Welcome to Year 4 - Dowson Primary School

Welcome to Year 4
Upper School
Miss Sankey
Miss Hodgkinson
Mrs Feakes
Mrs Layfield
Dowson Primary School
• Same school just different building
• Continue values from Lower School
• Build upon foundations started over last 4 years and
add the next level.
Partnership + Communication
• We are all striving for the same outcome – the
children learning and developing morally and socially.
• Morning and hometimes
• Communication – 2 way process
• Please keep school regularly informed of any changes
or events etc. that may affect your child in school, by
letter, home-school book, dropping in or a phone call.
How we teach Reading…
Within Year 4 the main source of teaching and hearing reading comes within the
daily Guided Reading session.
• 25 minutes
• Small groups- at the appropriate book band
• Children will work to develop their decoding skills and their comprehension skills
by answering a set of questions about the book.
• Read independently or with an adult.
• Class teacher at least once a week.
We encourage reading for enjoyment (daily reading time) and would also openly
encourage the children to read a range of texts such as magazines, comics or
newspapers (First News).
Home-readers: Reading for enjoyment. Quality not quantity. Emphasis on
questions to check comprehension (see sheet-KS2 reading prompts).
Homework
• Every three weeks, and get two weeks to complete.
• Alternates between Maths/Literacy focus and Learning Logs.
• Learning Logs
– greater ownership within a directed theme
– Research independently
– Follow own interests
– Present in creative way
– Gallery
• Maths/Literacy focus
– Review a strategy taught in class that week
– Extra practise of other objectives at their level
• Spellings and mental maths facts will be given out with the homework. The emphasis,
however, will be on the children embedding these spellings and applying their maths facts
into their daily work, and not just learning them for a one-off test.
Ways to help at home…
English
• Spelling expectations
– Random checks of high frequency words
– Spelling tests in homework
– Practise at home
• Reading
– Whenever possible, listen to your child read on a daily basis. Discuss what they
have read, asking questions about the story, punctuation, sentence types, retell
events, predict what will happen next etc. (KS2 Reading Prompts)
• Any other help such as writing recounts of days out, diaries, letters,
emails, postcards or finding extra information on topics from the library
or internet would also be really helpful.
Ways to help at home…
Maths
• Mental maths strategies and quick recall of facts (see sheet-Progression in
mental calculation skills).
- card games, slap/clap/click, counting in the car.
• Times tables - the on-going learning of multiplication tables and related division facts
is vital. All children need to know their tables to be able to use and apply this
throughout the Maths curriculum.
• Any other help such as calculating change when shopping, telling the time
and exploring measures at home, would be very helpful.
Independence
• Organisational Skills- Taking responsibility
Encourage your child to organise their own things for school: homework,
P.E./swimming kit, coats and lunch bags/money.
• Routine
Try to provide regular times to complete homework e.g every Friday afternoon.
Daily practise of times table facts and spellings.
• Early Bird work
Please ensure your child is at their classroom door for 8.50 when the bell rings.
Uniform
• School uniform is the same as in the lower school.
Some reminders:
• Please name all personal items: uniform, coats, bags, lunch boxes, shoes,
P.E kit so that any lost property can be quickly returned.
• Independence – jumpers.
• Jewellery should not be worn in school (inc. friendship bands) – only
small stud earrings.
• Long hair to be tied back at all times & we advise hair gel is not
necessary.
• Wellies will be required periodically throughout the year.
• Please keep your child’s class teacher informed of any problems
regarding uniform.
P.E. Kit
As with the school uniform, P.E. kit is the same as in the lower school.
• P.E. Kit – stay in school all week (days TBC)
• Consisting of:
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•
•
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Dark blue T-shirt & dark blue shorts;
Sensible trainers;
Plain dark sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms.
No earrings or watches
• Independence.
Swimming
• Year 4 will be starting free swimming lessons in September. This will replace a P.E.
Lesson and will be every week unless we notify you of any changes.
• All children will need a full swimming kit. The children will not be able to swim without
a full kit.
• Girls will need an one piece swimming costume, with a swimming cap.
• Boys will need to have trunks or swimming shorts no longer than thigh length. Any
boys with long hair will also need a swimming cap.
• No jewellery is allowed. Please could you leave earrings out on the swimming day please.
• Goggles are also not allowed.
• These are the baths rules, not ours and are very strictly applied. We want all the
children to get the opportunity to participate so please follow the guidelines.
Enhanced Curriculum
• Sporting Opportunities through School Sports
Partnership
• Wonderful Wednesdays
• Educational visits
• Using school grounds, local environment
• Extra curricular activities (sports, chess, Eco etc)