Grade 4 Community News

Dear Year 4 Families

Welcome to our latest Year 4 newsletter. It has been a busy and productive fortnight of learning across all areas of the curriculum, with students continuing to show growing independence, curiosity, and confidence in their work. Across English, Mathematics, and Humanities, children have been developing important skills in reading, writing, number fluency, and critical thinking, while also applying their knowledge in meaningful and engaging contexts. We are proud of the effort and enthusiasm they consistently bring to their learning, and we are excited to share some of the key highlights from the past two weeks with you.

English

Text-Level Reading – Uncle Xbox

Over the past fortnight, students have continued to immerse themselves in the novel Uncle Xbox as it is read together as a class. Through purposeful discussions and guided activities, they have been strengthening their understanding of the story by unpacking the characters, setting, and key themes as they unfold. Students have been developing their comprehension skills by making inferences about characters’ thoughts and feelings at key moments in the narrative, particularly when Uncle Xbox is involved in significant events or when characters are faced with challenges and change.

Students have also enjoyed engaging in “Question the Author” discussions, where they consider why the author may have chosen specific words or phrases and what effect these choices have on the reader. They have been thinking about what the author wants the reader to understand by using language features, and how these choices help to build meaning, mood, and characterisation within the text. They have also been summarising key events and sharing their own interpretations and opinions about the text.

Sentence-Level Writing – Uncle Xbox

Students have been developing their understanding of how to build more detailed and engaging sentences using ideas from Uncle Xbox. We have focused on starting with a simple kernel sentence and then expanding it by adding detail to create richer and more informative writing. Students have also been learning to use both subordinating and coordinating conjunctions to extend and link ideas more effectively. This has helped them combine simple ideas into more complex and interesting sentences when describing characters, settings, and events from the novel. They have also been challenged to take this further by adding adjectives to describe nouns, strengthening their sentence expansion, and making their writing more vivid and precise. It has been pleasing to see students developing greater control over how they build sentences and improve clarity and interest for the reader.

Text-Level Writing – Factual Recounts: Colonisation and First Nations Peoples

Students are continuing to develop their skills in writing factual recounts focused on the impact of colonisation on First Nations peoples. Throughout the unit, they have explored different note-taking strategies and used these to support their planning in a Single Paragraph Outline (SPO). Each supporting detail has been carefully recorded in note form before being expanded into full sentences. Students have then taken these structured notes and transformed them into coherent, well-developed paragraphs using topic sentences, supporting details, and concluding sentences.

As part of this learning, students also investigated the story of Pemulwuy, a brave resistance warrior who stood against early settlers, using this to further develop their understanding of how to take effective notes from informative texts. Students also had the opportunity to collaborate with a partner when expanding supporting details for their third body paragraph of the recount. They worked together to turn keynotes into more detailed sentences, sharing ideas and refining their writing collaboratively. This process encouraged discussion, deeper thinking, and enthusiastic sharing of their learning as they strengthened their factual recounts.

Students have also been encouraged to use a range of time connectives to clearly show the chronological order and structure of a factual recount. This has helped them sequence events logically and ensure their writing flows in a clear and organised way from beginning to end.

Maths

Over the past fortnight, our Grade 4 students have been developing their number fluency and problem-solving skills across several key areas. They have been working on adding three single-digit numbers by applying efficient strategies such as identifying number pairs that make ten, using doubles, and near doubles to support quicker and more accurate calculations. Students have also extended their understanding of place value through regrouping four-digit numbers using number expanders, which has helped them to clearly see the value of each digit and strengthen their reasoning when working with larger numbers. In measurement, they have continued to build their understanding of time, including interpreting and solving time progression problems that involve calculating elapsed time and sequencing events.

A strong focus throughout all areas of mathematics has been fluency, with students developing automaticity across addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts, both mentally and through regular practice. To support this, students are encouraged to consistently rehearse their skills to build speed, accuracy, and confidence, which in turn strengthens their overall mathematical understanding. They also have access to the Times Tables Rock Stars app, which provides a fun and effective way to consolidate multiplication and division facts at home, and we encourage regular use of this resource to further support learning and fluency development.

Humanities

During our current Humanities unit, Earth’s Resources: What are They and Why Do They Matter? Students have been exploring the different types of natural resources that exist on Earth and how these resources are essential to human life. They have developed an understanding of how humans rely on natural resources in everyday life, from energy production to transportation and the creation of everyday materials. A key focus has been distinguishing between renewable and non-renewable resources, with students learning that renewable resources, such as solar and wind energy, can be naturally replenished over time, whereas non-renewable resources, such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum, are finite and will eventually run out.

Students have also been encouraged to consider why it is important to conserve non-renewable resources, developing their ability to justify ideas using evidence and reasoning. In addition, they have explored the advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources, including natural gas, petroleum, coal, and nuclear energy, considering both their usefulness and their environmental impact. Through these investigations, students are beginning to develop a deeper awareness of sustainability and the importance of making responsible choices about how Earth’s resources are used.

Reminders

Kindly log in to Compass to provide consent and payment for our Grade 4 House Athletics. Thank you to all parents and caregivers who have already done so.
Please purchase our next Term 2 serial text: The Arrival by Shaun Tan.
Students should bring their fully charged iPads to school each day. Unfortunately, iPads cannot be charged at school.
As the weather is getting colder, please kindly ensure that your child has a school jumper or jacket with them each day.

Upcoming Events

Week 7: Friday 5th June: Pupil Free Day - students will not attend school.
Week 8: Monday 8th June: King’s Birthday Public Holiday
Week 10: Tuesday 23rd June: Grade 4 House Athletics
Week 10: Friday 26th June: French day and last day of term 2

Thank you for your continued support at home; it is greatly appreciated and plays an important role in your child’s learning and progress. We value the strong partnership between home and school and encourage you to reach out to your child’s teacher at any time if you have any questions, concerns, or would like to discuss your child’s learning further.

Kind Regards,

Grade 4 Team