Grade 4 Community News
The Grade 4 team is excited to welcome back our students, families, and wider community for another term of engaging and joyful learning. We’ve had a fantastic start to the term, kicking things off with lots of energy at the House Athletics Carnival on just the third day back. It’s already shaping up to be a term full of learning, teamwork, and fun!
Reading
In Reading, we’ve started a new Literature unit focused on the colonisation of Australia. We are reading ‘Birrung the Secret Friend’, a novel that shares the story from an Aboriginal perspective. Alongside this, we’ve been learning about the early life of James Cook, the English explorer who set out to discover the “Southern Lands.” We found out that he went on two long voyages, each lasting about three years. To help us understand his life and journeys, we’ve been using strategies like “stop and jot” notes and creating diagrams in the correct order. This is all helping us get ready to write our own biographies soon!
Writing
In Writing, students have been learning how to write biographies. Together, we’ve been creating a class biography about Captain James Cook. We’ve focused on including important parts like an introduction, key life events, and a conclusion.
To help guide our writing, we used “Bump It Up Wall” samples, which showed us examples of strong writing and helped us see where we could improve. Students have also been learning about different features of biography writing, such as using paragraphs and subheadings, writing events in the correct order (chronologically), and using time connectives like “then” and “after that.” We've also discussed using formal language, staying in the same tense, and including descriptive and emotive words to make the writing more engaging.
Example of student's work
Maths
We started the term by revisiting the multiplication and division unit. Then we learned to multiply using vertical algorithms with and without regrouping.The children were supported in this skill by using arrays, base-10 blocks and place value charts. Some revisions for the 3 and 4 facts were included in the current unit, whilst also extending students’ knowledge to the multiplication and division facts for 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Student work samples
Athletics Carnival
What a fantastic day it was! The sun was shining, the house spirit was high. Students gave a red hot go at participating in as many events as possible to earn points for their house. From high jump to long jump, shot put to discus, hurdles to race, it was wonderful to see so much enthusiasm, sportsmanship and encouragement on display.
Congratulations to all students for their participation, and special mention to our champions and the winning house team!
Reminders
Swimming commences in:
Week 4 for 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4F, 4G, 4H and 4I
Week 5 for 4E, 4J and 4K
Friday 30th May is a Pupil Free Day for report writing
Please remember to send students with charged iPads and headphones to school each day.
Thank you for your continuous support in your child's educational journey!
PLC4