Grade 4 News
Dear Year 4 Families,
We are so excited to celebrate the first few weeks of Term 2 with you and what we have been up to in 4A and 4B.
Just a quick reminder to please make sure your child brings their satchel to school each day, which should have their diary and reader inside. This helps us stay organised and keep track of important notes and their reading progress. At the moment we have many students forgetting their diary, so please try to support them in packing it and bringing it each day.
Also, nightly reading is an important part of our routine. We encourage students to read at home every night for 20 minutes to help build their reading skills and understanding. It’s a great way for them to practice and get even better at reading! The library will be open for borrowing in the next few weeks where your child can select books of their choosing to also read at home.
Learning Focuses- Below is what we have been focusing on with our learning for the last three weeks of Term 2.
Reading Fluency
In class, students have been reading short passages of text to help build their skills in expression, pace, use of punctuation, and accuracy. By practicing reading aloud, they are learning how to adjust their tone and expression to match the meaning of the text, which helps make their reading sound more natural and engaging. They are also focusing on reading at the right pace, not too fast or slow, to ensure they understand and convey the message clearly. In addition, students are paying close attention to punctuation marks like commas, periods, and question marks to guide their reading and improve their fluency. This practice is helping them become more confident and accurate readers, while also strengthening their overall comprehension and expression.
Typing
Our Year 4 students have also been practicing their typing skills to improve both speed and accuracy. By using fun, interactive activities, they are working on developing their typing technique, which will help them become more confident and efficient when using laptops for schoolwork. With regular practice, they are steadily increasing their typing pace and precision.
You can practise with your child using free typing activities on Typing.com
Handwriting
This term our Year 4 students have continued to work on their handwriting skills. Handwriting is an essential life skill, and we have been focusing on improving both legibility and fluency, ensuring that each student feels confident in their writing. Students have been focussing on letter formation to ensure each letter is clearly and accurately written. Throughout the last few weeks, we have emphasised with the students the importance of good pencil grip, paper positioning and posture to support better handwriting technique and reduce strain during writing tasks.
Morphology
Students have been learning about the prefixes em-, ir- and the suffix -able and their meaning. Students have been analysing words with these prefixes and suffixes and identifying the base of the word to find its meaning. They have also been spelling, reading, and using these words in sentences throughout the weeks.
em- to cause to be or put into (e.g., embrace– to hold someone close).
ir- means not and in/to (e.g., irregular–not a regular).
-able capacity to do something (e.g., trackable - able to be tracked).
Grammar & Syntax
In Grammar and Syntax, we have been focusing on supporting students to understand how to improve their writing by learning how to use apostrophes to show possession, especially with singular nouns. For example, we have practiced sentences like:
The dog’s bone (indicating that the bone belongs to the dog).Tom’s book (indicating that the book belongs to Tom).
We have supported students to understand that the apostrophe shows ownership, and we’ve worked on ensuring they place it correctly after the letter "s" in singular nouns. Additionally, students have also been working on contractions—shortened forms of two words where the apostrophe takes the place of missing letters. Examples include:
I’m (I am)don’t (do not)
We’ve emphasized the importance of knowing when and how to use contractions in informal writing and conversations, ensuring that students feel comfortable with both the written and spoken form. It has been wonderful to see the students’ growing understanding of how apostrophes help clarify meaning. They are now able to identify and correct apostrophe errors in both their own writing and in examples provided.
Writing
In class, students have continued their work on the story The Cobbler of Krakow and Smok the Dragon of Wawel, which follows a narrative structure similar to the classic "defeat the monster" plot. Through the process of Talk for Writing, students have orally explored the story, focusing on the characters and their dialogue. To help describe characters in detail, students have developed four key language skills: piling up descriptions using a sentence of three, showing how a character feels through their actions, using a "speech sandwich" to frame dialogue, and describing a character’s actions while speaking. These skills have allowed students to build a strong toolkit for writing. Students have now completed the process of planning and writing a story, using these tools to create their own "defeat the monster" narratives.
Literature/Knowledge
In Literature, Year 4 students have been learning about ANZAC day and World War I. Students have studied two short picture books, namely The ANZAC Day Parade and Along the Road to Gundagai. These books have introduced students to the significance of ANZAC Day in Australian history, and the traditions surrounding this important day of remembrance. Through reading these texts, students gained a deeper understanding of the values associated with ANZAC Day and the experiences of those who served, while they developed key literacy skills in interpreting and comprehending texts.
Maths
In Maths, students have been continuing their work on developing a strong understanding of addition and subtraction strategies for 5-digit numbers through a variety of hands-on and interactive activities. In Year 4, the focus has been on supporting students to apply strategies for adding and subtracting large numbers, particularly when it involves renaming values and borrowing. Students are learning how to break down numbers into place values, carry out regrouping (renaming) when adding, and borrow when subtracting. These strategies help students solve more complex problems with confidence and accuracy, building a deeper understanding of how to work with larger numbers.
Our Year 4 students have also been learning how to solve worded addition and subtraction problems using the Understand, Plan, Solve, Check method. This structured approach helps students break down complex problems into manageable steps, ensuring they can tackle each question with confidence and accuracy. Through this approach, students are building strong problem-solving skills, learning to work systematically, and becoming more confident in their ability to handle worded math problems.
Upcoming Events:
- District Cross Country, Wednesday 7th May.
- Melbourne Museum & IMAX Excursion, Thursday 16th May
Thank you for your continued support in continuing and strengthening our home and school relationship, which is so vital for students.
Miss Lochhead, Miss Carlesso and Mrs Schache