Grade 4 Community News
Our students have settled in nicely and are continuing to mature into the expectations and protocols of being a grade 4 student! We would like to extend a big thank you to all parents, carers and families for your support with this. All of the Grade 4 teachers have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know their class over the last few weeks.
4H - Miss Stephenson
Hi everyone! My name is Miss Stephenson. I am in my fourth year of my teaching career, and have also spent the last four years teaching grade four. This is my second year teaching at Tarneit Rise Primary School, and I have really enjoyed getting to know the grade four cohort and my class so far. When I am not at work, I love playing with my 3 dogs, reading fiction books, cooking pasta, or catching up on my favourite TV shows. I am also a very big coffee and food lover!
READING
We have now finished our Learning 2 Learn Reading unit, where students spent the final week acquiring the skills and knowledge that they will use during our Reading 2 Learn topics this year. They were able to use the ‘Stop and Jot’ strategy to identify and record important information in note taking form, and then use this for their ‘Read, Write, Discuss, Build Upon It’ cycle to answer a question. They also learnt about RAP (Restate the question, Answer the question, Prove with evidence) as a way to write a structured response to a particular question.
In week 4, students began their first Reading 2 Learn unit on Captain Cook. They described important key events in his early life, his expeditions (including his voyage to Australia) and his interactions with Indigenous Australians.
We are continuing on with reading our serial text ‘Birrung, the Secret Friend’ by Jackie French, and have been taking our vocabulary words from this text.
WRITING
In our Writing Learning 2 Learn unit, students explored the skill of note taking. They will be using note taking during Reading lessons this year to take short notes of the key information and points that they have learnt - they will also be using these notes to inform their writing pieces, such as Information Reports and Explanation Texts. Students firstly were taught how to identify key information that relates to the main idea in a text, then they were taught how to record this information in note taking form using abbreviations and symbols. Finally, they had a go at turning their notes back into full sentences, and have picked up this skill very quickly! They are excited to start using this skill in Reading!
In week 4, we started our first writing genre, which is Biographies. The grade 4 students were introduced to an example of a biography and, with their class, annotated its structure and language features. They also went through a student-friendly rubric that they will be using to self-assess their writing at different points in the unit.
MATHS
Over the past two weeks the grade 4 cohort has been working through their place value unit. This began with the teaching of odd and even numbers, and how they can use rules to determine the answer to an equation depending on whether it has odd or even numbers (e.g. odd x odd = odd, or odd + even = odd). The students also explored different examples of how we can recognise and represent five-digit numbers in different ways, with plenty of opportunities to use hands-on materials such as counters, MAB and cards.
Reminders
Hats
In Term 1 and Term 4, all students must have a Tarneit Rise hat to wear at snack and lunch. Hats are available to purchase from the office if your child needs one.
Attendance
It is crucial that all students are attending school every day so they can work on their learning goals and don’t miss important lessons. Please book holidays during school holiday periods rather than during the school term to make sure valuable learning time is not missed.
