Level Newsletters

Grade 4 News

Important Reminders/Dates

Monday, June 10th: Kings Birthday Public Holiday

Wednesday, June 12th: Free dress day (gold coin required)

Tuesday, June 25th: Celebration Morning

Friday, June 28th: Last Day Term 2 - 2.30pm finish

 

Homework -  The same expectations from Term 1 will continue for the rest of the year. 

 

Wise Words: #4 

Big Problems vs Little Problems - what is a Catastrophe Scale?

Understanding the difference between big problems and small problems enables students to respond effectively to various situations. Small problems are those that can be solved independently and relatively quickly, while big problems require assistance from an adult or may take longer to resolve. Developing this skill is an essential aspect of Social-Emotional Learning, as it promotes self-awareness, decision-making, and responsible behaviour.

A Catastrophe Scale is a measurement system that helps children to put their problems and feelings into perspective. One of the greatest gifts that we can give our children is the gift of perspective, and with this comes resilience. Perspective is a skill that needs to be taught, learned, and practised. Even with many years of practice, for many adults, putting things into perspective is not always easy and doesn’t come naturally. The Catastrophe Scale organises issues from 1 to 10, from most serious to least serious. The scale is a great reference for when children need to decide the severity of their issue

Learning In Action

Literacy

Over the last fortnight, the Year 4 students have finished up their unit on informative texts, along with writing their pieces on Australia. Below you can see some finished pieces written by our students. We have begun our unit on persuasive texts. The students have been exploring the structures of a persuasive text, facts vs opinions and the purposes of persuasive texts. We have also looked at some different persuasive techniques such as emotive, modal language and quotes, along with improving our sentences using coordinating conjunctions. They all loved our song on modal words, you should check it out! → Sing with Grammarsaurus - Modal Verbs

Preview - In the coming few weeks, we will continue our persuasive unit. The students will continue drafting and publishing their piece, and learning more persuasive devices like rhetorical questions and exaggeration. We will also begin looking at subordinating conjunctions to enhance our sentence work.

 

Word Work : 

We have been learning about the 'igh' and 'ew' sounds. 

 

 

Mathematics

In Maths this fortnight, students have continued to explore a range of subtraction strategies. Students used the split strategy to subtract larger numbers by using their place value to expand numbers into thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. 

Using this place value knowledge, students also practised the jump strategy, where they broke up larger numbers into smaller parts and subtracted these along a number line.

Once students had a clear understanding of these strategies and had practised regrouping using the split strategy, they were introduced to the vertical subtraction strategy.

Preview - Over the next fortnight, students will explore the connection between addition and subtraction.

 

 

Inquiry

Over the past fortnight, the Grade 4’s have spent each inquiry session thoroughly researching their chosen countries, preparing to plan and draft their information report in the coming weeks.

Here are a few fun facts students have learnt so far:

"Seychelles has 115 islands, one is called Bird Island"

"Algeria’s largest earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7"

"The national languages of South Sudan are Arabic, Luo, Dinka, Nuer, Murle and Zande"

 

To further engage students with the culture of our focus continents, Africa and South America the 4’s have participated in two incursions, Afrobeat and Latin Dancing. Both were huge hits with the students although some claimed the drumming to be a little too loud. When dancing with Isabella, students learnt about the types of movements, music, and their origins. We loved seeing the students getting their groove on!

Preview - Students will begin drafting their information reports.

 

 

Wellbeing

Over the past fortnight students have finished looking at problem solving through our RRRR’s lessons. Through rolling ‘solution dice’ after hearing different scenarios, students realised that different problems require different solutions, there is not one answer that will fix every problem. 

We also moved onto looking at stress management, defining stress to be an overall feeling

of being worried over a period of time, or the feeling that we should be doing more than we can manage. Students engaged in discussions about what different people might find stressful, and played ‘slow motion mirror’ to practise a self calming technique.

 

Preview - Students will continue to look at stress management, developing a range of self calming and relaxation strategies.

 

Grade 4 Runs Assembly

With the senior school out over the past fortnight, our Grade 4’s have stepped up to the challenge and run the school assembly! This is a fantastic achievement, where students demonstrate courage, resilience and responsibility. We would like to congratulate the following students on a job well done.

Leading assembly - Charlie, Sonny, Abbey, Nathan, Blair and Maisie

House Points - Zara, Liam B, Ami, Alaya, Aekam, Asha, Phoenix, Angus, Jesse, Zoey, Riley W, Archer H, Mayah, Holly, Kai and Scarlet

Presenting about Grade 4: - Liam D, Jemma, Lily BC, Sansia, Callum and Lindsay

Please note there will be more opportunities for the Grade 4 students to run and speak at assembly over the year.

 

 

Exciting times ahead in STEM!

We are thrilled to share some exciting updates about our STEM program! As we continue to inspire and empower our students to explore the wonders of these vital fields, we are reaching out to our wonderful community for support.

 

Your generosity has always been instrumental in helping us provide enriching educational experiences for our students, and we are once again asking for your support to ensure the success and sustainability of our STEM initiatives.

 

Your support makes a significant difference to our students' learning opportunities and the success of our STEM program. Here are a few ways you can contribute:

 

Opportunities to help: 

  • Donations of Timber/Wood, appropriate for construction E.g. Billy Cart bases or other small vehicles.   
  • If you own or are a part of a company or business who would be willing to sponsor our engineering program. 
  • If you have connections with hardware stores/companies, help us to make contact to obtain suitable engineering resources. 
  • If you have any household STEM-related materials such as; plastic bottles, milk bottle lids, masking tape, balloons, wooden skewers, plastic or paper cups, unwanted CD’s or DVD’s, Aluminum Foil please drop them off outside the STEM room. 
  • Construction Crew: If you're handy with tools and have some basic experience in woodwork or mechanics, we would be delighted to have your help in the upcoming terms to assist with our Grade 6 Science and Engineering program. Please email sophiechamberlain@lysterfieldps.com or melissaadams@lysterfieldps.com

Thank you for your continued support,

 

Melissa Adams & Sophie Chamberlain

STEM Leaders

 

 

At Lysterfield Primary School, we promote high expectations for all our students, and want to encourage our students to challenge themselves and tackle new and interesting opportunities. In light of this, we are encouraging interested students in Grades 3-6 to participate in the Australian Mathematics Competition this year.

 

The Australian Mathematics Competition, run by the Australian Maths Trust, is Australia’s longest running, largest and most well-known maths competition for school students. It is made up of 30 unique problems designed to challenge and extend students’ problem solving skills. 

 

Students have 60 minutes to complete the competition which will occur at school sometime between Tuesday 6th - 8th August (exact date and time TBC). 

 

Every student who participates will receive recognition and an award at their level of achievement. The levels are:

  • Participation
  • Proficiency
  • Credit
  • Distinction
  • High Distinction

The competition will cost $8.50 per student. 

 

For more information about the competition, watch this video from AMT, check out their website, or contact Zahra Harvey (zahra.harvey@education.vic.gov.au).

If you are interested in your child participating in the Australian Mathematics Competition this year, please add their names to the form below by Friday 31st May:

Australian Mathematics Competition Expression of Interest