Grade 4 News

Important Reminders/Dates 

• Hats - As per our school's SunSmart policy, all students are required to wear hats till the end of April 2024.
• Anaphylaxis awareness - a student in the cohort is allergic to all nuts, dairy and seafood. We ask that you be aware of what is being sent in the students lunchboxes, and remind the students not to share food at school.
• Homework -  Below are the expectations for Grade 4 students.

Monday, March 11: Labour Day Public Holiday

Tuesday, March 12: Curriculum Day - Student Free

Thursday, March 21: School Photos for 4E and siblings

Tuesday, March 26: Celebration Morning - 9:15am

Wednesday, March 27: LPS Cross Country

Thursday, March 28: Last Day Term 1 - 2.30pm finish

Friday, March 29th: Good Friday

Learning In Action

Literacy

During Literacy this fortnight, students continued to enjoy their Novel Study sessions. They are really enjoying the text, ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’, and we are all eager to continue reading and hopefully solve some of the many mysteries in the story. This fortnight our focus during these sessions has been on character motivations and dialogue, as well as exploring the narrative hill.

In Word Work sessions this fortnight, students have been introduced to the second job (or rule) of the Silent Final e, as shown below. This led to some fantastic discussions around the origins of words and why some words may not fit this ‘rule’.

This fortnight in grammar, students have explored the key parts of a sentence, including subject, verb, adverbial where and adverbial when. Students worked together to identify these different parts of sentences, as well as create their own sentences.

Preview: Student's will continue reading Kensuke’s Kingdom with a focus on dialogue between the characters. In our writing we will be focusing on adding the Adverbial Why to our sentences.

Mathematics

This fortnight our students have continued working on our ‘Whole Number Unit.’ As a class we practised reading and writing numbers while looking at the concepts of comparing and ordering 4 and 5 digit numbers. Students learnt to use place values to help explain their thinking. This week students looked closely at decomposing and partitioning numbers. This means breaking numbers down into their place values, but also in different ways. For instance the number 342 could be partitioned into: 3 hundreds, 4 tens and 2 ones. Or 2 hundreds, 14 tens and 2 ones.

The students have enjoyed practising their individual goals, through collaborative tasks, independent activities, applied learning and working with a teacher. 

To finish off our applied unit, students used their knowledge of measurement, and skills attained after making clothes for both Jack (1m) and the Giant (2m), the Grade 4’s began making comparisons between different measurements. It was great to see them being able to compare but also use specific vocabulary and reasoning to justify their claims.

Here are some comparisons:

- Jack’s t-shirt is longer than his pants because his t-shirt is 30cm but his pants are only 21cm.

- The sleeve on the t-shirt should be longer than the t-shirt because your arms go below your waist. 

- The Giant’s clothes were twice the size of Jack’s because he was 2m and Jack was 1m.

Preview: Students will continue looking at decomposing and partitioning whole numbers, whilst working on their individual goals. We will also begin looking at location.

To find out more about what will be covered in Grade 4 Maths, click here.

Inquiry

In Inquiry this fortnight, students continued their Term 1 topic of Rules and Laws. The students have looked into how laws have changed over time, questioning why they may need to change. The students completed an activity that had them identifying if laws/rules were current or in the past.

The students have also begun their projects, creating an island community, where they need to decide different rules and laws for their island to run as a successful society. 

Preview: Students will continue work on their Islands, ready to present on celebration morning

Wellbeing

Over the last fortnight, we have looked at and revised what it means to have ‘Positive Friendships’. This is to ensure we are being respectful and compassionate towards our friends. We discussed the 4 facts or truths of friendships and what is a healthy or unhealthy friendship. This allowed the students to have realistic expectations about their friendships. We also discussed the use of our body language and how this can impact our friendships. 

The Year 4's are having some impressive discussions where they are being so open and honest about their experiences. What superstars!

Extra News

House Athletics

On Wednesday we had our House Athletics! It was a really fun day for all and we were super proud of our Grade 4 Athletes. Everyone gave it their all and we saw some amazing achievements.

Exciting times ahead in STEM!

We are thrilled to share some exciting updates about our STEM program! As we continue to inspire and empower our students to explore the wonders of these vital fields, we are reaching out to our wonderful community for support.

Your generosity has always been instrumental in helping us provide enriching educational experiences for our students, and we are once again asking for your support to ensure the success and sustainability of our STEM initiatives.

Your support makes a significant difference to our students' learning opportunities and the success of our STEM program. Here are a few ways you can contribute:

Opportunities to help: 

• Donations of Timber/Wood, appropriate for construction E.g. Billy Cart bases or other small vehicles.   
• If you own or are a part of a company or business who would be willing to sponsor our engineering program. 
• If you have connections with hardware stores/companies, helping us to make contact in order to obtain suitable engineering resources. 
• If you have any household STEM-related materials such as; plastic bottles, milk bottle lids, masking tape, balloons, wooden skewers, plastic or paper cups, unwanted CD’s or DVD’s, Aluminium Foil please drop them off outside the STEM room. 
• Construction Crew: If you're handy with tools and have some basic experience in woodwork or mechanics, we would be delighted to have your help in the upcoming terms to assist with our Grade 6 Science and Engineering program. Please email sophiechamberlain@lysterfieldps.com or melissaadams@lysterfieldps.com

Thank you for your continued support,

Melissa Adams & Sophie Chamberlain

STEM Leaders

Lysterfield Primary School