Year 4 News 

Reading

In Reading this fortnight, Year 4 students have been learning about persuasive texts and finding connections in their reading. They identified features like rhetorical questions, emotive language, facts and statistics, and hyperbole in mentor texts such as The Day the Crayons quit, and then used a passage to highlight features they could find. Finally, they looked in the books that they were reading to see if they could find any of the features.  

This week, they began looking at the connections that can be made to the books they read. They started by understanding the different connections; text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world. After reading and making connections as a class, they read their own books and thought about the experiences of the characters and whether they’ve had anything similar happen to them, or read any books with similar themes. 

“A shark can grow up to 6m long. That is a fact.” - Gurnoor 4A

“We have been learning about rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is a question that you already know the answer to.” - Sadie 4C

“We have been learning about persuasive text features.” - Zoeya 4C

Writing 

During Week 4, Year 4 students published their procedural texts. They focused on neat handwriting, spacing, and overall page presentation to ensure their published work was clear, organised, and visually appealing. 

Students also began planning their persuasive writing pieces, exploring how to develop strong opinions and support them with convincing reasons and examples. They applied persuasive language features learnt in Reading, such as emotive language, rhetorical questions, hyperbole, and facts and statistics, to further strengthen and support their arguments.

Alongside this, the Year 4 cohort have continued practising their handwriting skills, with a focus on the following criteria:

The Year 4 teachers have been using this to assess whether students are ready to obtain their pen licence.

“I think I’m almost ready for my pen licence.” - Isabelle 4A

“I am writing a persuasive text about why you should do sports.” - Nina 4A

“In my persuasive text, I was writing about why Roblox is better than Minecraft” - Hasan 4B

Maths 

Over the past two weeks in Maths, Year 4 students have begun a unit on Data and Statistics. They explored how to collect, organise and display data. Students learnt about different types of data, including categorical data and discrete numerical data. They have also investigated chance experiments by flipping coins and rolling dice, recording outcomes using tally tables and discussing the different patterns in their results. Students represented data using pictographs and column graphs, learning the key features needed to make graphs clear and accurate. They have been learning to analyse outcomes by identifying the most and least common results and discussing how results can vary. 

Students have also compared different data sets, drawn conclusions and used their findings to make and evaluate predictions. 

“When you flip a coin, you have a 50/50 chance of it landing on heads or tails.” - Tyler 4A

“We make tally charts and then turn our data into a graph” - Aidan 4B

“We have been using data and displaying it as a pictograph.” - Georgeuo 4C

Inquiry 

This fortnight in Inquiry, Year 4 students have been researching Australia’s neighbouring countries; New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. They have investigated each country’s climate, flora and fauna, significant landmarks, and general information such as the capital city, distance from Australia, population and currency. Students have been recording important information and their discoveries from their research in their created ‘Passports’. This has been such a fun and engaging way for them to document their learning.

“In New Zealand, they speak English and Maori.” - Olivia 4A

“This is what a New Zealand coin looks like.” - Shiloh 4A

“We have been learning about New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste” - Elora 4B

“New Zealand’s continent is Oceania/Australia.’ - Ansh 4C

Social and Emotional Learning / SWPBS

This fortnight in SEL, Year 4 students focused on recognising the seriousness of different scenarios. They voted on a wide range of scenarios by using their bodies to show the size of the problem. For example, if the problem seemed small, they stayed seated, if the problem was medium, they stood up, and if it seemed serious, they stretched their hands up high. Students spoke about how problems can become more serious over time if they are not resolved.

In SWPBS, Year 4 students explored our school value of Resilience and how to demonstrate problem-solving behaviours. They worked collaboratively to brainstorm independent problem-solving strategies by identifying responsible actions they can take before asking for help, such as checking resources, rereading instructions, asking a friend or beginning an appropriate early finisher task. 

“We have been practising self-sufficiency by solving small problems on our own when our teacher is busy conferencing or we have finished our work.” Ashuthosh 4B

“We learnt about the differences between serious, medium and small problems.” - Deepti 4C

“A serious problem would be someone breaking their leg.” - Zarshah 4C

AUSLAN

In Auslan, Year 4 students have revisited and revised familiar signs from Term 1 and the start of Term 2, including topics such as food, transport, shops and outside the house. Students also explored picnic lunch vocabulary, building their knowledge of food-related signs. They learned and practised a range of food and used ‘list buoys’ to sequence items in Auslan. 

“We learnt about picnic signs. This is the sign for rug.” - Ekam 4A

“This is sandwich.” - Francesca 4A

“We learnt to sign cheese, meat, noodles and other picnic signs” - Holly 4B

Special Events

Education Week Open Morning - 

Last Thursday, CPS held its Education Week Open Morning as part of the statewide celebration of public education in Victoria. Year 4 students had a fantastic time showcasing their learning in action and displaying the different learning experiences happening across the Year 4 Cohort! The open morning was a fantastic opportunity to share the positive learning culture within our school community. 

Pen Licence - 

It has been an exciting time in Year 4 as students have been working hard towards earning their pen licence! Students have shown dedication, persistence, and pride in improving their handwriting presentation. The Year 4 teachers have been impressed by the efforts students are putting into forming neat, consistent letters and taking extra care with their written work. Congratulations to the students who have already received their licence - we look forward to celebrating more achievements throughout the year!