Foss Class

Welcome to Team Foss
(Year 4)

Team Foss are the Year 4 children at Brotherton and Byram C.P. Academy. Mrs Forster is the class teacher.  The children also have specialist teachers in Arts & DT and Spanish during the week.

Our day begins with TT Rockstars and Numbots on chrome books. This is followed by a maths task, focusing on basic skills and the four operations. Next, we have a check in and this is a very important part of our day where we can share how we’re feeling. We then have reading, focusing on developing the children’s stamina and fluency skills. This is followed by maths. After break time we have our writing and maths skills sessions.

In the afternoon, the children have handwriting and spelling practice. We use Spelling Shed to practice spellings on the chrome books along with other techniques. We then have another reading session which allows children to focus on vocabulary, definitions of words, dictionary and thesaurus use. The rest of the afternoon is spent on our creative curriculum. This year, we will be looking at the Anglo-SAxons, Vikings, Tudors, Extreme Earth, digestion, electricity, sound and states of matter.

On Monday afternoons we focus on geography and history. On Tuesday afternoons we focus on computing, British Values and we have our PE session. On Wednesday afternoons we focus on science. On Thursday afternoons we have our specialist teachers who deliver art and Spanish. On Friday afternoons, the children have a half termly carousel of forest schools, RE and restorative circles where the children spend time with Mrs Kellett exploring their feelings and considering those of others during restorative circle time. Across the week we have 45 minutes of PSHE.

Water bottles

Please send your child daily with a water bottle filled with fresh water (no juice) that they can keep in the class and use throughout the day to hydrate themselves.

Reading

Every day your child will bring their reading book and planner home. Please encourage your child to read every day, to a sibling, to you or to themselves, and please record this in their planner. Your child’s planner will be checked daily and if your child reads five times in a week they will receive a stamp. When they get five stamps they will receive a special prize from Mrs Fletcher. A stamp will also entitle them to a certificate that will be presented in assembly at the end of the week.

PE kit

Please ensure your child brings their PE kit to school ready for Tuesday. Children can keep their PE kits in school throughout the week if preferred..

 Times tables

Please encourage your child to practice their times tables regularly at home. There are lots of ways you can do this. Your child has a log-in for ‘TT rockstars’ which is a great game for practicing times tables. We practice timetables in class daily and have a test at the end of the week where children can climb the Foss TT Rockstar wall of fame! The times tables your child will be focusing on will be in their planner weekly.

https://ttrockstars.com/login

Spellings

Your child will have a set of spellings each week to learn that they will be tested on. These will be made up of statutory year 3/4 spellings, spelling patterns and targeted words. A list will be attached to planners weekly and the new spelling list available on ‘Spelling Shed’ every Friday. Please support your child to practice their spellings on a regular basis.

https://www.spellingshed.com

Spanish 

Spanish is taught by a specialist Spanish teacher on Thursdays. In year 4 we focus on 4 key skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing. We also build our knowledge of Spanish phonics, vocabulary and grammar. We do this through lots of games, songs, stories, puzzles and creative tasks. We reinforce how to recognise letters and sounds in Spanish and use this to help us learn to read and write simple words and phrases with good pronunciation and spelling. We build confidence in answering simple conversation questions and talking about ourselves. We learn to count to 30 and in tens to 100 and look more carefully at how adjectives change in a sentence. We extend our vocabulary with personal descriptions, animals and adjectives, dates, birthdays and party food as well as deepening our understanding of interesting grammar rules such as gender and adjective order.

We also have an eTwinning link with a school in Spain and collaborate on various projects and themes together for example sharing Christmas Cards or taking part in a video conference. 

Some useful websites:

Topic games: https://wordwall.net/myactivities/folder/951995/year-4

Number games: https://wordwall.net/myactivities/folder/333319/numbers

Colour games: https://wordwall.net/myactivities/folder/333318/colours

Greetings games: https://wordwall.net/myactivities/folder/335220/greetings

https://www.spanish-games.net/

https://rockalingua.com/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zxsvr82