Year 4 News 

Reading

Over the past fortnight, our Year 4 students have been diving deep into a range of important reading skills. We have explored inferring, metacognition, summarising, vocabulary development, and text annotation, all while continuing our shared novel, The Boy at the Back of the Class. Students have also begun practising reading with greater expression and fluency, helping them become more confident and engaging readers. It’s been wonderful to see their enthusiasm and growth as they strengthen their comprehension and reading stamina.

“The boy at the back of the class is a very mysterious book with lots of interesting facts. I learned that not everything goes how you want it to go.” - Evelyn 4A

“The main characters wrote a letter to the Queen!” Elina 4B

“My favourite was Chapter 20 - The Coldstream Guards” - Grady 4C

Writing

This fortnight in Writing, students began exploring fractured fairytales — classic stories with a creative twist. We looked at well-known fairytales and discussed what could be changed, such as the setting, a character, or even adding a new twist to the problem. For example, instead of The Three Little Pigs, students explored a version called The Three Ninja Pigs, where the pigs train at a dojo and learn karate to defend themselves from the wolf rather than building strong houses.

Before drafting, students revisited key writing skills including simple, compound, and complex sentences, punctuation and grammar, and using noun phrases to add detail. For example, students expanded a sentence like “The cat slept” into “The fluffy, orange cat slept peacefully on the windowsill.

“Writing is fun because you can make up stories with different protagonists and antagonists.” - Khadijah 4A

“ I am changing the character's personality in the story.” Joseph 4B

Maths 

This fortnight, our Year 4 students continued to extend their understanding of fractions by exploring their connection to decimals. We focused on the place value system beyond the decimal point, introducing tenths and hundredths. Students engaged with hands-on materials such as MAB blocks and 100-grid charts to build concrete understanding of how decimals represent parts of a whole.

We then extended this knowledge into a real-life context through our unit on money. Students learnt about the dollar ($) and cent (¢) symbols, and the importance of the decimal point in separating dollars from cents. They practised finding totals, representing money in different combinations, and partitioning amounts in multiple ways to strengthen their number flexibility.

“Counting money is fun because you start with dollars and then add the cents.” - Zavvy 4A

“We can round cents to dollars” Elisa 4B

“I enjoyed learning about how to use money because I didn't know much” - Abigail 4C

Inquiry

This fortnight in Inquiry, our students have been exploring the fascinating world of rights and laws. We began by looking at unusual laws from around the globe—like the ban on chewing gum in Singapore—which sparked lots of curiosity and discussion. From there, we connected our learning to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, examining the important rights all children should have and why they matter. 

Students have been thinking critically about fairness, responsibility, and how laws help keep communities safe and respectful. It’s been an eye-opening and thought-provoking unit for everyone!

“Laws are important because they teach us to be sensible.” - Gurreet 4A

“Laws keep us safe!” - Khadijah 4A

“I enjoyed how we got to learn about new laws and rules, even weird ones too” - Eliana 4C

Social and Emotional Learning

This fortnight in SEL, Year 4 students have been learning how to recognise problems, explore different choices, and make positive decisions using the Roads and Roundabouts problem-solving model. We also revisited our school ICT Acceptable Use Agreement, discussing how to use technology safely and responsibly. As part of our Respectful Relationships unit, students explored what respect looks like in different situations and participated in cooperative activities that focused on teamwork, fairness, and inclusion. We also unpacked our school values — kindness, responsibility, and resilience — and identified ways to show these in the classroom, playground, and community. It has been a fantastic opportunity for students to build their social skills and strengthen our positive school culture.

“Solving problems helps to assist your mental health.” -Ben 4A

Special Event

This fortnight in AUSLAN, our students had a very special learning experience. Naomi from AUSLAN Services Australia visited our cohort to talk about what it means to be Deaf and to share her personal experiences. She helped us deepen our understanding of Deaf culture, communication, and the importance of using AUSLAN to ensure everyone feels included. Students were highly engaged, asked thoughtful questions, and showed great respect and curiosity. It was a powerful opportunity to connect our AUSLAN learning to real-life stories and perspectives.

“My favourite part was when we asked question to Naomi about her life” - Armaan 4C

“I liked how Naomi explained about her life and she has a cat which she walks it in a pram” - Aubree 4C

“We practiced our AUSLAN signs from our learning and got to ask Naomi questions.” - 

“I liked how fast she did the alphabet!” - Blaze 4A