Class 15

Class Teacher: Miss Adams
Learning Assistant: Miss Crampton

Hello and welcome to Class 15,

I am very excited and looking forward to a fun, hardworking and successful term in Class 15. Our class page will include lots of important information about our upcoming learning so please remember to check back regularly for any updates. Keep your eyes peeled for any photos too!

In Class 15, we have very high expectations of exceptional behaviour and attitudes to learning. All children are expected to stay on green by following our school rules, listening carefully and trying their best. However, they should be striving for gold by showing the Ghyllgrove Learning Powers. You should aim to be getting your green certificates to take home every Friday to show how fabulous you have been at school.

Curriculum

In Maths, we will begin by exploring numbers with up to 4 digits, learning about place value and our number system, and using this learning to compare and order numbers up to 10,000. As we move through the term, we will be developing our mental strategies and written methods of addition and subtraction. Later in the term, we will explore multiplication and division using a range of equipment and representations. Throughout the term, we will also be practising our new times tables for Year 4 (6, 7 and 9, 11 and 12) as well as consolidating our previously learnt times tables from Year 3. Developing these key number skills are vital as they provide a foundation for all other Maths learning to be built upon so practising these skills at home will really help you to make excellent progress this year. Throughout our lessons, we will tackle a range of problem solving and reasoning activities which will allow us to apply all of our learning from this term.

During our English lessons, we will be reading ‘The Iron Man’, an exciting novel written by Ted Hughes. This wonderful story will help us with our writing, as we write character and setting descriptions, using high quality vocabulary to construct interesting expended noun phrases. Later in the term, we will learn about conjunctions and adverbials to extend our ideas, add more detail to our writing and create cohesion between our sentences. We will apply these skills to write persuasive letters and diary entries linked to ‘The Iron Man’. Also, we will be practising a range of reading skills during our Guided Reading and VIPERS sessions as well as working on our handwriting, spelling, punctuation and grammar too. Remember to read regularly at home so you can move along our reading game!

We are very excited about our topics for this term which are ‘Romans’ and ‘Mad Scientists’. During the first half term, we will explore what Britain was like before the Romans arrived, their failed and successful invasions and the changes they made. We will discover what made the Romans so powerful and how they have impacted history and our lives today. After half term, we become scientists! This is a thrilling topic full of discovery. We investigate the three states of matter, explore the water cycle and have a go at our own kitchen chemistry investigations! Throughout the term, we will develop our sketching skills during our art lessons and apply these to create our own pieces of artwork.

Our PE lessons will take place on Friday. PE kits (white t-shirt, red shorts and trainers) are to be kept in school and will be sent home half-termly to be washed. Please can you include a cold weather P.E. kit (plain joggers and sweatshirt) as a number of PE lessons will take place outside.

Swimming

Class 15 will be swimming on Thursday afternoon. Children will need to come to school with a separate bag for their swimwear, towel and hat. We walk to and from the Basildon Sporting Village, rain or shine, so ensure your child is prepared with the appropriate outdoor clothing and spare footwear if necessary.

With so many exciting things going on in school, there will be lots to talk about on those journeys home. Make sure you’re impressing your parents and telling them all about your learning.

Homework

All of the staff in Class 15 will work to ensure everybody does their best this year. We will regularly hear the children read and set them times table challenges too, so look out for these in the Home School Diaries.

In order to help your child achieve and accelerate their progress, we ask for the following commitments from you at home too:

• Listen to your child read at home at least 3 times a week and record this in your child’s Home School Diary. Please take the time to put a small note and we will also do the same every time we hear your child read in school.
• Practise your times tables and spellings regularly.
• Complete the weekly homework task, which will be set on Friday and must be submitted by Tuesday.

We are incredibly lucky to have access to some fantastic online resources, which will also support their learning too. Your child’s login details are included at the front of their Home School Diary.

Times Table Rock Stars is a fun and challenging online programme designed to help pupils master their times tables by playing the different games and answering different questions to improve their Rock speed and status. Children will earn coins for correctly answered questions which they can use to improve and upgrade their Rock Star Avatar. Just go to https://play.ttrockstars.com and use the login information inside your Home School Diary.

Please remember, if you have ANY concerns during the year then come and see us. We will always help you if we know about anything that is worrying you. We want to keep everybody at Ghyllgrove safe, happy and achieving.

Miss Adams