Year Four
Dear Year Four families,
As Term Three continues with chilly winter days, we want to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting and engaging with your child's learning. When you're having fun, time flies, and we're having a lot of fun this term in Year Four.
Inquiry
The Unit of Inquiry under the transdisciplinary theme 'How We Organise Ourselves' has sparked a lot of interest within our Year Four community. They are curiously learning about community change, what
makes a community liveable, what impacts the design process and the importance of the design brief. Students were involved in a presentation by a guest speaker from the infrastructure consultations company 'Spiire'. While speaking to the students about what goes on behind the scenes when planning a city or town, they all sparked a lot of interest and asked many questions. Further, a lot is going on behind the scenes to prepare for the ‘big build’ in our classrooms and on Minecraft. The students will be transformed into urban planners and follow each step of the planning process. Their mission is to create a city for Victoria's rising population. Throughout the unit the students will continue to investigate the design process and the parameters of a design brief. We're excited to announce that we will have a free incursion run by Westgate City Kids happening in week 5 or 6 this term, more information will be provided closer to the date.
Reading
In Reading, students have continued to explore journalistic texts and the Australian author Jeannie Baker. Students were able to use Jeannie Baker’s wordless mentor text ‘Belonging’ and journalistic articles to unpack and analyse the content portrayed in both text types, corresponding with our line of inquiry ‘growth and development of community spaces and sustainable practices’. Students were able to use their knowledge of Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) comprehension strategies to build their knowledge and understandings of the texts, deepening their literal and inferential skills and their ability to ask questions while reading.
Writing
In Writing, students are now looking at features of journalistic text. They were able to distinguish the difference between fact and opinion by analysing different statements
from various news articles and understand the author’s bias influence. Students now have started to write their own news report on West Gate Tunnel Project based on their research and note-taking. This skill allows students to reread their notes, and research further, giving them a chance to enhance their knowledge about present issues that influence our everyday life in our community.
Mathematics
In Mathematics, students have been learning all about multiplication and division strategies. They have been exploring how to represent and solve problems understand that there can be many different answers to open-ended questions. The multiple exposures have helped to consolidate and pinpoint specific areas of multiplication and division that students need to practise. To wrap up, during the Mathematic lessons, students have a chance to work in a focus group and collaboratively strengthen their knowledge of multiplication and division. Students are encouraged to continue to work on their Numeracy goals both at school and at home to ensure that they can improve in their learning.
SMART Spelling
The Year Four students have continued their spelling practice, focusing on different graph and digraph spelling patterns each week. Students have been practising their spelling daily, by exploring the meaning of their words chosen in sentences and analysing their words by identifying the sound patterns and syllables. At the end of each week students participated in dictation where they were able to test their knowledge and understanding of the spelling patterns explored.
Premier's Reading Challenge
The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is an excellent excuse for students to explore the local library and read books during the holidays. The challenge encourages students to read fifteen books over this time and record their efforts online. There will be special certificates given out to students who complete the challenge by Friday 8th of September 2023.
Reminders:
Technology/Macs: Please ensure children’s device are fully charged every day, ready to use for their learning.
School Uniform: If your child is out of school uniform we advise parents/guardians to please provide a written note explaining this to the classroom teacher.
Homework: Students should still be completing nightly reading for a minimum of 20 minutes each day (this includes reading on online apps such as Epic).
Year Four Schoolbox Page: Please remember to visit the Year Four page for important updates.
If you have any questions, please reach out; Year Four teachers are always more than happy to help.
We are looking forward to a successful Term Three as it has been so far!
Kind regards,
The Year Four Team