Year 4 News 

Reading

In Reading, Year 4 students continued to develop their comprehension skills through fiction texts. A key focus has been identifying the moral/ lesson of a story and explaining how the characters, events and decisions within the text help communicate this message. Students have also been developing their ability to retell fiction stories in a clear and structured way. They used the 5-Finger Retell strategy to recall the characters, setting, problem, key events and solution, as well as the 5Ws and 1H (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How) to identify and communicate important details from the text.

“The 5 Finger Retell includes the characters, setting, problem, main events and solution.” - Isaac 4A

“We were learning about the 5 Finger Retell. It helps us with reading.” - Ekam 4A

“The moral of the story is ‘It’s important to work hard before it’s too late.” - Georgeuo 4C

“The moral means the lesson the character in the story learns.” - Ryan 4C 

“Using the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How strategy helped me remember all the important details of the story.” - Asinat 4B

Writing

Over the last two weeks, Year 4 students have been working hard to finish their narrative writing pieces. They have edited their work, made sure to include interesting features of the genre they’ve chosen, and added lots of literary devices to help keep their reader interested in their story and some students even chose to include a twist in their story. They are now beginning to publish their work by making small books with all of their edits and improvements. 

“It’s been fun to make our own fable story.” - Nina 4A

“I enjoyed making my own story and publishing my story.” - Isabelle 4A

“I’ve never written this much before!” - Aidan 4B

“I can’t wait for you to read the twist.” - Hayley 4B

Maths

In Maths, Year 4 students have been exploring transformation and location. They learned to describe and perform transformations, including rotations and translations of shapes and developed their understanding of how shapes can move and change position while maintaining their properties. Students also investigated line symmetry and rotational symmetry, identifying symmetrical features and exploring how shapes can be reflected or rotated. 

Another focus has been describing and creating pathways using grid references, with students developing their ability to use directional language and precise instructions to communicate movement across a grid. Students have also been developing their understanding of 2D and 3D shapes, identifying and describing their properties and using mathematical vocabulary to compare and classify different shapes. 

“This shape has been both rotated and translated.” - Tyler 4A

“The triangle has 3 lines of symmetry.” - Taveesh 4A

Inquiry 

This fortnight in Inquiry, Year 4 students have explored more deeply the similarities and differences between decomposers and detritivores. They have also been applying all of their learning from the Term 3 Inquiry Unit by planning, drafting, editing, revising and publishing a poster on a different habitat. Students have been labelling and describing their food chains, and using arrows to show the flow of energy. They have also been developing their ability to communicate scientific ideas clearly, using headings, diagrams and scientific vocabulary. Take a look at some of their posters below!

“An ant is a detritivore.” - Kayan 4A

“Both decomposers and detritivores help recycle nutrients.” - Sia 4C

“Decomposers break things down chemically.” - Zoeya 4C

Social and Emotional Learning

In SEL this fortnight, students celebrated their fathers and other important figures in their lives by thinking about a lesson they have been taught by these people, as well as other prompts such as something they always say, something they love to do, and something they are really good at. There were lots of lovely responses and it showed just how much all of our students value the people in their lives. 

On the 10th of September, it was R U OK? Day, a time when everyone is asked to reflect on their wellbeing and think about the steps they can take to make someone feel better. Although there is a specific day for R U OK?, this year’s theme focused on checking in on your friends any day so that we can all make better connections to the people around us. Students completed conversation bingo, with lots of different questions to ask people in their class, and made R U OK? themed chatterboxes, which gave them helpful conversation starters. 

“My dad taught me how to snowboard.” - Isabelle 4A

“My favourite thing to do with my dad is play soccer.” - Sfakanaky 4A

“My favourite memory is when I went to the city with my dad.” - Guntaj 4C

“My favourite memory is when my brother took me motorbike riding on a dirt bike track.” - Noah 4C

“My favourite memory is catching my first Pokemon with my father.” - Jasper 4C

“I found someone in my class who likes musicals.” - Hayley 4B

“I found someone born in the same month as me.” - Aidan 4B

AUSLAN -

This fortnight in Auslan, Year 4 students have been building their Auslan vocabulary and understanding how Auslan is structured. They learned a range of nature and nature-walk signs, including tree, mushroom, flower, rock, river, bird, leaves, path, soil and mud. Students have also been exploring Auslan grammar and sentence structure. They learned that Auslan has its own word order and grammatical structure, and that small English words such as a, an, the, is, and to are not used in Auslan. 

“This sign is a river.” - Chris 4C

Special Event

St John’s Ambulance Incursion - 

Over the past 2 weeks, Year 4 students participated in the St John’s Ambulance Incursion. Students built on their first aid knowledge by revising the DRSAB action plan and learning how to check a person’s airway and breathing. They explored and practised placing a person into the recovery position before applying their learning through an interactive first aid game. Year 4 students developed their confidence in responding safely and appropriately in an emergency. 

“If you need help in an emergency, you can call 000.” - Taylan 4A

“We learned about what to do in an emergency. If someone has fainted you put them in the recovery position.” - Hibah 4A

“I learnt how to put someone in the recovery position.” - Sia 4C