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 2025.
Monday, March 10: Labour Day Public Holiday
Friday, March 28: House Athletics
Friday, April 4: Last Day Term 1, 2.30pm dismissal
Looking Ahead to the Year:
Monday, October 6 - Wednesday, October 8: Grade 4 Camp - ADANAC
Weekly Timetable
Homework:
At Lysterfield Primary School our students work incredibly hard during the day. At 3.30pm when they leave, they need time to unwind and have fun. We believe that in order to live a happy and healthy life, it is important to participate in extracurricular activities outside school. We want students to join sports clubs, Scouts, do music lessons and art classes as these are important for a child’s overall growth and social connections. We also understand that homework puts a lot of stress on families.
In addition to our beliefs, there is no evidence that homework in a primary school setting has a marked impact on students learning or success. What is proven is that reading daily has a significant impact on a child’s ability to decode and comprehend. As such mandated homework at Lysterfield Primary School is limited to reading daily, including the practising of phonics (letter/sound relationships). Level newsletters will outline the expectations around reading and how teachers will support students with having appropriate texts to read. For some students, that may not be making the expected progress for their year level, it may be beneficial for the teacher and parents to work together to reinforce the learning from the classroom with follow-up work.
We also understand that some students and families would like to practise other skills at home. To support this, at the beginning of each school year, parents will be provided with a set of additional resources that can be used for students to practise other curriculum areas. This work is not mandated and it is up to parents to implement and monitor, staff will not correct this work.
Adam Wight- Principal
Learning in Action
Literacy:
We are continuing to read the text ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ in literacy lessons. In the text, Michael has ignored many of Kensuke’s rules including lighting his beacon and swimming in the water when he was warned not to. Michael has just been stung by jellyfish as a result of his actions and is paralyzed with pain in the ocean. You could discuss with your child why they think Michael may have been ignoring the rules and why Kensuke has set them. What do they think are their motivations?
We have continued looking at the features of persuasive writing, learning about deforestation and forming and sharing opinions and reasons for whether it is necessary. Students have focussed on persuasive text features including rhetorical questions, emotive language and high modality verbs. We have delved into some of the vocabulary in the text including words like pondered, ravenously and elated.
In Word Work we have continued reviewing our learning on the word stem ‘Bi’ meaning ‘life’ and begun looking at the stem ‘rupt’ meaning ‘burst.
Preview for Learning: over the next fortnight we will be continuing our reading of Kensuke’s Kingdom and sharing of interesting vocabulary. We will also continue exploring and writing persuasive texts. Our word work focus will move from ‘rupt’ to the greek stem ‘zoo’.
Maths:
During Maths, students created 3, 4 and 5 digit numbers and represented them in different ways. E.g. place value charts, number lines and using MAB. They then discussed and compared which numbers were greater or less than with their partners. Students used < greater than and > less than symbols, to illustrate their findings. Furthermore, we then used dice to create numbers and order them in ascending order (smallest to largest). They were reminded that a zero in the middle of a number still holds a place value!
Students used another problem solving strategy of “using concrete materials” to help to investigate. They used unifix and identified patterns that would allow them to answer how many different ways you could break up a stick of unifix if they had 1 000 000!
When investigating measurement, students used their findings of Jack and the Giant’s clothes and found the differences in cm’s between the parts of the clothing.
Preview for Learning: Over the next fortnight, we will continue to discuss decomposition of numbers, and renaming. We will consolidate the internal zeros place value and introduce maps and location.
Inquiry:
As we continue our “Healthy Me” unit, we looked at exercise and what it does to our body and breathing. We saw how oxygen enters our bodies, moves through different organs, and then how carbon dioxide is breathed out. We then measured our pulse in a resting state, went for a run and then measured our pulse again. We did the same after trying out some yoga moves! The students were amazed at the different way our body responds to different forms of exercise, and how our body and its organs work together to ensure we have enough oxygen.
Preview - In the coming weeks, students will also review the digestive system and what happens when we eat, and the different roles of different organs play to keep us alive.
Wellbeing:
We have continued looking at relationship and friendship building during our wellbeing lessons. The students revisited the four friendship facts and looked at the friendometer. The friendometer is a gauge of the health of our friendships. Sometimes our friendships are really strong and in the ‘green zone’ and other times we need to communicate a little better and show some more patience and understanding when we are in the orange or red zone to help take a friendship back into the healthy zone.
Cross Country Fun
From The Grade 4 Teachers
Miss Emonson, Mrs Flack, Mrs Ebony Waldron and Mrs Hayley Ward
Mathematics Hub
This guide describe what children learn in maths at school in Grade 4. They will give you some ideas for games and activities you can play at home to help your child learn.
