 10 times tables.

This term, we will continue to use real-life contexts within our maths and encourage pupils to use manipulatives to support them. We will move on to Geometry and Shape, converting units of measurement, estimating and calculating area and perimeter, volume, weight, and time before developing knowledge and recall of 2D and 3D shapes. 

Our application of numeracy will be apparent during our challenge sessions. Our Wonderful World topic will allow pupils to use timing, statistical analysis, data collection, graph creation, and distance measurement to make valid numerical predictions. 

Our health and wellbeing sessions will take place on Fridays and will be a rotation of physical sessions, theory sessions, off site tennis and outdoor learning.  The theory, practical and outdoor learning will have common themes, building on one another over the weeks.  We will develop orienteering and map reading skills, working as a team, creating and completing obstacle courses whilst developing communication skills.  Pupils will be encouraged to take managed risks and develop their independence. 

During our challenge sessions, Year 4 will be learning about: Our Wonderful World.  Much of our learning this term will be practical, building on Years 4's love of problem solving and learning through 'doing'.  They will be designing and taking part in experiments, making predictions and using real life  items to retell knowledge and show understanding.  We will begin the term looking at Earth itself and how it is formed, moving onto tectonic plates and the effects they have on the natural soundings.  We will link in with local, national and international physical features.  After looking into Earth itself, we will move onto looking at local issues with flooding, threats to eco-systems, renewable energy models and how we can be more responsible and sustainable as a school, community, nation and world. 

PE will take place on a Friday's and children should wear their PE kit to school on this day.   In some weeks, Year 4 will be working on outdoor learning with Mr Murdoch; these sessions may require pupils to wear appropriate footwear.  Parents and pupils will be notified in advance of this. 

Children should bring a water bottle with them each day.

Children should bring their reading books to school every day. 

Download our School App via the Play or App stores - The School App will provide you with up to date information about activities and events at Oldcastle Primary School.  Please look out for our weekly newsletter issued via The School App and available on our website on a Friday afternoon.  The newsletter contains all forthcoming diary dates for the school.