Grade 4 News
Important Reminders/Dates
Hats - As per our school's SunSmart policy, all students are required to wear hats till the end of April 2025.
Tuesday, February 11: Curriculum Day
Monday, February 17: Lysterfield Community Carnival 4.30pm
Monday, February 24: School Photos
Tuesday 25 & Wednesday 26 February: Meet the Teacher
Friday, February 28th: Cross Country
Monday, March 10: Labour Day Public Holiday
Friday, April 4: Last Day Term 1, 2.30pm dismissal
Looking Ahead to the Year:
Monday, October 6 - Wednesday, October 8: 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
Learning in Action
Literacy:
The last fortnight has seen the Grade 4s begin their literacy routines. We have delved straight into word work, focusing on the Latin base word spect/spec/spict meaning observe or see.
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. In our sentence-level sessions, we looked at different sentences such as statements, questions, exclamations and commands. Kensuke’s kingdom also had us thinking about sailing. This led us to our persuasive writing all about sailing.
Preview for Learning: We will continue reading Kensuke’s Kingdom, learning new vocabulary and focusing on persuasive writing.
Maths:
We have set ourselves up for the term, getting our hooks and maths masters running. We also had our maths brains switched on in the maths game Brag.
This fortnight we also began our applied topic of length. Students explored the different tools we can use to measure length, thought about what tools would be best for measuring particular objects and began measuring items in mm.
Preview for Learning: In the coming fortnight we will introduce our maths daily reviews, along with beginning our work on our whole number unit.
Inquiry:
Next week we will be commencing our inquiry unit ‘Healthy Me’. Over the first two weeks, we will be looking at our personal strengths and how they vary from person to person. We will also look at how we can use these strengths to be a good friend, classmate and community member. We will be role-playing various situations to help us consider the best ways to react in different situations that could arise in our everyday interactions and relationships with others.
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.
Preview for learning: T
From The Grade 4 Teachers
Mrs Ebony Waldron, Mrs Hayley Ward, Miss Emonson