Year 4 Term 1 Newsletter

Meet The Teaching Team

4A - Patrick Hughes (PLC Leader)

4B - Robyn Apostolopoulos and Rebecca Robinson

4C - Sarah Lazzaro

Welcome to Term 1

Welcome to Year 4 and 2025!

We have been delighted with how the children have already settled into their new classes, enjoying getting to know each other through our Kindness Week activities. 

 Specialist Timetable

Important Dates

17/02: 4-6 House Swimming

18/02: Whole School Photo Day

03/03: District Swimming

07/03: Community Picnic

10/03: Labour Day—Public Holiday

12/03: Divisional Swimming for selected students

21/03: African Drumming Incursion for Harmony Day

01/04: House Cross Country

04/04: Last Day of Term 1- 2.30pm finish

Electronic Rolls

Our electronic rolls are legal documents therefore we must be accountable for any absences. Please assist with this by informing the school by replying to the text message sent by Sentral in the event of your child being away.

Teaching and Learning

Reading and Viewing 

This term, students will engage in independent and whole class reading to build their fluency and comprehension. They will explore a variety of texts to develop their reading skills and read for enjoyment. Students will participate in activities that will explicitly teach them to skim and scan, summarise and self-monitor their reading. They will be exposed to new language to expand their vocabulary. As a class, we will be reading Roald Dahl's 'Danny, The Champion of the World'.

Writing

Students will study narrative text types with a focus on ‘The Writing Process’. Using high quality texts, they will investigate the different techniques good writers use to craft and engage audiences and attempt to replicate these in their pieces. Students will go through the process of seeding ideas, planning, composing, recrafting and editing, before publishing and celebrating their final pieces. As part of our study of English Orthography, students will continue investigating how the written word works.

Speaking and Listening

Through a range of activities, across all areas of the curriculum, students will listen for key points in discussions. They will contribute actively to class and group conversations, varying language according to context. Using our class novel, ‘Danny, The Champion Of The World’ as a springboard, students will be encouraged to share and justify their thoughts and ideas about characters and events. We will also be having regular discussions about learnership, with the understanding that everyone is on a different learning journey, but we should all be aiming to find our individual learning zones, where we might feel uncomfortable as we learn new skills.

Mathematics

In Mathematics this term, we are using rich, open, hands-on learning tasks, designed in such a way as to be both accessible and challenging for all involved. A big focus of our work is to develop students' thinking; to challenge them to make connections, seek challenges, justify their reasoning, and most importantly, to find joy in 'the struggle' of trying to solve a problem. Students are supported to work with a variety of classmates and to build their communication and rationalising skills in a meaningful way. Our mathematics lessons will have a strong emphasis on Number and Algebra topics early in the year, with an exploration of Measurement and Probability sprinkled throughout. An emphasis on student work samples and formative assessments (using tests to help students learn) will occur in classrooms, as we increase student autonomy and independence in their mathematics learning. At home, students are encouraged to develop their speed and accuracy when recalling common addition and multiplication facts.

Humanities

Our Humanities inquiry focus question this term is, "What makes a great community?" Students will investigate the importance of rules and laws, whilst exploring the difference between the two. Students will consider the purpose of creating rules for groups and how rules and laws affect them. Students will also explore how individuals participate in their community, how cultural diversity is displayed, and how belonging to different groups can shape personal identity.

Wellbeing

CEPS VALUES

COURTESY    RESPECT    CO-OPERATION    RESPONSIBILITY 

This term, the value our school is focusing on is COURTESY. Opportunities will be provided for students to explore various skills through age-appropriate activities. Friday afternoon assembly awards will be given to children leading by example. Parents of award recipients will be notified by the classroom teacher via Dojo prior to Friday’s assembly.

Supporting Learning from Home

Homework

With exceptionally busy lives, we have found over the previous years that many families are struggling to find the time to meet ‘deadlines’ with homework. This year we will provide work throughout the year and are happy to support families with their requirements by reviewing work on request, answering questions, and providing target support to students as needed. 

Homework, as detailed below, shouldn’t be more than 90 minutes per week.

Things you can do at home that will support your child’s learning:

• Read! Read as much and as often as you can. Read aloud. Be read to. Share a book. Compare books. Aim for a minimum of 15 minutes every night.

• Maths. Practice multiplication tables. Mathletics is open for all students to use. Contact your teacher if you would like some specific levels or tasks locked in for your child.

• Challenge. Students thrive with challenge, but struggle with failure. They only learn to manage adversity by surviving failure. Give them opportunities to fail safely. Eg, cook dinner (almost) on their own, make the shopping list for the week, plan and coordinate an outing with a friend.

Communication

Classroom Dojo : Whilst we endeavour to get back to you in a timely manner, please understand that we are often unable to check these messages until after 3:30pm. If you need an important message to be passed onto your child, we ask that you communicate this via the office.  

Sentral: Sentral is the formal tool for communication regarding attendance, payments, excursions, camps, permission forms, school reports, etc…!

Please use Sentral to advise the school in a timely manner of all student absences.

Early Pick Up: If you need to pick up your child early, please collect them from the office area and be sure to sign them out. 

You can also keep up-to-date by using the school website and weekly newsletters:  http://www.cheltenhameast.vic.edu.au