Grade 4 News
Dear Year 4 Families,
Welcome to Week 10 of Term 2!
Please continue to check Compass regularly to stay up to date with important information, including the release of CATS (Common Assessment Tasks). A number of CATS have already been published, with a few more to come over the next couple of weeks. We encourage you to take the time to view your child’s work and leave a comment in the conversation box. This lets their teacher know you’ve seen the task and helps maintain a strong home–school connection.
Also, nightly reading is an important part of our routine. We encourage students to read at home every night for 20 minutes to help build their reading skills and understanding. It’s a great way for them to practice and get even better at reading! In the last few weeks students have begun borrowing books during our library sessions that they are able to read in class as well as at home. In order to borrow a new book each week students must return their library book during their class’ designated library session (4A- Thursdays and 4B- Wednesdays) so please ensure that your child brings their book back to school on these days.
Learning Focuses- Below is what we have been focusing on with our learning for the last three weeks of Term 2.
Reading Fluency
In class, students have been reading short passages of text to help build their skills in expression, pace, use of punctuation, and accuracy. By practicing reading aloud, they are learning how to adjust their tone and expression to match the meaning of the text, which helps make their reading sound more natural and engaging. They are also focusing on reading at the right pace, not too fast or slow, to ensure they understand and convey the message clearly. In addition, students are paying close attention to punctuation marks like commas, periods, and question marks to guide their reading and improve their fluency. This practice is helping them become more confident and accurate readers, while also strengthening their overall comprehension and expression.
Typing
Our Year 4 students have also been practicing their typing skills to improve both speed and accuracy. By using fun, interactive activities, they are working on developing their typing technique, which will help them become more confident and efficient when using laptops for schoolwork. With regular practice, they are steadily increasing their typing pace and precision.
You can practise with your child using free typing activities on Typing.com or Monkeytype
Handwriting
This term our Year 4 students have continued to work on their handwriting skills. Handwriting is an essential life skill, and we have been focusing on improving both legibility and fluency, ensuring that each student feels confident in their writing. Students have been focussing on letter formation to ensure each letter is clearly and accurately written. Throughout the last few weeks, we have started to practice our cursive handwriting by joining together some letter to write basic words as well as practicing writing our names in cursive.
Grammar & Syntax
In Grammar and Syntax, students have been learning how to combine 2–3 sentences to strengthen their writing skills. They are practising how to use conjunctions such as because, but, and so, along with correct punctuation, to create more complex and detailed sentences.
For example, instead of writing “The storm was strong. The trees fell down. We stayed inside,” students learn to combine these short sentences into:
“The storm was so strong that the trees fell down, so we stayed inside.” This helps build clearer, more cohesive writing.
Writing
In class, students have been using their story, Krak’s Diary, to practise editing and revising their own writing. They have been applying the four key language tools—adverbials to move the action forward, specific names for authenticity, reported thoughts or speech, and appositives for added detail—to improve their drafts. Students are now working on publishing their final diary entries, showcasing their enhanced writing skills.
Literature/Knowledge
In Knowledge, Year 4 students have begun learning about Australian history through the unit ‘The First Fleet and the Impact of Settlement’, focusing on the first European explorers, the arrival of the First Fleet, and the impact of settlement. Through this unit they will explore different historical perspectives, including those of Indigenous Australians and European settlers, to better understand how these events have shaped Australia today.
Maths
In Maths, students have been learning how to multiply 2-digit numbers using the vertical method and by partitioning numbers into ones, tens, and hundreds. They are also exploring both short and long division to build their confidence with dividing larger numbers. These skills are helping to strengthen their overall understanding of number operations.Students have developed their understanding of the inverse relationship between multiplication and division through engagement with both pictorial and mental strategies.
Our Year 4 students have continued their learning on how to solve worded multiplication and division problems using the Understand, Plan, Solve, Check method. This structured approach helps students break down complex problems into manageable steps, ensuring they can tackle each question with confidence and accuracy. Through this approach, students are building strong problem-solving skills, learning to work systematically, and becoming more confident in their ability to handle worded math problems.
Upcoming Events:
- Last day of school - 4th July 2025
- First day of Term 3 - 21st July 2025
Thank you for your continued support in continuing and strengthening our home and school relationship, which is so vital for students.
Have a well deserved break, ready for Term 3!
Miss Lochhead, Miss Carlesso and Mrs Schache