Year 4 - Kestrel Class

Welcome to Kestral Class

Class Teacher: Mr Dickens

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Cooper and Miss Neilson

 

Welcome back to Term 2, Kestrels!

Reading

Our reading book this term will be 'Street Child', by Berlie Doherty. This story is about an orphan in Victorian London, based on a boy whose struggles inspired Dr Barnardo to found his famous children’s homes.  When his mother dies, Jim Jarvis is left all alone in London. He is sent to the workhouse but quickly escapes, choosing a hard life on the streets of the city over the confines of the workhouse walls. Struggling to survive, Jim finally finds some friends… only to be snatched away and made to work for the remorselessly cruel Grimy Nick, constantly guarded by his vicious dog, Snipe.

Writing

Our writing this half-term is going to focus on two different stories; "Jim: A cautionary tale" and "Leon and the Place Between."

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Jim: A cautionary tale. Jim was a little boy who had everything he could want — toys, treats, and kind friends who cared for him. One day, his nurse took him on a trip to the zoo. But Jim had a naughty habit — he didn’t like to listen and often ran away when he shouldn’t. At the zoo, even though his nurse told him to stay close, Jim slipped away and ran off by himself. Unfortunately, he wandered too near a lion’s cage. The lion escaped and, before anyone could stop it, poor Jim was eaten up! When his parents heard the sad news, they were upset — but they also said they had warned Jim many times to behave. So they told the other children to always stay close to their nurse and listen to grown-ups, so they wouldn’t end up in danger like Jim did.

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Leon and the place between. Leon loves magic more than anything! When he and his brothers and sister go to see a magic show, everyone thinks magic isn’t real — except Leon. He believes in it with all his heart. During the show, the magician asks for a volunteer, and Leon bravely steps onto the stage. With a swirl of the magician’s cape and a puff of smoke, Leon disappears… and finds himself in the Place Between — a wondrous, twinkling world where all the magic tricks are real! In the Place Between, Leon sees rabbits from hats, doves from scarves, and shimmering stars floating all around. It’s a land full of wonder where imagination comes alive. But soon, Leon must return to the real world — and when he does, he brings back a little bit of magic with him.

Through these texts we will be creating a vast array of extended pieces of writing, including apology letters, narrative poems, diary entries and even creating our own persuasive text based on a magic show. 

Maths

Through our Maths we will be exploring the differences between perimeter and area. Using our skills of multiplication to help us with finding the area of 2D shapes. Moving on from this, we will be focusing on our multiplication and division facts (crucial skills for us Year 4's). We will be working hard to enhance our fluency in recalling the multiplication facts up to 12 before looking at how we can multiply 2-digit by 1-digit numbers. Remember to use TTRockstars to practice these skills!

Science

Our science topic this term is, 'Electricity and Circuits'.  In this topic, the children will be learning about how to classify appliances as mains or battery-powered and explaining why. They will also be building their own circuits to learn how to test if a circuit works, and how open/closed switches control the flow of electricity. Lastly, they will be exploring what materials are conductors and insulators, investigating the role of these materials in different electrical circuits.

P.E.

P.E. will be on a Monday afternoon, where the children will be learning to play Tag Rugby. Please could the children come to school already wearing appropriate P.E. kits.

Forest School

We have made changes to how Forest School is run moving forwards. Classes in a year group will be enjoying a whole term of Forest School alternately.  This term, Kestrels will not have Forest School.  We will instead have a Forest School session each week in Term 3.

Please encourage your child to read every day at home! The more children read, the better they perform in all areas of their life.

Please contact our teaching team if you would like any support with reading at home.

 

Key skills

 

All children have log-in details for TTRockstars. We would encourage children to avoid/limit screen time; however, if they are using a device, please encourage the children to practice their key skills of times tables with websites like these.

The Term 2 vocabulary sheets below will help you to know more about what your child will be learning this term. 

Teachers can be contacted via Class Dojo if you have any questions or queries regarding the home learning. 

Please click here to access extra phonics, reading and spelling resources.

Please click here to access links to other useful home learning resources published online.

If you are unsure of any log in details please contact the teacher through Class Dojo or email office@pilgrims-way.kent.sch.uk