Year Four Team News

Hello Year Four families,

Fortnightly Curriculum Focus

Literacy: This fortnight in Reading, the students have been learning to skim and scan - a useful tool when trying to find information without having to read everything first. They have been practising looking for headings, sub headings and reading the first line of a paragraph to determine if it holds any information they are looking for. They enjoyed looking for specific information about their favourite animals and a few they didn’t know existed! For example, Goblin Shark, Okapi and Gerenuk.

Writing this fortnight has seen the students revisiting persuasive texts and using the PEEL paragraph structure to organise their main points. Students tried to convince their teachers to either have a classroom pet or not have one. The discussions about the pros and cons were quite interesting, delving into the financial commitment (ongoing and one off costs) and the responsibility/jobs the students would have. And of course all the cuddles and distractions a pet would bring!

Numeracy:  The Grade Fours have been working on Shape and Location (reading, creating maps and finding items within maps). During the unit on shape, the students used small blocks to help them visualise 2D shapes into 3D shapes and draw the plan view, right side elevation and front elevation. 

The students were challenged to the Tallest Paper Tower Challenge. In teams the students used up to 30 sheets of paper and tape to build the tallest tower they could. It also needed to hold the jar of jenga blocks for 60 seconds and be the tallest to win. Lots of great strategies were used including making triangles to support the towers and using tape to stick down the bse to the tables. 

Inquiry:  Inquiry has seen the introduction of our new unit - Australia and it’s neighbours with the Inquiry Question: What in our world is worth protecting? Students have shown prior knowledge of Australia’s states, territories and landmarks, both man-made and natural.

Important Dates Coming Up

Tuesday 17th of October- Melbourne Walk excursion

Tissues

If you are able to send a box of tissues with your child to school it would be greatly appreciated.

Specialist Timetable for Semester 2 - Please note is is updated from Term 3 to reflect the Kitchen Garden program finishing and French returning.

Homework (Repeat) 

Students in Year 4 receive their homework on a Monday and are required to complete and hand in the following activities on the Friday of the same week. 

Homework tasks include:

• Reading – four nights per week for a minimum of 15 minutes. Students are to record the book titles for the week on the Reading Recording sheet.
• Maths – playing the number games learnt in class at home to continue building number sense and revising learnt skills.
• Spelling – suggested activities to help practise the words that your child has chosen.
• Problem Solving – a fun puzzle or problem to solve.

Warm regards,

The Grade Four Team - Matt Eason-Jones (4E), Rebecca Givogue (4G)  & Katie Simeon (4S)