Year 4

Year 4 November Newsletter

Special Events

Camp 

It has been 2 weeks since our Year 4 camp and students are still buzzing with excitement and reflecting on the fabulous time they had panning for gold, learning how gold is made and their underground mine tour. In the education sessions our students were able to proudly share their knowledge of Australia’s migration history and what life was like during the Ballarat Gold Rush. 

Diwali 

On Thursday October 31st we celebrated Diwali at Gilgai Plains, many students in Year 4 proudly wore traditional clothing and our classes participated in Diwali activities.

Literacy

Knowledge

We are now coming to the end of our Civics and Citizenship Unit focused on Local Government. Students have a strong understanding of what services local government provides and which local government they belong to. Students have examined rules and laws and can identify the difference between the two and explain how they are created. Our next Core Knowledge Unit is ‘Celebrations Around the World.” Students will be looking at different cultures' celebrations, customs and traditions. 

Writing

For writing, we have been working on Information reports. We have learnt all about fact vs opinion and what makes a strong informational piece. As a class we have made a plan and turned it into a piece for an audience to learn all about rules and laws with a strong focus on using subject specific vocabulary such as penalty, enforce and authority. 

Numeracy

In Numeracy, we have been working on solving worded problems. The students are learning to identify key information and decide which operation to use based off of the language used in the problem. 

We have also continued building our knowledge on telling the time, focusing on phrases like “quarter to” and “quarter past,” as well as reading time to the nearest minute. Students are becoming familiar with the difference between AM and PM, an exciting skill that helps them understand time in real-life situations. It would be wonderful if you could give your child plenty of opportunities at home to practise telling the time on both analogue and digital clocks—every little bit of practice helps!

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

In SEL we have been learning all about gratitude and being mindful. The aim this month has been to slow ourselves down and appreciate things around us, we have been outside to investigate our surroundings and journal our discoveries. Students will begin to focus on positive self talk and how this can impact your self esteem! 

Auslan

We have been learning all about telling the time using Auslan! Students worked to learn new signs such as: today, tomorrow, yesterday, morning, afternoon, night, day, before and after. This month we have also reviewed all the previous signs we have learnt this year and used them to communicate to our peers. 

On Tuesday 3rd December we are very excited to be having Auslan Education Services, our Auslan program provider visit our school.  Each class will have the an opportunity to meet and interact with a Deaf person. The team attending on the day will be a Team Leader, a Deaf team member, and an Interpreter. The Deaf team member will begin by presenting to the children about their life as a Deaf person, followed by signing with the students, and some question time. This will be a valuable incursion as this may be students’ first interaction with a Deaf person and gives them their first look at Deaf culture. Each year level will have a 30-minute session on the day.