Connect: Year 4

Our Next Fortnight of Learning 

Maths

The students have had a ball learning new maths games over the course of the past couple of weeks and have demonstrated fantastic team work throughout.  We have explored playing Greater Than, Stepping Stones, Place Value Knockout and Mastermind (a class favourite in 4B). Over the next couple of weeks our Mathematics focus is moving to addition and subtraction. We will be developing multiple efficient strategies to help us when solving problems and justifying why that strategy works best for each individual. We will also be learning about what makes a number odd or even and revising ordering numbers through our Problem Solving sessions. 

Literacy

Our vocabulary words for the past two weeks have been:

We have enjoyed hearing the students connect these words outside of the classroom as well as using them in their writing. The following two weeks we will focus on:

Our reading will continue to focus on the 'The Elves and the Shoemaker' we will be determining and justifying the purpose and audience of this text then move into compare it to a non-fiction text based on the same topic (making shoes). 

The students are well on their way to developing their plans for their Narratives. The students are showing us that their imaginations have no end and are we are SO excited to see where their Narratives take us. We have adopted the Story Mountain as our planning structure where we begin with a Sizzling Start, Pebble (small problem or event), Brick (medium problem or event), Boulder (large problem or event), Resolution and Exciting Ending. The students are being encouraged to start their stories slowly, setting the scene, at the base of the mountain where their problems or events gradually build to a large, exciting problem (the top of the mountain) and have a sequential coherent flow of events. We will be moving into planning our resolution and exciting endings in Week 5 before we begin writing in the following weeks. You may wish to ask your children about their ideas and discuss possible solutions to their problems while exploring a variety of exciting endings from books they enjoy reading at home. 

Inquiry

We have delved into the Immersion sessions of our Inquiry Unit ‘The Game of Life’. Students had a wonderful time exploring, researching and discussing the origins of their given names. They then brainstormed their amazing qualities that describe their identity. Each student created a unique Acrostic Poem that each and ever one were proud to display in our classrooms. In the coming weeks we will be focusing on two Habits of Mind; Taking Responsible Risks and Metacognition. Through these lessons students will consider how they expand their ‘comfort zone’ by taking responsible risks and discuss their thoughts, feelings, and principles as they work out what they would do when faced with an ethical dilemma. 

Wellbeing

Our wellbeing learning focus this term is on 'Stress Management'. During these sessions students will participate in activities to enable them to describe the influence people, situations and events have on their emotions. They will also explore strategies to manage physical, social and emotional change and role play how they can apply strategies in situations that make them feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Students will explain the value of self-discipline and goal-setting in helping them learn and to cope with change and challenge. They will engage in activities that allow them the opportunity to describe their personal strengths to others.

Celebration of Learning

While our students were all enjoying an early start to their relaxing weekends on Friday, our teachers spent the day at Banyan Fields Primary School learning about the Berry Street Education Model. The Model focuses on Consistent Predictable Routines (CPR) for all students, in every classroom, with all teachers. As part of this we now start every day with a Morning Circle beginning at 8:55am. This is an opportunity to greet one another, discuss classroom values and expectations and share special announcements. This plays a HUGE role in creating a supportive, calming, settled classroom environment while students develop a deeper connection with their peers. 

We hope you all have a FABULOUS weekend :)

Olivia, Amanda and Dean