Year 4

Year 4 News

Spring 1

Assalamu Alaikum and a very warm welcome to Year 4 for Spring 1!

We are excited to begin the Spring 1 term with your children and look forward to another enjoyable, successful, and productive term, inshallah. This part of the school year is a wonderful opportunity for pupils to build on their progress from last term, continue developing good routines, and explore new and exciting learning topics together.

Below you will find information about the curriculum for this term, as well as key guidance to support your child’s learning at home.

English

In English this term, we will continue developing the children’s spoken language, reading, and writing skills. Alongside learning new spelling, punctuation, and grammar, the children will be introduced to engaging writing contexts through high-quality core texts.

Our main text this term will be Leon and the Place Between by Angela McCallister, which will inspire a range of exciting writing activities linked to fantasy and imagination.

In Guided Reading, we will continue to explore Matilda by Roald Dahl, helping children to develop their comprehension skills, infer meaning from the text, and foster a lifelong love of reading.

Home Support

Reading:
Please encourage your child to read aloud and share their books with you for at least 10 minutes each day. Remember to sign their reading record and ensure their reading journal is completed weekly.

Spellings:
Children should practise their spellings daily using the READ, COVER, WRITE, CHECK method. Encourage them to learn the meaning of new words, as this helps to build vocabulary and deepen understanding.

Maths

We are following the Singapore Maths approach, which builds strong foundations and deepens understanding. This term, our focus will be on a spring recap of all maths areas taught so far.

As part of their preparation for the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) in the summer term, children are expected to know all multiplication and division facts up to 12 × 12. Regular practice at home, including the use of online tools, will help children build fluency and accuracy.

Science

Our Science topic this term is Sound. Children will:

In this unit children will work towards answering the Quest question, ‘How can we make different sounds?’ Children will identify and describe different sounds.
They will learn that sounds are produced by vibrations and that these vibrations travel from the source of the sound through a variety of materials to the ear.
Children will use duffs and household materials to investigate the range of ways of producing sounds and how the pitch and volume of a sound can be altered.

This will be an engaging and hands-on topic, giving children plenty of opportunities to investigate, question, predict, and reason scientifically.

History (Topic)

In History this term, Year 4 will be exploring the question “Who were the Romans?”.

They will look at such questions as:

If you were Julius Caesar, would you have invaded Britain in 55 BC? (cause and consequences / significance of events/people)
Why did the Romans invade in 43 AD? (similarities and differences)
How did Celtic people live? (evidence)
Who was Boudicca and why do we remember her? (significance of events/people)
What did Boudicca really look like? (interpretation)

This topic will further expand after the break.

Computing

This term, Year 4 will be focusing their Computing lessons on Scratch 2.0, a fun and child-friendly programming platform developed by MIT. Scratch uses drag-and-drop blocks rather than typing code, which makes it ideal for building confidence and learning key computing skills in an engaging way.

What will children be learning?

Through Scratch, pupils will learn how to create their own:

animations
interactive stories
games
quizzes and simple simulations

They will develop important skills such as:

sequencing instructions
using repetition (loops)
making decisions (if/then commands)
debugging (spotting and fixing mistakes)
logical thinking and problem solving

Islamic Studies and Arabic

Children will continue revising surahs and duas from the Qur’an and learning Arabic with our specialist teachers. This will support their spiritual growth and deepen their understanding of language and faith.

Homework

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and IXL. It is designed to reinforce learning from lessons and provide valuable practice. Please establish a consistent routine at home and encourage your child to complete tasks to the best of their ability.

School Uniform & PE Kit

Please ensure that all items of clothing are clearly labelled with your child’s name. Year 4 PE sessions will take place on Tuesdays. On these days, children should come to school wearing their PE kit.

Teachers

This term English will be taught by Ust. Sayed, Maths will be taught by Ust. Bas, with Ust. Cassim teaching the foundation subjects.

Ustadah Mughal

Ustadha Mughal is a valued learning support assistant who will be working with Year 4 this year, inshallah. We are pleased to have her supporting the class

Ustadah Haque

Ust Haque is an experienced TA and she will be working closely with our students this year as well as helping others in the classroom with their maths and foundation subjects.