Grade 4 News

Dear Year 4 Families,

We are so excited to celebrate the final few weeks of Term 1 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 this term. 

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 

Morphology

Students have been learning about the prefix co-, en- and the suffix -age 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.

co- means with or together (e.g., coexist– live in a place together).

en- means near, in or within (e.g., enchant– fill someone with great delight).

-age creates a word into a noun (e.g., pack+age = package - a parcel or box).

Grammar & Syntax

In Grammar and Syntax, we have been focusing on supporting students to understand how to improve their writing and add detail to their sentences.  Sentence expansion, as taught through The Writing Revolution method, involves adding specific details to simple sentences to make them more descriptive and complex. This method helps students build stronger writing skills by focusing on adding key elements such as who, what, when, where, why, and how.

In class, we practice expanding sentences by starting with a basic sentence and then gradually adding more information. For example, we might begin with "The cat slept," and then expand it to "The small, fluffy cat slept peacefully on the soft, blue couch in the sun." Through these exercises, we learn how to use adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and conjunctions to give our sentences more detail and clarity. This method helps us organise our thoughts and express them in a more engaging and precise way!

Writing 

In class, students have been learning the story The Cobbler of Krakow and Smok the Dragon of Wawel, which follows a narrative structure similar to the classic "defeat the dragon" 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. Now, they will begin planning their own stories, using these tools to create their own "defeat the monster" narratives.

Literature/Knowledge

In Literature, we have been learning to explore South Australian geography, local habitats, and ecosystems through the text Storm Boy by Colin Thiele. This book has deepened our understanding of the Coorong National Park and its wetlands, as we follow the characters’ connection to the land and its environment. By learning about the unique coastal and wetland ecosystems of the Coorong, we have gained insight into how these landscapes shape the lives of both humans and animals.

Maths 

In Maths, students have been 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.

Other News:

Our Year 3 and 4 students had an exciting and enriching experience at the National Gallery of Victoria this week, where they explored the vibrant Yayoi Kusama art exhibition. The visit was an excellent opportunity for them to deepen their understanding of art techniques in a real-world setting. Students were captivated by Kusama's bold use of color, intricate patterns, and immersive installations, sparking their creativity and inspiring new ideas for their own artistic expression. It was a day full of inspiration and joy, and the students thoroughly enjoyed the chance to connect with art in such a dynamic and engaging environment.

Last week, we celebrated Harmony Day, which provides opportunity for us as educators to celebrate the rich diversity in our classrooms and communities. It's a day to embrace inclusion, respect, and the unique contributions of every individual within our classroom and school. We would like to thank all families that attended our whole school assembly and open morning where we inspired unity, celebrated our differences, and continue nurturing an inclusive atmosphere where everyone feels welcomed and appreciated. 

Thank you for your continued support in continuing and strengthening our home and school relationship, which is so vital for students. We look forward to welcoming all families back in Term 2 after the break 🙂

Miss Lochhead, Miss Carlesso and Mrs Schache