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Sentences & stories

Year 4 · Writing

Make the links between a problem, evidence and response clear.

Choose a game

Take your time, try a game and collect stars.

Activities to try together away from the screen

Take it beyond the game

Use one example in a real piece of reading, writing or discussion.

  1. Choose a useful message or short task, and plan what you want a reader to understand.
  2. Try an original example on paper and reread it for meaning and accuracy.
  3. Agree on one useful improvement and try the example again.

Helping your child with sentences & stories

The Year 4 focus

Year 4 composition uses paragraphs and links that help a reader follow a developing account. Paragraph paths offers four short outlines whose actions refer back to earlier steps. The task is not to memorise a universal paragraph order; it is to notice what a particular event depends on and how references such as that route or following the repair connect the supplied ideas.

Work through an example

In the bridge-repair outline, the safety check follows the replacement of the damaged board. Moving that check before the repair would break the intended sequence. After arranging the outline, expand one part into a paragraph with a useful detail. Then check whether the opening of the next paragraph still connects clearly to what the reader has just learned.

Use the skill beyond the screen

The supplied cards make one planned sequence visible. Real composition also requires choosing ideas, finding words, considering the reader and revising a draft. After playing, plan a new example aloud, write a short version and ask someone else to explain what they understood. Use that response to improve a link, add a missing detail or remove something that distracts from the purpose.

Curriculum connection

Reading and writing use the shared Years 3–4 programme of study. These Year 4 practice choices provide one possible progression; schools can sequence the shared content differently. This collection offers selected practice rather than the complete programme. Read the official English programme of study.

Questions families ask

What does the game check?

It checks a prepared arrangement of ideas. Original composition still needs planning, writing and feedback from a reader.

Is this a separate statutory Year 4 programme?

The National Curriculum groups reading and writing in Years 3 and 4. These Year 4 examples provide a practice progression within that shared programme; schools can sequence the content differently. Spoken-language requirements apply across Years 1–6.