English

Reading

This term students will continue to consolidate a range of skills and strategies that support their reading fluency and comprehension. In class, students will receive explicit instruction modelling these skills and have opportunities to independently practise new knowledge on mentor texts. These texts will relate to our inquiry focus for the term ‘Biomimicry’. Particular areas of focus will include:

• Supporting comprehension by improving student capacity to summarise the main idea of the text with key details.
• Supporting students to decode text-specific vocabulary and show their understanding by explaining the definitions in their own words.
• Teaching students to write about reading to support their ability to formulate questions, opinions or curiosities about the information they are reading.

To support your child’s reading at home, you can refer to your parent guide for questioning and prompting deeper thinking about the texts your child is reading. Please get in touch with your child’s classroom teacher if you require another copy. 

Spelling:

This term, students will continue to develop their phonological and morphological understanding of words. They will receive explicit instruction three times a week which will support their understanding of how letters and sounds connect, spelling rules and conventions of English language. Term 4 foci will include:

• R-controlled vowels (e.g. /ar/, /er/, /or/)
• Common vowel patterns (e.g. /oi/, /ear/, /aw/)
• Silent letters
• Contractions and possessive apostrophes.
• Consolidation of prefixes previously learned.
• A range of suffixes. 

Writing

Our writing focus for Term 4 is narrative writing. Students will explore the structure, characteristics and tools  of narrative writing in greater depth. They will expand upon their ability to write engaging narrative pieces with an opening, build-up, problem, resolution and ending. Their writing will be inspired by a range of visual prompts and  mentor texts used throughout the term, including ‘James and the Giant Peach’ by Roald Dahl. 

Students will also continue to improve their ability to produce pieces of writing using technology, including iPads and laptops. Students will regularly complete weekly tasks that involve typing up pieces of work on Google Docs or Slides. This is also consolidated by use of the online platform ‘Typing Club’ to support touch-typing fluency. 

Further resources to support your child’s writing at home can be found on Compass under the ‘School Resources’ tab. If you would like any further resources or information, please contact your child’s classroom teacher.