Year 4 News
Reading
In Reading, Year 4 students have been developing their ability to make inferences when reading non-fiction texts. They have also been exploring the problem and solution structure in non-fiction texts. Students have identified problems presented by authors and used evidence and their own knowledge to infer possible solutions.
Students have also explored the different themes in fiction texts, identifying themes as concepts or big ideas such as courage, honesty, perseverance, friendship, kindness and resilience. They have learned to look beyond the events of a story and consider what the characters’ experiences can teach us about these bigger ideas.
“An inference means making a good guess using text clues and prior knowledge.” - Kayan 4A
“A problem for Capybaras is that their habitat is getting smaller because of trees being cut down so a solution would be to grow more trees.” - Aidan 4B
“The theme of The Umbrella was kindness.” - Isabelle 4A
Writing
Over the past fortnight, Year 4 students have been developing their narrative writing by creating problems and solutions within their stories. They have focused on revising their drafts by adding literary devices, descriptive detail and characters’ thoughts and feelings to make their writing more engaging. They have also been learning to use conjunctions and connectives to link ideas, improve sentence structure and create more cohesive writing.
“I included a simile in my writing. He was as fast as a race car.” - Ekam 4A
“The mountain was a sky scraper. That is a metaphor.” - Isaac 4A
“I included a scary creature and a plot twist in my narrative writing” - Elora 4B
“We have learnt about literary devices to include in our writing. We learnt similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, personification and alliteration.” - Leo 4B
“The problem in my narrative is that a bunch of people in the school have mind control chips in their teeth.” - Deepti 4C
Maths
In Maths, Year 4 students have been developing their understanding of measurement. They have explored mass, capacity, length, perimeter and area using a range of practical activities to measure, compare and solve problems. Students have been applying their measurement skills to real-world situations and explaining their mathematical thinking.
“Length is measured in centimetres, metres, millimetres and kilometres.” - Syona 4A
“My water bottle has mL increments on the side.” - Shiloh 4A
“We measure area using centimetres squared” - Ashutotsh 4B
“Can we find the perimeter of the steps board?” - Chris 4C
Inquiry
Over the past fortnight in Inquiry, Year 4 students have been learning about food chains and habitats. They have been exploring how all living things need energy to survive and how plants and animals obtain this energy in different ways. Students learned about producers, consumers and decomposers, and how energy flows through a food chain. Year 4 students then closely investigated the important roles of producers and consumers. They identified producers and consumers in different habitats, including our school environment.
“A flower is a producer.” - Sfakanaky 4A
“Apex predators are at the top of the food chain because nothing can eat them in their natural habitat.” - Hayley 4B
“The first consumer would be the parrot fish.” - Guntaj 4C
“The second consumer is the shark.” - Ryan 4C
Social and Emotional Learning
In SEL, students in Year 4 have been celebrating different weeks of learning. First we had Science week, where students reinforced their Inquiry learning by making a comic book about the journey of a seed, as this Year’s Science Week theme was ‘Seeds of Science: Nurturing Knowledge for All’ and we had been learning about the life cycle of plants.
In Week 7, we had an opportunity to celebrate Book Week by setting class expectations for a cosy reading session. They spoke about the different places we can choose to read in our classroom, whether they prefer to read with background sound like a fireplace or quiet music, and what a responsible reader looks like.
“My seed went on a journey through a country to become an apple.” - Aidan 4B
“The seed at the end of my comic ended up being replanted.” - Iris 4B
AUSLAN -
Over the past two weeks, Year 4 students have learnt and revised signs for restaurant foods and dinner, such as restaurant, dinner, order, chicken schnitzel, chips, pie, meat, and vegetables. They also learnt how to sign School Signs such as, book, pencil, pen, paper, scissors,and rubber. Students had fun practising their School Signs with a game of charades!
“Storm and I are signing ‘whiteboard.” - Georgeuo 4C
Special Events
Book Week -
Last week we celebrated Book Week with the annual CPS Book Week parade. The whole school showed up in amazing outfits, but we must say that Year 4 were dressed brilliantly, with a whole range of books represented through homemade masterpieces and unique creations. It was so wonderful to share a Story of Symphonies with the school community, and we already can’t wait for next year’s parade to see what you all come up with!
“I am Where’s Wally.” - Hibah 4A
“I came as Red from The Descendants”
“I liked dressing up as Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh.” - Grace 4B
“I loved seeing everyone’s costumes.” - Sia 4C
“It was really fun and was good to see everyone’s creations!” - Avtaj 4C
Day Camp (Healesville Sanctuary) -
On Monday, Year 4 attended Healesville Sanctuary as their Day Camp. Students explored the huge range of animals at the sanctuary, which is almost entirely native wildlife. We have been learning about living things and their life cycles in Inquiry, so it was fantastic to take that learning into the real world and apply it to the animals we saw. Everyone had an amazing time and behaved so well; they were a real credit to our school.
“I loved the Tasmanian Devil. It was so cute!” - Taylan 4A
“My favourite part about Healesville Sanctuary was the bird show and the cockatoo unwrapping the sign to thank us for coming.” - Eleen 4B
“I loved the Tasmanian Devils, they were so cute.” - Aditi 4B
“I really liked the animals of the night exhibit because I saw a lot of small, native animals.” - Pouniu 4B
“I want to go to the excursion now!” - Sia and Guntaj 4C