Head Teacher: Miss Siobhan Leonard (BA Hons, QTS, NPQH)Address: Royds Lane, Rothwell, Leeds LS26 0BJTel: (0113) 2828182Website: www.rothwellstmarys.co.ukE-mail: head@rothwellstmarys.org.uk

Dear families,Welcome back after what we hope was a restful, safe and happy half term

break. Mrs Lacey and I have been blown away with the children’s first term in Year 4 and look forward to carrying on our fantastic journey

together. We hope that you are feeling refreshed after the break and are ready for a very busy and exciting half term!

Please do not hesitate to get in contact if you have any questions or concerns. Here is what to expect from the half term ahead:

RE in Year 4Our theme in RE is Trust in God. The children will explore the lives of Zechariah, Mary and Joseph and examine how their trust in God transformed their lives. We will look at how these choices led to the birth of Jesus and examine the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. We will also spend time learning about the season of advent.

Maths in Year 4In Maths this half term we will be continuing to explore the ‘Maths Mastery’ approach to Maths and will be continuing our work on Addition and Subtraction and starting our work on Multiplication and Division.We will continue to work on our fluency in maths for our Tables Check in June. The children are still expected to be using TimesTables Rockstars at home at least 3 nights a week (https://ttrockstars.com/login). I will challenge the children each week to beat my score and our very own ‘Rock Star of the Week’ will be crowned each Friday.

English in Year 4We will begin the half term taking part in the ‘100 Word Challenge’. The children will be working on their descriptive writing skills and will be writing a piece that creates suspense in 100 words or less. We will then be revisiting our History topic ‘The Stone Age’ from last half term and we

will be looking at explanation writing (How to make a Stone Age tool) and we will be putting ourselves in the shoes of a Stone Age child and we will write a diary entry from their perspective.

Reading in Year 4The children began reading in school last half term and this will continue in this half term too, you will be updated when reading books are going to start being sent home again. The children are encouraged to be using reading eggs (https://readingeggs.co.uk/) and to be reading their own choice of book at home frequently. The Reading Egg’s log ins will be sent home on the first day back to school.Our class text this half term is ‘The Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ and books will be provided for this text in school.

Spellings in Year 4Your child will be given new spellings each week to learn at home. Spellings are set Thursday to Thursday Children may also receive common errors spelling lists or subject specific lists to aid spelling and vocabulary development across subjects. We will have a dictation based spelling test every Thursday Morning.

Science in Year 4 In science we will be looking at the topic of Animals including Humans. We will be exploring the parts of the digestive system, looking at teeth in detail and will be constructing and interpreting a variety of food chains.

Geography in Year 4This half term our Geography focus will be The Environment: Weather. We will explore the different climate zones and regions in the world and then go on to discover different weather patterns around the world. Through this, the children will see that people have differing quality of life living in different locations and environments. Finally, we will do some comparison work between Nuuk in Greenland and Niamey in Africa.

Art and DT in Year 4We will be exploring colour in Art, focusing on drawing using pencil, ink and chalk. Our artwork will also link to our RE topic through Spirited Arts.

PSHE in Year 4Our module in PSHE is Drugs, alcohol and tobacco education. Children will find out information about different drugs and why people use them, we will explore the effects and risks of drinking alcohol and

behaviour related to drug use. Our Mindmate theme for this half term is Friends and Family.

General reminders: School starts for Year 4: 8:45am- Children will be dropped off at

the green gate and will walk round to the Year 4 classroom. School ends for Year 4: 3:05pm- Children will be dismissed at

this time from the green gate. Children must not bring and personal belongings into school.

Children should bring a water bottle and coat. Children are allowed to bring a fleece to wear inside our classroom too.

Children should come to school wearing their PE kits on Monday and Wednesday.

Our class page will continue to be updated regularly for you to see all the amazing things we have been doing each week. Please remember my

door is always open for you to share any concerns you may have.

Best wishes,Miss Stephens and Mrs Lacey