The Form IV year

English -

English in Year 4

Please note: the study of English is a constant exercise in revisiting and reinforcement. I do not expect the children to grasp new concepts in just one lesson; many of your children will need several sessions over a period of months and, in some cases, years before their understanding of a specific concept is secure; for this reason you will notice that many topics are revisited on a regular basis each year.

Reading

I continue to expect all children to read aloud to an adult at home each day. In addition to their school reading book, it will also benefit your child if you can share other reading material, e.g., bedtime stories, homework research tasks, newspaper articles, etc. Reading Diaries must still be used, however, as the year progresses, your child can take more responsibility for making their own entries - these still must be signed by an adult in order that we can properly monitor each child's reading progress.

Reading skills are constantly reinforced in all of my lessons with specific time being given to regular comprehension lessons - it is important that children can understand, comment and express opinions upon the various texts that they read rather than just read them aloud.

Spelling

The children will continue to follow the spelling programme that they were working on last year. Their mini dictation will take place during the same lesson each week - spelling homework will always be set as part of this session. Please remember that the spellings always follow a pattern, and although they may sometimes appear to be quite easy, it is still important that the children practise their spellings each day as the dictation gradually builds up, using previously learnt spellings. If your child is absent for a dictation session I will try to ensure that they are given their new spellings, however, if I do forget, please come in and ask for them.

Writing

The children will examine a variety of texts, which will support their own writing when experimenting with different genres and styles.

To support our reading and writing skills, we will use some of the following genres: -

Fiction and Poetry: historical stories and short novels; short stories that raise issues; stories by the same author; stories from other cultures; stories of imaginary worlds; play scripts; narrative texts; poems based on common themes; poetry which uses ‘old' language - archaic words; range of poetry in different forms (haiku, cinquain, monologues, prayers, epitaphs etc)

Non-fiction: a range of text types from reports in newspapers and magazines etc; range of information texts; newspapers, directories etc; persuasive writing - adverts, circulars, flyers; discussions texts.



In addition to the above areas we will also cover the following topics when looking at sentence structure and grammatical rules:

• Re-read own work for grammatical sense
• Investigate verb tenses
• Powerful verbs
• Investigate and identify adverbs - use with greater discrimination in own writing
• Use commas to mark grammatical boundaries within sentences
• Link use of adjectives to figurative writing
• Construct adjectival phrases
• Common and superlative adjectives
• Vocabulary changes over time, e.g. wireless, frock, gay etc
• Use apostrophe to mark possession
• Recognise how commas, connectives and full stops are used to join and separate clauses
• Understand how the grammar of a sentence is altered when the sentence type is altered
• Recognise adverbial phrases
• Identify commas, colons, dashes, hyphens, speech marks

Science –

Electricity, the human body, forces, materials including rocks and soils. This will be taught by both practical and class based tasks

History-

The Aztecs (see link on the right)

ICT

Writing for different audiences; using images to make repeating and symmetrical patterns; branching databases (asking questions requiring Yes and No answers); collecting and presenting information using questionnaires and charts; modelling effects on screen (Logo).

Mathematics

Using and applying

• Solve one- and two-step problems involving numbers, money or measures, including time; choose and carry out appropriate calculations, using calculator methods where appropriate

• Represent a puzzle or problem using number sentences, statements or diagrams; use these to solve the problem; present and interpret the solution in the context of the problem

• Suggest a line of enquiry and the strategy needed to follow it; collect, organise and interpret selected information to find answers

• Identify and use patterns, relationships and properties of numbers or shapes; investigate a statement involving numbers and test it with examples

• Report solutions to puzzles and problems, giving explanations and reasoning orally and in writing, using diagrams and symbols

Counting and understanding number

• Recognise and continue number sequences formed by counting on or back in steps of constant size

• Partition, round and order four-digit whole numbers; use positive and negative numbers in context and position them on a number line; state inequalities using the symbols < and >, e.g. -3 > -5, -1 < +1

• Use decimal notation for tenths and hundredths and partition decimals; relate the notation to money and measurement; position one- and two-place decimals on a number line

• Recognise the equivalence between decimal and fraction forms of one half, quarters, tenths and hundredths

• Use diagrams to identify equivalent fractions, e.g. ⁶/₈ and ³_/4, or ⁷⁰_/100 and ⁷_/10; interpret mixed numbers and position them on a number line, e.g. 3¹_/2

• Use the vocabulary of ratio and proportion to describe the relationship between two quantities, e.g. there are 2 red beads to every 3 blue beads, or 2 beads in every 5 beads are red; estimate a proportion, e.g. ‘about one quarter of the apples in the box are green'

Knowing and using number facts

• Use knowledge of addition and subtraction facts and place value to derive sums and differences of pairs of multiples of 10, 100 or 1000

• Identify the doubles of two-digit numbers; use to calculate doubles of multiples of 10 and 100 and derive the corresponding halves

• Derive and recall multiplication facts up to 10 × 10, the corresponding division facts and multiples of numbers to 10 up to the tenth multiple

• Use knowledge of rounding, number operations and inverses to estimate and check calculations

• Identify pairs of fractions that total 1

Caclulating

• Add or subtract mentally pairs of two-digit whole numbers,

e.g. 47 + 58,    91 - 35

• Refine and use efficient written methods to add and subtract two- and three-digit whole numbers and £.p

• Multiply and divide numbers to 1000 by 10 and then 100 (whole number answers), understanding the effect; relate to scaling up or down

• Develop and use written methods to record, support and explain multiplication and division of two-digit numbers by a one-digit number, including division with remainders, e.g. 15 × 9, 98 ÷ 6

• Find fractions of numbers, quantities or shapes, e.g. ¹/₅ of 30 plums, ³_/8 of a 6 by 4 rectangle

• Use a calculator to carry out one- and two-step calculations involving all four operations; recognise negative numbers in the display, correct mistaken entries and interpret the display correctly in the context of money

Understanding shape

• Draw polygons and classify them by identifying their properties, including their line symmetry

• Visualise 3-D objects from 2-D drawings and make nets of common solids

• Recognise horizontal and vertical lines; use the eight compass points to describe direction; describe and identify the position of a square on a grid of squares

• Know that angles are measured in degrees and that one whole turn is 360°; draw, compare and order angles less than 180°

Measuring

• Choose and use standard metric units and their abbreviations when estimating, measuring and recording length, weight and capacity; know the meaning of kilo, centi and milli and, where appropriate, use decimal notation to record measurements, e.g. 1.3 m or 0.6 kg

• Interpret intervals and divisions on partially numbered scales and record readings accurately, where appropriate to the nearest tenth of a unit

• Draw rectangles and measure and calculate their perimeters, find the area of rectilinear shapes drawn on a square grid by counting squares

• Read time to the nearest minute; use am, pm and 12-hour clock notation; choose units of time to measure time intervals; calculate time intervals from clocks and timetables

Handling data

• Answer a question by identifying what data to collect; organise, present, analyse and interpret the data in tables, diagrams, tally charts, pictograms and bar charts, using ICT where appropriate

• Compare the impact of representations where scales have intervals of differing step size

Drama:-
We will be working on our Pride of Being English special assembly. Lots of poetry.

Geography:-

We will be studying Australia, mapping and weather. Revision for the end of year exams will take place in class

French:-

This year, '08/'09, we will be covering places in France and Western Europe; festivals; pets; 'myself''; time; the family and the home. All French learning is naturally cumulative - past experiences are consistently revisited.

Art and Design:-

The human face will be studied, sketched and formed in clay. Artists such as da Vinci and Vermeer will be looked at and used as a base for much of the work. Links to history will include medieval jousting models and later, links to geography will be made through the making of a range of Australian mammals.