Grade 4 News 

Important Reminders & Dates

Upcoming dates/Important Info

Tuesday 17, Wednesday 18th, February 19th : Meet the Teacher

Monday 23rd February: School Photos

Friday 27th February: Cross Country

Monday 9th March: Labour Day Public Holiday

Friday 27th March: House Aths

Thursday 2nd April: Happy Hat Parade

                                         Last Day Term 1 - 2.30pm dismissal

• Hats - As per our school's SunSmart policy, all students are required to wear hats till the end of April 2025.
• Icy Poles will be sold outside the senior school Monday & Tuesday lunch times

Looking Ahead to the Year:

Monday, October 5th - Wednesday, October 7th: Grade 4 Camp - ADANAC

Weekly Timetable

Homework

At Lysterfield Primary School our students work incredibly hard during the day. At 3.30pm when they leave, they need time to unwind and have fun.  We believe that in order to live a happy and healthy life, it is important to participate in extracurricular activities outside school. We want students to join sports clubs, Scouts, do music lessons and art classes as these are important for a child’s overall growth and social connections. We also understand that homework puts a lot of stress on families. 

In addition to our beliefs, there is no evidence that homework in a primary school setting has a marked impact on students' learning or success. What is proven is that reading daily has a significant impact on a child’s ability to decode and comprehend. As such mandated homework at Lysterfield Primary School is limited to reading daily, including the practising of phonics (letter/sound relationships). Level newsletters will outline the expectations around reading and how teachers will support students with having appropriate texts to read. For some students that may not be making the expected progress for their year level, it may be beneficial for the teacher and parents to work together to reinforce the learning from the classroom with follow-up work.

We also understand that some students and families would like to practise other skills at home. To support this, at the beginning of each school year, parents will be provided with a set of additional resources that can be used for students to practise other curriculum areas. This work is not mandated and it is up to parents to implement and monitor, staff will not correct this work.

Adam Wight - Principal

📖 Literacy

The last fortnight has seen the Grade 4s begin their literacy routines. We have delved straight into word work, focussing on Greek numbers and how they are in words we use often. 

We also began our literature unit, reading Kensuke’s Kingdom. We have had a major vocabulary focus, exploring and learning about different words we came across in the book to help us understand the plot and characters. Kensuke’s kingdom also had us thinking about sailing. This led us into our persuasive writing all about sailing. 

Preview - We will continue reading Kensuke’s Kingdom, learning new vocabulary and focusing on persuasive writing.

➗ Maths

The Grade 4 students will be exploring many units this year that involve using their timetables knowledge and think in multiplicative way. From our daily reviews, we’ve noticed that many students are finding multiplication challenging. Any practise that can be done at home to support the students with their timestables would be greatly appreciated. 

If you need ideas, please see the Grade 4 Homework Options pdf under the homework section of this newsletter. 

We have set ourselves up for the term, getting our hooks and maths masters running. 

This fortnight we also began our applied topic of addition and subtraction. In this eight-lesson topic, students will build their prior knowledge of two- and three-digit addition and subtraction, fact families, and using number lines. A key focus of this topic is developing fluency with the standard written algorithm for addition and subtraction. There is also a focus on additive word problem types and how to identify them. 

🧠 Knowledge-Rich Units

Year 4 students will explore the key features of common maps and the different types of maps used by people in the past and present. Students will learn how to use a scale and legend to interpret maps, and make inferences based on the features of maps by connecting it with knowledge of the time period in which they were created. Students will also examine the ways in which maps have evolved over time, and describe the role that technology has played in helping to refine maps. Lastly, students will discuss the impact that maps have had on various aspects of society such as trade and communication, and speculate on how the form and role of maps might change in the future.

🧠 Wellbeing 

At the beginning of every year, there is a focus on Well-being and what it means to be an LPS student. In the past fortnight, students have participated in getting-to-know-you activities, reviewed the learner profiles and been introduced to our 5 new school values - Teamwork, Respect, Aspire, Communication and Kindness. They completed a Friendology activity on their character strengths and even wrote ‘shout outs’ to other students in the class. 

Preview for Learning - Over the next two weeks, students will continue with the Friendology unit, focusing on their Inner Ninja and Making Friends strategies. 

Grade 4 Teaching Team

Bek Emonson, Will Robinson, Chloe Flack & Hayley Ward