Header Image 1
Header image

Reading

Year 4 Reading Expectations

Word Reading Reading Comprehension
  • Apply knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes, to read aloud and to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words
  • Read further exception words, noting the unusual correspondences between spelling and sound, and where these occur in the word
  • Attempt pronunciation of unfamiliar words drawing on prior knowledge of similar looking words
  • Know which books to select for specific purposes, especially in relation to science, history and geography learning
  • Use dictionaries to check the meaning of unfamiliar words
  • Discuss and record words and phrases that writers use to engage and impact on the reader
  • Know and recognise some of the literary conventions in text types covered
  • Begin to understand simple themes in books
  • Prepare poems to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone, volume and action
  • Explain the meaning of words in context
  • Ask questions to improve understanding of a text
  • Infer meanings and begin to justify them with evidence from the text
  • Predict what might happen from details stated and deduced information
  • Identify how the writer has used precise word choices for effect to impact on the reader
  • Identify some text type organisational features, for example, narrative, explanation, persuasion
  • Retrieve and record information from non-fiction
  • Make connections with prior knowledge and experience
  • Begin to build on others’ ideas and opinions about a text in discussion
  • Explain why text types are organised in a certain way

Year 4 Reading Mastery

Reading-Exceeding Statements
  • Locate and use information from a range of sources, both fiction and non-fiction
  • Compare fictional accounts in historical novels with the factual account
  • Appreciate the bias in persuasive writing, including articles and advertisements
  • Talk widely about different authors, giving some information about their backgrounds and the type of literature they produce
  • Use inference and deduction to work out the characteristics of different people from a story
  • Compare the language in older texts with modern Standard English (spelling, punctuation and vocabulary);
  • Skim, scan and organise non- fiction information under different headings
  • Refer to the text to support predictions and opinions
  • Recognise complex sentences
  • Show awareness of the listener through the use of pauses, giving emphasis and keeping an appropriate pace so as to entertain and maintain interest

Writing

Year 4 Writing Expectations

Transcription Composition
  • Spell words with additional prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them to root words. for example – ation, ous, ion, ian
  • Recognise and spell additional homophones, for example – accept and except, whose and who’s
  • Use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary
  • Spell identified commonly misspelt words from Year 3 and 4 word list
  • Use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters
  • Understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined
  • Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their handwriting: down strokes of letters are parallel and equidistant; lines of writing are spaced sufficiently so that the ascenders and descenders of letters do not touch
  • Compose sentences using a wider range of structures, linked to the grammar objectives
  • Orally rehearse structured sentences or sequences of sentences
  • Begin to open paragraphs with topic sentences
  • Write a narrative with a clear structure, setting, characters and plot
  • Make improvements by proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, e.g. the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
  • Use a range of sentences with more than one clause
  • Use appropriate nouns or pronouns within and across sentences to support cohesion and avoid repetition
  • Use fronted adverbials, for example, ‘Later that day, I went shopping.’
  • Use expanded noun phrases with modifying adjectives and prepositional phrases, for example, ‘The strict teacher with curly hair’
  • Use other punctuation in direct speech, including a comma after the reporting clause; use apostrophes to mark plural possession; and use commas after fronted adverbials

Year 4 Writing Mastery

Writing-Exceeding Statements
  • Prepared to carry out a little research to find words that are specific to the event being written about
  • Check to see if there are any sentences that can be re-organised so as to give my writing a greater impact
  • Consciously use short sentences to speed up action sequences
  • Use dialogue and reactions from other characters to make my character interesting
  • Recognise when a simile may generate more impact than a metaphor, and vice versa
  • Recognise when it is reasonable to allow direct speech to tell the reader more about an individual’s personality
  • Recognise that a combination of good adjectives, similes and metaphors may help create a powerful image of the characters I am writing about
  • Know how to re-order sentences so that they create maximum effect
  • Vary choice of pronouns correctly to refer to the first, second and third person, both singular and plural
  • Use commas or ellipses in order to create greater clarity and effect in my writing