Year 4 News
Mentor Texts
Students have been working on different aspects of narrative writing by using a variety of mentor texts as inspiration. This week, we were inspired by David Miller’s, ‘Refugees’ text, and with particular focus on the way the author ‘set the scene’ to engage his readers.
Students were first illustrators to the author’s words, then they became both author and illustrator to their own version of setting the scene for their own narratives. We were very impressed with their efforts!
Max R, 4A
Hudson H – 4A
Maddi N, 4A
Abby L, 4A
Charlotte S, 4A
James R, 4A
Abby L, 4A
Logan H, 4A
Aleia R, 4A
How We Organise Ourselves
Island Escape Incursion
The Mini-Boss incursion in the first week of Term 3 was a terrific opportunity for our Year 4 students to demonstrate teamwork, collaboration, leadership and problem-solving strategies.
Here are some of the students’ favourite activities from the day:
Year 4 had a showcase with Mini Boss. We had lots of fun activities, games and more. We got put into random groups. There were 14 different groups. We all had a chest where we got gold coins and we had to see how many coins we could get so at the end our group might win a prize.
The activity that I liked the most activity was zipline when there was a gummy worm called Sam and we had to make a carrier to carry him safely to the other side, but we only got a cup and Sam so it wouldn’t work. There was a shop where we could buy materials using our coins. There were a few deals such as 1 coin for 1 item or 2 coins for 3 items, which my group chose. Our items were string, tape and pipe cleaners. I think that those items were quite smart to choose because that's what we thought would match our plan the best. There were 3 things we want to succeed in: best looking, fastest and keeping Sam from falling out. Luckily, we had a plan for Sam's safety… we would stick him to the base of our carrier with our tape.
For the challenge of the fastest it was a tournament laid out in knockouts. We were called the ‘Golden Pineapples’ and we were versing the ‘Puffer Fish’ who had a very good carrier. Then it was time to race. It was a draw in the first game so we did a redo of the race. Sadly the ‘Puffer Fish’ won. My whole team was devastated. But in the end the ‘Puffer Fish’ came somewhere near 4th and the winners of the tournament were ‘Coconut Beach’. The winners of the whole thing were ‘Sandy Coconut Titanic’ who won the prize of gummy snakes. They had 34 coins.
This is my group in another activity called Tallest Tower:
By Alex - 4C
Guess what we did on Friday 19/7!?
The whole of year 4 came into 4C and we did an AMAZING incursion.
It was probably my favourite incursion.
We did so many fun activities but I’m just going to be talking about the zipline activity.
So, we were all in groups that the teachers put together and we had to make up a team name - my group’s name was the Palm Trees and we had to come up with chant. I was in group 4 with: Evelyn, Ned H, Ethan, Bastion and Madden.
So, for the Zipline activity we were all sent to our tables to plan what our zipline bucket would look like while they were setting up a shop that we can spend our coins on. (Every group got a little chest that had 3 coins in it and each activity you win you get some coins.) When the shop was open 1 person from each group went down to the other end to the shop to take a look at what they thought they needed for the zipline bucket.
When everyone was back at their groups the Fin, Scotty and Annie (the people who ran the whole incursion) started the timer and we all began quickly but neatly creating our buckets. When we all had finished I saw one that looked like a beach or a tropical place and one with stars all over it. They all look very well done and creative.
When we came down the other end, we saw sticky tape on the floor making a box shape and it was like a stop point so we weren't allowed in it because the ziplines were in it.
We also had a little gummy worm called Sam and we had to make sure he stayed in the bucket otherwise even if your bucket made it to the bottom, you would still lose against the other team.
When my team was up, I was really nervous that our bucket wouldn’t make it but since we had a peg on the front it would make it heavier, so we won the first round and the second and when we got into the semi-final we lost against another team.
By Izzie – 4C
We did an activity called Zipline. The challenge was we had to make a safe zipline made out of different items to get Sam the gummy worm to the bottom of the floor without him falling out of the zipline. Each group was given a cup and if we wanted to get more items we had to go to the stall and use our pirate coins we were given as payment. My group bought some string and a pipe cleaner and after we got all of the things we needed; we started building. When the timer finished, we had to stop building and head down to the other end of the room and the instructors attached 2 strings from the wall down to the floor.
The instructors called 2 groups up and they clipped their carriage onto the strings, and we all counted down from 3, and then the carriages flew down to the floor. In the end there were 2 teams left - Coconut Beach and Captain Cook. Coconut Beach won and they got a packet of snakes.
Then it was the end of the day and we said our goodbyes and thank yous, and went home.
By Freya – 4C
My favorite activity was when we had to build a Zip Line for Sam the (gummy worm) and it had to be safe for Sam. In my group were Finn, Hugo, Aden, Avie and Izzie and our group name was Sandy Coconut Titanic. We only had certain materials we could buy at a ‘shop’ that Fin, Scotty and Annie managed. We had to spend our group’s pirate coins that we kept in a chest that you filled coins with after a activity if you came top 3.
The materials that we could use were string, sticky tape, paper clips, pipe cleaners and cups and we also had 1 cup that Sam came in.
A lot of groups connected 2 cups together or just used 1 cup and added stuff. Our group all had different jobs - Finn cut 1 cup in half and made a little seat for Sam, I made the thing that the zip line went down on with paper clips, Hugo made something that was pointy so it could go down fast, Aden got the materials that we needed and Avie and Izzie decorated it because the leaders chose the 3 best decorated. There was a Grand Finale at the end for the fastest zip line and also, the group that had the most coins from all the activities at the end got a prize!!!
It then was lunch and then after lunch they built the zip line and we all did our finishing touches.
The overall scores were added up and Coconut Beach were the winners of the fastest zip line but 3 teams got most decorative and our team was 1 of them. We got 5 coins for the most decorative zip line. And finally they added up all the coins in every group and the winner of all the activities was… Sandy Coconut Titanic!!!! And the prize was to share Sam's cousins!!
By Cormac – 4C
There were lots of things and games in this incursion but the one I’m telling you about is Captain’s Command.
Captain’s Command is like Simon says – the actions were walk the plank which is like arms out like aeroplane wings and you’re like walking on a tight rope then there was scrub the deck which you had to bend down to the floor and your hand on the floor would go side to side like you’re washing a deck and another one was captain’s coming where you were like a soldier and you had to stand straight with one hand above your eye brows then you flicked it off to the left or right which ever you prefer.
The last one was climb the ladder which was like your feet were on REALLY hot sand so one foot was like up down up down up down and your hands were like digging with your hands in the dirt or the sand and you would do the arm action and the feet action all together and it would be like climbing a ladder.
The first level was just saying the action then everyone doing it so it was very easy but the second level was when they said scrub the deck you had to do the walk the plank it wasn’t too hard for me then level three was REALLY hard when they said scrub the deck you had to do walk the plank and when they said walk the plank you had to do scrub the deck and when they said climb the ladder you had to do captain’s coming and when they said Captain’s coming you had to do climb the ladder. The last three standing were the winners.
1st was Maddi in the group called Island 8 so that group got 5 coins for winning. 2nd was Evelyn which was in the group called the Palm Trees. 3rd was Lila which was in the same group as Maddi and that’s what happened while we were playing captain’s command.
By Ellie – 4C
I was in a group with Ella, Jacob, Zac and Xavier. My favourite activity of Island escape was zipline. The goal was to have the fastest zipline without the gummy worm falling out.
We were given one carboard cup and a gummy worm. We had to use our coins to get the rest of the materials. We used 2 coins to buy another carboard cup, paperclips and sticky tape. We put the gummy worm inside one of the cardboard cups and the other on top and sticky taped it together so he wouldn’t fall out because if he fell out you would be eliminated.
Next, we made two little holes on the cup so we could put a handle on it, but the handle had to be removable. Everyone used string for their handle but we used the paperclip so it would be faster. Then we decorated it different shades of blue. It was time for the race - my team was excited! We versed some of the other teams. Our team's name was Coconut Beach. We won the first round! We were so happy.
We beat the other teams we raced against too! It was time for the finals. It was Coconut Beach versus Captain Cook. We were excited and nervous... but we won! The paperclip handle really helped our zip line go faster! We got ten more coins because we won. Then they told everyone the final results. 3rd place was Coconut Beach with 24 coins! 2nd place was Mighty Coconuts with 25 coins and Sandy Coconut Titanics won with 25 coins. With every place there was only one coin difference!
It was a really fun day.
By Eva – 4C
Maps away!
We all sat down in our groups. Fin, Scotty and Annie who were the educators explained that we had to use the map to solve the questions. We got two pieces of paper - one was a map and one was a sheet to write down our answers. One person from each group had to walk to Scotty and he told them a question. When they came back everyone had to work together to solve the problem. Every group had miniature chests with coins to earn and collect.
We already had coins from the last task. For every question we got right, we got a coin. There were nine questions that we had to answer. We used the map to figure out the answers. Our group was called the Sandy Coconut Titanic and we only got one question wrong. I had a really good time and hope we do it again someday.
(This is a different task)
By Hugo – 4C
Captain’s command:
Captains command is a game when you do what the captain says but if you do something different you are out. The actions are walk the plank, climb the rigging, captain’s coming and scrub the deck but there was a twist because we were too good. The twist was that scrub the deck became climb the rigging and walk the plank became captain’s coming. A lot of people got out straight away including some people in my team. It was last team/person standing.
I got out not long after that then Joe was the last person left in our group. But then Joe sadly got out because he got confused with climb the rigging and captain’s coming. I think there were about 5 people left after that and two of them were from team 8, Maddi and Lila. They were very good! It went on for ages until it was just Maddi and Evelyn left but Evelyn was a bit too late compared to Maddi, so Maddi and her group received 4 coins.
By Oscar D – 4C
Lilly – 4C
ZIP LINE
My favourite activity was probably the zip line. In our groups (containing 4-6 kids) we had to create a zip line carrier to travel down a piece of string which was the zip line and we had to race with other groups to see whose creation was faster. There was also a competition to decide the three coolest designs. Every group got a paper cup and a gummy worm (we had to keep in our cups and make sure it did not fall out while on the zip line) to start them off. Also, since we all needed more materials, we had to use some of the coins we earned to buy them (you got coins by working together or winning activities). My group bought 2 rubber bands, another cup, a pipe cleaner and a paper clip. We all agreed on a pretty cool design and got to work straight away. When we finished I looked around and saw that a everyone had a really good style. Everyone was called to the floor and the races began. When my group was called up I was quite nervous but also eager to see who would go on to the next round. In the end of the first round, we won! We went on to the next round and won that too. This meant we were in the semifinals. We stood up and took our place but didn’t win. Even so I was super happy we had gotten that far. We sat down and watched the finals and the team that won was called Coconut Beach! We all had a fun time and I would LOVE to do it again.
By Lilly – 4C
Saving Sam is an activity we did for our Mini boss incursion. In my group was Ned, Noah, Declan, Betty and Lilian and we named our team the Coco Canon. Saving Sam is where you get a cup lifesaver and a gummy worm to set it up.
To play you had to put Sam on top of the cup and the lifesaver under the cup and you all got a paper clip. We had to try to get Sam in the life saver without it touching the table or you would have to restart all over again. And you couldn’t touch Sam with your hands or you got a 30 second penalty and couldn't touch it at all for 30 seconds but luckily my group didn’t touch him. If you finished there was a challenge for you to do to earn extra coins which was to beat the Mini Boss record of putting Sam into the life saver which was 11 seconds!
My group did the first challenge about five times and you had to get one of the Mini Boss instructors to watch you do it which was really annoying because we had to do it again in front of them to prove you could do it and my group eventually did! We moved on to the extra activity which was really hard to beat and my group couldn't do it because we didn’t have the skill and we weren't fast enough so we didn’t get the extra coins.
After it was finished, and it was time for fruit break then moving on to another activity but saving Sam was really fun to do and hard which made it an excellent team challenge.
By Eddy – 4C
At the start of the day, the Island Escape instructors started by introducing themselves. One was Fin, one was Scotty and one was Annie. They were all really nice and cool which meant that it was going to be an amazing incursion.
My favourite activity was Captains' commands. It’s a game where we had to do what Fin said and if you did the wrong move or you did the right move but you were too slow, we were out. The game started off really well - not many people were out and it was really easy until Fin said he will put 2 out of 4 moves in reverse and those 2 moves were scrub the deck and climb the rope. Scrub the deck is where you have to crouch down and rub the floor and climb the rope means you have to act like you are climbing an invisible rope so if he said climb the rope you would have to do the actions of scrub the deck and if he said scrub the deck you would have to do the actions for climb the rope.
All of the teams were doing pretty well at this and it got to the point where we were doing such a good job at this that he reversed all of the 4 actions around! For walk the plank you had to act like Captain’s coming and for Captain’s coming you had to act like you were walking a plank. All of our team members were out besides Evelyn who was coming fourth until one of the other girls got out. Evelyn was coming third until one more went out and there were 2 people remaining including Evelyn. They were doing so well but then she got out.
At the end we got 2 coins to add to our treasure box we got at the start of the incursion. We were working towards earning enough coins to fill the bucket up and make it overflow so that we would have enough money to pay the pirates to take us home and it worked! We all had so much fun and they taught us lots of things.
By Ethan – 4C