Year 4 - Literacy

In Reading, the Year 4 students have focused on thinking about the text by analysing different aspects of what they are reading. The students have been analysing the structure of texts and looking at the author’s word choices to help convey meaning. 

We have also been looking at the theme and mood of different texts. One of our favourite reading activities so far this year was to read the book ‘Welcome to Country’ by Aunty Joy Murphy. After reading and comprehending this book, our classes wrote our own Welcome to Country to identify what we respect about the land that we are learning upon.

The Year 4 students have been investigating the Sound Waves Literacy program, building upon our phonological awareness through segmenting the individual sounds (phonemes) in words, as well as building our confidence using the student sound charts so that they can be used independently when making spelling attempts in our writing.

In Writing, the Year 4 students have been looking at the genre of 'recounts', specifically diary entries and memoirs. We have learnt the difference between a memoir and an autobiography is that a memoir is a collection of memories during a certain period of your life (e.g. a family holiday, a sporting career) and an autobiography is someone’s story from birth until today. 

The students have been learning to ‘paint a picture with your words’ by using vivid verbs, vivid nouns, adverbs and adjectives to add details and interest to their writing. 

The students were all very eager to bring in a special item or photo from home to help them create their own memoir, using their item as inspiration for the memories associated with it.