Grade 4

In Term 4, Grade 4 students will be learning about the following topics and skills: 

English 

 In Term 4 reading, we begin by focusing on the close reading strategy and students will develop their  capacity to go deeply into a text and analyse it from different perspectives. The students will then use these skills to continue our work on the reciprocal reading strategy. Students have been developing their understanding of the four reciprocal reading strategies; predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarising throughout the year and in term 4 they will have the opportunity to bring these strategies together while participating in books clubs. Finally, at the end of Term 4, the students will practise their expressive and fluent reading skills with reader’s theatre sessions.

The focus this term for Writing will be developing strong, independent routines. Students will continue to use their Writer’s Notebooks to generate meaningful ideas that they can write about using a range of genres. The students will work individually and with teachers to create and work towards their writing goals. Their goals may be around spelling, punctuation, ideas, craft, sentence structure or genres.  Students will learn more about and use the  Writing Process at various stages of writing. During  the term we will have a genre study on persuasive texts, supporting students to develop language and techniques to confidently persuade their audience. There will be investigations into different letter patterns during spelling. Students will be encouraged to use neat handwriting to support the students’ fluent and sustained writing. 

Mathematics

During Term 4 our students will be covering the following topics; Place Value (looking at tenths and hundredths), Length, Time, 3D shapes, Maps, Scale and Location, the Four Processes (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and Money maths. 

Additionally, the students will focus on how to break down and answer worded questions using the CUBES strategy. To assist students in developing strategies for solving worded questions we will be engaging in regular Number Talks where students will have time to discuss their strategies and explain them to each other. Many of the questions we will focus on in our Number Talks are NAPLAN style questions that require close reading to comprehend and can be solved in different ways.

 We encourage families to continue practising times tables at home and when able to access My Numeracy on Essential Assessment to practise maths goals.

Inquiry

During Term 4 students inquiry will be focused around the effects of the Earth's rotation on its axis, how it  causes regular changes, including night and day. Students will inquire about forces and how they interact. Students  will be able to describe how they use science investigations to identify patterns and relationships and to respond to questions. They will follow instructions to identify questions that they can investigate about familiar contexts and make predictions based on prior knowledge. Students will  discuss ways to conduct investigations and suggest why a test was fair or not. As the term progresses students will conduct some small investigations and will attend Scienceworks as part of their finding out stage until finally students will conduct their own passion project which will conclude with a class presentation.

Positive Education 

In Term 4 we will be focussing on Character Strengths which are representative of each arm of the BHPS PERMA model for wellbeing, (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment). We will be revisiting Persistence and Gratitude and modelling optimism by learning about Hope, Leadership, Fairness and Wisdom. From the Respectful Relationships curriculum, we will look at Positive Coping because helping students to learn a range of positive coping skills will allow them to develop and practise these skills and enable them to cope with future changes and challenges which inevitably occur throughout life. 

Key Dates and Events

• Week 1 - Friday the 7th of October, Curriculum Day,
• Week 3 - Wednesday the 19th of October, Geelong Cup, 
• Week 9 - Grade 4 camp (TBC),
• Week 9 - Friday the 2nd of Dec, Christmas Fair,
• Week 10 - Tuesday the 6th December, Scienceworks Excursion 

Other Important Reminders

• Remind your child to bring a hat to school for Term 4. Please label clearly with their name.