Year Four
Dear Year Four Families,
As the saying goes 'Time flies when you are having fun' and that is certainly the case in Year Four.
We have been busy learning and have had lots of fun and exciting events happening in the year level and across the school.
Science Week
Students became scientists participating in a range of experiments including paper plane creating, Magic Milk and Walking Water to investigate liquids that separate and absorption.
Book Week
To celebrate Book Week this week, students had the opportunity to meet author Claire Saxby, and learn about how she writes Hybrid Texts - texts that consist of fiction and non-fiction elements brought together in one book. This links in with our writing genre this term.
To celebrate Book Week, each class created their own text innovation. Each student created a page of written text and accompanied it with illustrations. The class book will be published and bound and will then be placed in classroom libraries, for students to enjoy.
We enjoyed participating in the Year Four Book Parade, it was amazing to see all the wonderful costumes.
Reading
Students have been exploring the features of Hybrid texts and comparing these to other text types. They have conducted Author Studies about an author of their choice and completed a book report on book by their chosen author. The Year Four cohort has been privlidedged to work with our Litearcy Consultant Jim Kinniburgh, who has been teaching students the strategy of 'Read and Retell.' Students read the story, 'The Fox and the Crow' numerous times and then rewrote the story in their own words. When completing retells students are encouraged to 'borrow' words from the author to make their retells engaging to their audience.
Writing
In Writing, the Year Fours have been exploring the elements of an author's craft and how Mentor texts can support us in writing our own stories. They have also been exploring strong verbs and how these can be impactful in our writing and help us to develop our own writer's craft.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, students have continued to explore the concept of financial mathematics through open ended problems and our Launch, Explore, Discuss Model. They looked into unit pricing and budgeting when planning a class party. Students are becoming more confident in explaining their thinking by annotating their work, noting down the strategies they have used to solve problems. We will be moving on to exploring the concept of Fractions and Decimals, and the importance of understanding a fraction and decimal are parts of a whole.
Unit of Inquiry
Students were highly engaged as they became explorers and used a map of the school to participate in a treasure hunt to uncover and unpack our fifth central idea, 'Exploration leads to discoveries, possibilities and new understandings' under the Transdiciplinary Theme, 'Where We Are in Place and Time.' They then had the opportunity to develop their own wonderings and shared these with their classmates.
Reminders:
Technology/Macs: Please ensure children’s device are fully charged every day, ready to use for their learning.
School Uniform: If your child is out of school uniform we advise parents/guardians to please provide a written note explaining this to the classroom teacher.
Homework: Students should still be completing nightly reading for a minimum of 20 minutes each day (this includes reading on online apps such as Epic).
Year Four Schoolbox Page: Please remember to visit the Year Four page for important updates.
Year Four Camp: Please approve Camp Notice on XUNO- payment plans can be organised through the office
If you have any questions, please reach out; Year Four teachers are always more than happy to help.
Kind regards,
The Year Four Team