Grade 4 News
Important Reminders/Dates
Tuesday, May 13: Grade 4 City Excursion
Monday, June 9: Monarch’s Birthday - Public Holiday
Friday, June 13: Middle School Hoop Time
Friday, June 27: School Disco
Thursday, July 3: Cultural Day
Friday, July 4: Last Day Term 2 - 2.30pm finish
Looking Ahead to the Year:
Tuesday 2nd & Wednesday 3rd September - School Production
Monday, October 6 - Wednesday, October 8: Grade 4 Camp - ADANAC
Weekly Timetable
Learning in Action - a preview of the term
Literacy:
This fortnight we have completed our word work on the word stem ‘form’ meaning ‘structure/shape/appearance’. Some words we focused on included uniform, conform, deform and formula. We have now moved onto looking into the Greek base of numbers including mon (one), di (two) and tri (three).
During Literature sessions we have continued to explore the text ‘The Arrival’ by Shaun Tan. As this is a wordless text, the students have had to use their inferencing skills to determine the storyline, emotions and meaning within the text. Our main character, the unnamed man, has become more familiar with his new surroundings and has made connections by sharing his story with other people who have escaped from various terrors in their home countries to the refuge of a new place.
We have been exploring a range of vocabulary linked to the themes within The Arrival including ‘companion’, ‘flee’ and ‘monotonous’. We have also been using subordinating conjunctions (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So) to join independent clauses to create compound sentences.
Preview: Over the next fortnight we will be continuing our adventure with the unnamed man in The Arrival. We will also be continuing our word work on Greek Numbers as well as exploring list writing and summarising sentences in writing.
Maths:
Just a quick note to say that a lot of the upcoming strategies and concepts are going to start involving students thinking multiplicatively. We will have a high focus on multiplication in term 3, however it does cross over into other concepts. We have seen from daily reviews that many students are struggling with multiplication, it would be great if we can get your support at home to have the students begin practicing their times tables. This will aid the students in maths for the rest of their lives. We greatly appreciate your support on this.
This fortnight in Maths we have learnt about many different strategies to help us solve addition problems. We learnt to use the jump strategy, split strategy, and vertical addition with/without regrouping. Some of the Grade 4 students also learnt how to balance equations - see if you can solve the equation (below) that these students challenged themselves with.
We also continued our graphing work, collecting the temperatures of each month of the year in a country of our choice or counting particular letters in a page of a book. We then recorded the data we had gathered and made observations about the data. Over the next fortnight, students will record this data into a graph.
Preview: Students will begin looking at subtraction strategies and the relationship between addition and subtraction, along with finalising our graphing unit.
Wellbeing:
We are nearing the end of our Friendology lessons. In this final stage, students are learning how to respond to intentionally unkind or mean behaviour using Quick Comebacks. They are also exploring the difference between a Friendship Fire (a conflict between friends) and Mean-on-Purpose behaviour. In addition, students will learn strategies for handling tricky social situations, such as feeling worried, being caught in the middle when friends aren't getting along (picking sides), feeling left out (ditching friends), and dealing with copycats.
Preview: Students will begin looking at problem solving strategies. Students will learn how to use effective communication and cooperation skills to build positive relationships in group settings. They will explore strategies for resolving conflict and making decisions that support group success. Students will also learn when it is appropriate to take on a leadership role and how to apply leadership skills. Additionally, they will develop strategies to help them respond safely and confidently in situations that make them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
From The Grade 4 Teachers
Miss Emonson, Mrs Flack, Mrs Waldron and Mrs Ward
Updates from around the school
Green Team News:
Under the guidance of Mrs Stokol and Mrs Alexander, the Green Team met for the first time this week. What a meeting it was! All up across years 3-5 we have close to 50 very excited and passionate students wanting to do their part. Whether it’s helping to keep the school free of rubbish, looking after and developing the plants gardens, educating the school community about sustainability, there was a buzz in the air as students shared their ideas and signed up for roles. A new initiative we’ve introduced this term is the collection of 10c containers. The special lunch day during last term raised $21. We look forward to saving these containers on a daily basis from going to landfill and turning them into cash. Money raised will be invested back into Green Team initiatives.
Involvement in the Green Team is all inclusive. It’s not too late for your child to get involved should they wish.