Year 4 Spelling

12 June 2015

This week’s spellings are nouns (singular to plural).

For some of the words, you have to drop the y and replace it with an ies in order to pluralise the word. Can you spot any other spelling patterns or rules in these words?

It’s Christmas…

…so teachers are not giving new lists of spellings to learn this week.

If your child didn’t do so well in the Spellathon, please make sure (s)he keeps learning the spellings that you teacher has set this term.

The Department for Education has set out a list of 100 words which children in Y3,4 should know, and a further 100 words for children in Y5,6.  If you’d like to give your child a head-start, you might like to support your child in learning some of these.  The lists can be found on page 54 and page 61 of this document.

(This list is new for 2014; teachers have begun to include the words in their spelling lists.)

13 June 2014

We’ve been learning a lot of cycling and geography vocabulary in our lessons this week. The spellings this week are some of these words.

It’s the Easter holidays…

…so we have no set homework or spellings, in line with our Homework Policy.

That doesn’t mean we expect your child not to be developing their skills in reading, writing and maths!

Your child should be reading daily – this could be fiction, factual books, a comic or newspaper, and could include being read to at bedtime, too.

It would be good to practise basic skills in writing by writing a letter or email to a relative, perhaps recounting a day-trip or reviewing a film your child watched.

We’re finding quite a few children are ‘squashing their sentences’ such as I went to Leeds City Museum it was really interesting which is wrong.  It would be much better with punctuation to separate or a word to join:

• I went to Leeds City Museum. It was really interesting. (A comma isn’t strong enough to separate two sentences.)
• I went to Leeds City Museum – it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum; it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum and it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum which was really interesting.

Finally, to improve calculation skills, please keep practising mental number facts which your child must know:

• number bonds (two numbers which add up to 10, 20 and 100 eg 3+7, 13+7, 30+70) – these facts should be known by children in Y1 – Y2
• times tables (up to 12×12) and the division facts with your child – children in Y2 should have rapid recall of x2, x 5 and x 10 at least

We know we mention these ‘basics’ a lot, but that’s because they involve practice, practice and more practice – we practise a lot at school, but your child will need to practise at home, too, if they are to truly succeed.

Learn more about current expectations for reading, writing and maths.  However, do be aware that a new National Curriculum comes into effect from September, meaning these expectations have been raised and so many aspects of learning now feature in younger age groups.

It’s half-term…

It’s the half-term, so in line with our current homework policy, there are no homework tasks or spellings to learn.

However, please make sure you’re reading lots with your child – we’re finding children are reading less than they need to if they are to gain fluency and understanding.  You could take your child to a local library, hunt down an old favourite to re-visit, plan a story book for each bedtime over the holiday, read more about a favourite subject on the internet, buy a comic or magazine… And, so they have good role models, make sure your child sees you read, too!

Our current homework policy will be reviewed soon.  A small number of you have told us you’re not entirely happy with it – it would be really helpful if you tell us more about what you’d like.  Send us an email or speak with Mrs Weekes or me about this.  Thank you.

10 January 2014

The spellings this week are all topic words which we have been learning about in our computing mini-topic. Throughout the week, the children have encountered all of this vocabulary so will be able to tell you the meaning.

It’s half-term…

…so no specific homework, spellings or tables this week.  It’s a good time to relax and enjoy some time with your children – have you visited the free exhibition of Anthony Browne pictures at Leeds City Museum, for example?

20 September 2013

This week, we are continuing to look at what happens to words when we add  ‘ing’ to them. Most of the spellings this week end in ‘le’ so you have to drop the ‘e’ when adding ‘ing’. However,  some of the words just require you to add ‘ing’. Can you spot them?

12 July 2013

Over the past few weeks (and at many other points in the year) we have been practising our three main spellings rules:

• double-up for short vowel sounds

• drop the e for ing

• drop the y for an i

This week, you need to practise all of the spellings from the last two lists. You won’t get tested on all of them – but you’ll need to know all of them. Also, a few unknown spellings will be added to the test but which still follow one or more of the rules.

05 July 2013

This week’s spellings all follow a familiar spelling rule:

drop the y for an i

When an er or an est is added to the route word, the y is dropped and replaced with an i. For example,

sunny with er added becomes sunnier

and the y is replaced with an i

Some of these spellings also follow another rule. Do you know which one it is?