Level Newsletters

Grade 4 News

Message from the Principal

Dear Pegasus Family,

 

I want to thank you for your support and messages of thanks in what has been a difficult week for us all. Our staff and students did an amazing job on Wednesday with keeping students  safe and then yesterday with supporting them. I want to thank you for your flexibility and calmness in collecting students on Wednesday as we tried to avoid the emergency services that were in Bellfield Drive.  At all times our actions were taken to ensure the physical and emotional safety of the community. I recognise that the delay in communication caused anxiety for families, as you can imagine there were many things for us to manage that afternoon with our number 1 priority being to ensure we had supports in place for students and staff.

Once again I thank you for support and best wishes.

 

Regards,

 

Adam Wight

Principal

 

Important Reminders/Dates

Tuesday, August 13th: STEM Celebration Day

Thursday, August 15th: Melbourne History Excursion

Monday, August 19th: 4D Kinder Visit

Thursday, August 22nd: Fathers Day Stall

Friday, September 13th: School Disco

Tuesday, September 17th: Celebration Morning

Each Tuesday in weeks 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 from 9am - 11am: Swimming Program

 

Wise Words: 

With camp coming up, it would be amazing if you could start having conversations as a family around camp! If you feel as though your child is anxious, please sign them up for Calm Kids as soon as possible - https://forms.gle/1zfNfNZyQQDBh32u6 

Learning In Action

Literacy

The Grade 4’s have continued to engage in our poetry unit, knowing that the purpose of poetry is to entertain and that every person’s response is personal. We have delved into different literary devices including onomatopoeia, alliteration and symbolism, looking at how poets use these to engage the reader. Students loved creating free verse poems filled with onomatopoeia, focusing on painting a picture in the reader's mind, making them feel as if they were a part of the poem. Here are some of our examples:

We also looked at Indigenous creation stories, looking at the way colours, shapes and positioning can symbolise different things. For example, blue can represent sadness, and sunrise can represent hope or new beginnings. Students implemented their learning and were coming up with stories to explain things like how the echidna got their spikes, or how the birds got their colours. 

                                                      

Preview - Students will be publishing their poems and finalising their anthologies. We will also take time to present one of their poems to the class.

 

Word Work

 

Numeracy

The Grade 4’s have continued their learning about multiplication. Over the past fortnight, they have learnt different strategies they can use to solve multiplication problems. They have investigated how problems can be partitioned in multiple ways, such as split using addition, split into 10s and split using place value. They also learnt how to use the area/box model strategy. In their goal work some students had a focus on using the vertical algorithm to solve problems, and some even challenged themselves to look at using the associative, distributive and commutative laws.

The students have also learnt about lines of symmetry in shapes during our investigation unit.  

 

Preview - In the coming fortnight the Grade 4s will finish their investigation unit on Shape, and will begin a new focus on Division for our number unit. 

 

Wellbeing

Over the last fortnight, Grade 4 students have discussed different ways and sources to use when seeking help for various situations. It was highlighted how important it is to seek help from peers and adults when worried or feeling unsafe. When students identified different strategies to seek help, positive social norms were developed. This urges students to feel comfortable and confident to seek help when necessary.

Examples of scenarios students worked with in small groups:

The students also rated different problems on a scale of 1-10, noting how big a deal the problem was. E.g. You feel tired in class, your dog has escaped, you have no one to play with. The students made a list of people that they could go to for help; if they couldn't work out a problem on their own.

 

Preview - Next, students will work on communication skills when seeking help. The importance of persistence in help-seeking will be highlighted - as we may not always get the help we need when we want it. 

 

Inquiry

This fortnight in Inquiry the Grade 4 students explored what life was like in England in the 1700s. They watched videos and read fact sheets comparing life for the poor and life for the rich during these times. Students worked with a partner to show these comparisons on a Venn diagram.

We discussed the challenges that were happening during these times and how this led to England’s desire to explore new lands. Students investigated different Explorer's and looked at their lives and details of their explorations.

 

Preview - Students are looking forward to our excursion next week, where they will learn more about the history of Melbourne and explore what life was like living on a ship in the 18th century.

 

Kinder Visits

This week, 4FD had the opportunity to go into Murrindal Preschool and work with a group of 3 and 4-year-olds. The Grade 4 students absolutely loved this session and it was fantastic to see them so mature and responsible in how they interacted with the younger children. Whilst some students were nervous to start with, their fears quickly subsided after reading a picture storybook to their buddy. They then completed a range of fun activities, such as painting, LEGO, dress-ups, drawing, building blocks etc. We were all sad when it was time to say goodbye and can’t wait to visit our Kinder friends again in September!

Calm Kids

The Calm Kids program will commence in the week of 26th August with Kim. The Calm Kids program will cover a number of key concepts such as:

  • What is anxiety and why do some people have it?
  • Everyone worries but it doesn’t need to stop us from doing things
  • Our thoughts create feelings and our feelings impact our actions
  • Identifying when you are overthinking
  • Thinking Traps and how to manage them
  • How to be more positive and why it is important
  • Worry bullies
  • Grounding technique (for when things start to spiral)
  • The importance of relaxation, breathing, and mindfulness
  • Sleep and disconnecting