Grade 4

Year 4

Positive Start Week

What an exciting beginning to the school year it has been for our Year 4 students. From the very first day, everyone has shown a positive attitude and a real eagerness to learn. During our Positive Start Week, students took part in team‑building activities, worked with new classmates, and showed what it means to live our PROUD values. Their kindness, cooperation, and confidence have already helped create a welcoming and supportive classroom community. We worked through what each PROUD value looks like in the classroom, school yard and in the wider community. The 

Literacy - Novel Study: Kensuke’s Kingdom

This term, we have started reading Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, and the students are already hooked on Michael’s adventurous journey around the world. As we explore the story, we are learning about what life might be like living on a boat — including the challenges, routines, and problem solving needed when travelling at sea.

Our writing lessons are closely linked to our novel study. Students are working on a persuasive piece where they choose to argue for or against living on a boat. To help them build strong reasons, we have connected our writing to our Humanities learning. Students are researching real information about sea travel, survival, and daily life on a boat, then using these facts to support their opinions. It has been wonderful to see them thinking deeply, gathering evidence, and using the story to inspire their ideas.

Numeracy 

In Numeracy, we have been building our confidence with addition and subtraction strategies. Students are learning how to use the vertical addition algorithm, both with and without regrouping, to solve problems accurately. We have also been practising the compensation strategy, which helps students adjust numbers to make calculations easier when adding or subtracting. Throughout the week, students have been applying these strategies to real‑life style problems, showing that they can choose the best method for the task. It has been great to see them explaining their thinking and becoming more flexible, confident mathematicians.