Team 4 2024 - 2025

Welcome to Team 4

The adults who help us in Team 4 are:

Mr Greenway - Class Teacher

Mrs Hilton - Teaching Assistant

Miss Probbing - Teaching Assistant

To keep up to date with the latest news and work from Team 4 follow us on Twitter @PrimaryKingsway, @KingswayYear4  and on Class Dojo.

Reading

Reading is essential to all curriculum areas and we spend time focusing on reading every day. We use VIPERs from the Literacy Shed which are comprehensions. In our comprehension, we focus on understanding of vocabulary, retrieving information, summarising, giving evidence and inference. Some children also have access to our phonics lessons, Read Write Inc, and our computer-based literacy programme IDL.

Children also experience the joy of reading through a whole class novel. The class novel is a time to come together around a powerful, relevant text that engages the children and promotes discussion. In Team 4, we read a range of exciting texts. We especially enjoy our quiet time reading at the end of the day to wind down and relax. We also love visiting our school library and choosing a book that is purely for reading for pleasure.

Reading at home is essential. Reading books go home on a Friday and are swapped weekly. Children are encouraged to read at least 3 times a week and to record their own thoughts, feelings and ideas about what they have read in their reading records as well as comments made by adults at home.

Writing

Our writing lessons follow Pathways to Write, which is a programme of study designed to empower children to become confident and successful writers. The units of work centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts, with a wealth of both fiction and non-fiction writing opportunities. 

Mathematics

Mathematics lessons follow White Rose Maths, which aims to develop children’s mathematical fluency and their deep, long-term and adaptable understanding of maths. The children can then use this knowledge and understanding to solve a range of maths problems. White Rose Maths adopts a concrete – pictorial – abstract method that enables all children to access learning and lessons are differentiated so that all children achieve. To supplement maths lessons, we also dedicate time each week to revisit skills previously taught through Flashback Four activities which are completed three times per week. 

Times Tables

In Team 4, we have a big focus on the times tables up to 12x and spend time each day practising this. We use Times Table Rock Stars daily to encourage our learning as well as one arithmetic lesson a week focusing on a particular times table and understanding the facts and mastery of this. The children are encouraged to practise times tables at home with a weekly homework sheet as well as logging on to TTRS at home.  We also have daily fluency seessions built into our maths lessons to improve the speed, recall and accuracy of key facts which we then test on Fluency Friday.

The Wider Curriculum

In Team 4, children are taught a broad and balanced curriculum that includes all of the National Curriculum subjects. Over the course of the year, different subjects are prioritised at different times to ensure coverage and maximum attainment in all areas. The curriculum is exciting, dynamic and has been designed to build upon the children’s prior knowledge. 

Autumn 1:

This half term, Team 4 will be studying the fictional text Gorilla by Anthony Browne. Pupils will be introduced to a rich and varied vocabulary in order to support expanding their sentences with modifying adjectives as well as creating a more extended narrative structure. The unit will conclude with them writing a fictional fantasy narrative based on the story of ‘Gorilla’.

In maths, we will be exploring place value and addition and subtraction by following the school’s concrete, abstract and pictorial approach. We will use reasoning and problem solving to apply our learning. 

In Science, we will be learning about animals including humans. Specifically, the children will focus on food chains and food webs, the human digestive system and the types and functions of teeth. In Computing, we will learn about networks and the internet, including how to stay safe online. In our Jigsaw lessons, we will be learning about “being me in my world”, looking at citizenship in our school as well as rights, responsibility and democracy in our world. In RE we are focusing on a comparison of Islam and Christianity during worship. 

Our main project this half term will be a history based topic called ‘Invasion’, this project teaches children about life in Britain after the Roman withdrawal. Children will learn about Anglo-Saxon and Viking invasions up to the Norman conquest. 

Autumn 2:

This half term, Team 4 will be studying the fictional text Leon and the Place Between by Angela McAllister. Pupils will learn to further expand their sentences by using more than one clause by using a range of subordinating conjunctions. The unit will conclude with them writing a recount, by writing a diary entry from the perspective of the character Leon. In maths, we will be exploring area and multiplication and division. The children will draw their own models to further follow the CPA approach in our lessons. We will be focusing on times tables and understanding how to multiply and divide using efficient and systematic methods. 

In Science, we will be learning about sound, learning how sound is made, how it travels and how pitch and volume can be changed.In Computing, we will learn about creating media and completing audio editing. 

In geography, we will learn the essential skills of compass points, four and six-figure grid references in our project “interconnected world”. In this topic. We will learn about the tropics and countries, climates and culture of North and South America, as well as physical features in the UK such as the National Rail and canal networks. We will study the colour wheel and colour mixing in Art as well as food preservation and packaging in DT. Our Jigsaw lessons will focus on celebrating differences and understanding influences and apperences.

Spring 1:

In English, our new text is ‘Escape from Pompeii’ by Christina Balit.  In our learning we will be continuing to develop our organisational skills whilst writing as well as punctuating speech accurately.  Also, we will be looking at using verbs correctly and consistently in both the progressive and present perfect forms. Our end goal will be to write a piece of narrative from the perspective of a character from the text.

In Maths, we will return to learning about multiplication and division to further develop our understanding.  We will see the physical movement of numbers when multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100 as well as investigating written methods of calculation.  In our length and perimeter module, we will specifically use the units of metres and kilometres whilst also calculating the perimeters of a variety of shapes.

In Science, we will be learning about sound, learning how sound is made, how it travels and how pitch and volume can be changed.

Within our Geography learning we will be studying rivers and mountains.  Our study will look locally and internationally at rivers whilst considering the journey of a river, how a river affects the landscape and the vital role a river has for a settlement.  In terms of mountains, we will consider the features, formation and topography of mountains as well as studying examples from the UK and beyond.

In Computing, we will learn about creating media through audio editing.  In RE we return to learning about Christianity through journeys.  In Jigsaw, we will be exploring our dreams and goals.  This half term also sees Team 4 embark on their swimming block which we are looking forward to.

Snow day work and resources (Thursday 9th January 2025):