The Year 4 Team

Miss Lee

Miss Golightly

Times Table Fluency

What does it sound like to be fluent in times tables?

What does it mean to be fluent in times tables?

• Your child can answer the question back to you, with automaticity, within 3 seconds. 
• They do not need to think about the answer or hesitate to think about the answer.
• They may make a little mistake but very quickly correct themself. 
• They can answer questions which are out of sequence and in no pattern of times tables. 
• Children do not count on fingers. 

Why do children need to be fluent in times tables?

• It reduces cognitive load - children can think quicker because they don’t have to spend time counting their times tables. 
• It saves energy in the brain allowing greater focus on the problem - reading the question, processing what it means, carrying out 2 or more calculations in a problem.
• It saves time in calculating in multi-step problems. 
• It unlocks a world of maths in the wider curriculum. 
• It provides the opportunity for children to reason with numbers and problem solve.
• It builds confidence & reduces mathematical anxiety - grows independence, reduces the feeling of being overwhelmed by the problem. 

Reading at the Expected Standard

What does it sound like to be reading at the expected standard in Year 4?

What does it mean to be a fluent reader? 

Reading fluency - a combination of the following components:

• Accuracy - word recognition and pronunciation 
• Automaticity - rapid word reading without conscious decoding (breaking down/sounding out words)
• Prosody- expressive, phrased reading
• Comprehension - processing text & understanding meaning 
• Inference - reading between the lines 

What to look out for:

• Reading with varied volume and expression.  
• Your child will sound like they are talking to a friend with their voice matching the interpretation of the passage.
• They will read with good phrasing.
• They will adhere to the punctuation used in the text - taking a breath at commas and pausing at full stops. 
• They will read smoothly - they may have some breaks and will self-correct any slight mistakes. 
• They will read at a good pace. 

How many words per minute should your child be reading?

The following figures are based on the child reading this amount of words in an age appropriate text. Some examples of age appropriate texts can be found below. 

Year 4 texts: