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Go to the wall for Year 4

Ruth Merttens By Ruth Merttens

You are aiming to teach all Year 4 children age-related expectations by the end of the year. But what are the basic skills that you can't let them leave your class without?

Hamilton's 'Go to the Wall' skills are the heart of what enables children to become successful in maths. They are the building blocks of maths without which children will be blocked from making further progress. All children need to work towards age-related expectations throughout the year. But you need to be sure that children are confident in these 'Go to the Wall' mathematical skills before year-end. EVERY child should possess ALL these ground-level skills as they leave Year 4.

  • Locate 4- and 5-digit numbers on a landmarked line and use this to compare and order numbers; round to ten, a hundred and a thousand.
  • Understand the numbers of 1s, 10s, 100s, 1000s and 10,000s in a 5-digit number and the use of zero as a place holder.
  • Recognise negative numbers in relation to number lines and temperature.
  • Add multiples of 1, 10, 100, 1000 without difficulty, e.g. 15,347 + 3000, 434 + 300 and 648 - 220.
  • Mentally add and subtract any pair of two digit numbers.
  • Know how to use the written addition: first expanded method, moving onto concise method.
  • Subtract 3 digit numbers from 3 digit numbers using ‘Frog’ and counting up, e.g. 426 - 278 by hopping along a line from 278 to 426.
  • Use Frog to subtract from multiples of 1000 where the difference is less than 500, e.g. 3000 - 2786 = 214.
  • Know and recite 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 9x, 10x times tables including division facts up to 12th multiple; include multiplying by 0 (e.g. 5 x 0 = 0, 7 x 0 = 0) or by 1 (e.g. 5 x 1= 5, ½ x 1 = ½).
  • Multiply 1- digit numbers by 2-digit or friendly 3-digit numbers using grid method.
  • Know how to use ‘efficient chunking’ for division above the range of the tables’ facts, e.g. 84 ÷ 6 = ?.
  • Begin to extend this to 3 digit numbers, e.g. 145 ÷ 5 = ?.
  • Write the equivalent fraction for fractions with given denominators or numerators, e.g. 1/2 = ?/8; reduce a fraction to its simplest form, e.g. 6/12 ≡ 1/2.
  • Convert between units of measurement, e.g. cm to m, g to kg and ml to l; convert between units of time and between analogue and digital times.
  • Identify acute and obtuse angles, compare and order angles up to 180⁰.
  • Interpret and present discreet data using bar charts and pictograms.

We strongly recommend that you ensure that your children fully master these skills by tracking them through the year.

Download a monitoring template for Year 4