Year 4 News

From Lina, Year 4 teacher

Hold onto your hats! Term 4 is here, and it’s going to be a big one! With exciting projects and plenty of learning still to come, Grade 4s are gearing up for an action-packed finish to the year. This is what we have been working on this week in 4C!

Writing

Our Grade 4s dove into ‘Up North at the Cabin’ by Marsha Wilson Chall and were amazed by the author’s descriptive language! Using this as inspiration, they wrote about their own special places, each including a memorable repeated refrain to make their writing sing.

“We have been working on repeated refrains, which is when you start your paragraph with the same phrase every time. People in the class like how you don’t have to think about sentence starters every time, and how the fluency of the story works. I like how they are short but effective stories about our special place. I did the Blue Spring, which is special to me because my family owns a giant paddock there.” - Electra 

Reading 

Our Reading focus this term has been Visual Literacy, and 4C have excelled! Students have been analysing and annotating a range of films and engaging picture books to identify the visual elements that enhance storytelling and meaning. Remember… everything a director or illustrator does has a purpose!!

“This week in Reading, we have been learning about Visual Literacy. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s when the pictures in a book or movie tell you what’s happening, even if there aren’t any words. Some examples of visual literacy techniques are gaze, centering, and lighting. An example from my task is I focused on centering. I knew this because the mouse in the picture was placed in the center, while the man was partly cut off. This shows that the focus is meant to be on the mouse and the work being done, rather than the man himself.” - Philips

Maths

“This term we have been learning multiplication and division strategies in maths. I have liked learning new strategies in maths because I haven’t learnt these ways of solving the problems before. It is interesting because I have to break the numbers apart and it is easier to solve… except the 7 times tables! I am still trying to figure that one out!” - Manasvi

 We began our brand new unit on Civics and Citizenships! We will be learning all about what makes a good citizen, how communities work together, and the roles and responsibilities that help our society run smoothly. Watch this space for more work to come!

“Coming up on the year four newsletter for …Civics and Citizenship!

In term four, the year 4’s are sharing the communities we have and belong to. This is what I did for my community project.” - Evelyn 

Wellbeing

Wellbeing sessions and our morning circles this term have centred around the Zones of Regulation. Students have developed a deeper understanding of their emotions and discussed strategies for managing them effectively. It’s been wonderful to see how much more aware and confident they’ve become in identifying their feelings.

“This week in wellbeing, we have been learning about lots of things in wellbeing. Firstly, we have been learning about the Zones of Regulation and checking in on how we have been feeling every time we come into school and after playtimes by pointing at the zone we are feeling. We have also been making comics of scenes where, if you're feeling in the blue, yellow or red zone, looking at solutions to go in the green zone! I enjoyed how I can check in on my emotions every few hours so I can reflect on how I am feeling before going into learning.” - Elliot