Curriculum News, Year 4
Term 1, 2024

This term we have embarked on our yearlong, ‘Sharing the planet’ unit of inquiry, where we explore our Rights/Responsibilities. We will then move to our ‘How the world works’ unit of inquiry, where the students will be understanding the way materials behave and interact.

Students have had an intensive start to Year 4 by attending the Swimming Program and are excited to be part of the House Swimming Carnival coming up in February.

Wellbeing continues to be a priority in Year 4 with the Resilience Project, RRRR and the Zones of Regulation. We are encouraging students to reflect on what they are grateful for each day and to be kind and inclusive in all interactions with students and teachers.

Units of Inquiry

SHARING THE PLANET

All children have rights regardless of who they are.

Lines of inquiry

The rights that all children should have
The similarities and differences between a right and a responsibility
Whether these rights differ throughout the world

Concepts

Connection, Causation, Responsibility

Approaches to learning

Social Skills:

respecting others
getting along
caring
resolving conflict

Learner Profile Attributes

Throughout this unit as IB Learners we will strive to be-

Caring and Principled

HOW THE WORLD WORKS

Understanding the way materials behave and interact determines how people use them.

Lines of inquiry

The different forms of matter
The way matter works
The way matter can change
The way we use matter

Concepts

Form, Function, Change

Approaches to learning

Thinking Skills

how things work and why
how properties of things depend on how we use them
reflections on predictions

Learner Profile Attributes

Throughout this unit as IB Learners we will strive to be Balanced and Risk Takers.

Literacy

Reading

We are using the CAFÉ strategy (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding Vocabulary) to continue to become better readers. These strategies are taught and modelled by teachers during whole class reading sessions.

This term students will begin conferencing one on one with teachers setting goals under these headings. Students are encouraged to read in a variety of ways, through the Daily 5 – Read to Self, Read to Someone and Listen to Reading. We encourage students to read at home on a regular basis.

To support this habit, from Week 4, students will be required to write what they are reading at least three times a week in their Year 4 student diaries and have this signed by both parent and teacher at the end of each week.

Writing

Students have commenced exploring a variety of the six writing traits through the Daily 5 strategy - 'Work on Writing'. The aim for Term 1 will be to work on conventions and organisation through recount and procedural structures in writing. Our goals will be determined after assessing the students’ initial writing pieces. The likely focus will be idea generation and sentence fluency.

The Writer’s Notebook will also be used to encourage free writing and the development of ideas or techniques that support our core writing program.

Spelling

Students will continue to practise their individual spelling words in line with the SMART Spelling approach. They will also investigate concept-specific words linked to our Units of Inquiry.

Speaking & Listening

Students will experience a variety of listening and speaking opportunities sharing in whole class and group work.

Numeracy

Number

Our main focus for numeracy this term is on number and place value. Students will model, represent and order numbers to at least tens of thousands. They will understand the value of a digit depending on its place in a number.

We will be investigating odd and even numbers and continue to practise multiplication facts to increase students’ automatic recall of their times tables. Students will solve equations using the four processes with the focus on addition and subtraction, and they will solve multi-step worded problems through Matharoo.

We begin each lesson with revision, a ‘Number Talk’ or related maths game to build mathematical literacy and confidence.

Measurement

This term the students will be investigating converting between units of measurement. They will compare units of length, mass, capacity and temperature, and solve equations relating to these. Students will practise telling the time using analogue, digital and 24hour time, and use and read a variety of timetables. Measurement concepts are also reinforced through Matharoo problem solving each week.