Welcome to Week 8 of Home Learning

The students worked really hard in Week 7 to complete their summative assessments and demonstrate the understandings they had made over the previous six weeks. In Week 8, students will begin new units which will cover the last three weeks of Term 3 and continue into Term 4.

Please read the following overview of the learning tasks for Week 8 of Term 3. The daily schedule, with additional instructions and resources, will continue to be posted on Google Classroom the night before each day of learning.

If your child has completed the day's tasks, they may be interested in completing one of these optional tasks. These tasks are open-ended, inquiry based and hands-on.

English

An overview of tasks for reading and writing this week are as follows:

READING

Students should be completing at least 20 minutes of independent reading a day as well as completing the tasks set by the teacher.

For their new unit of study, students are analysing texts to explore the way authors use and play with language, as well as ways authors make stories interesting to hold the reader's attention.

Tasks for Week 8 include:

Engaging students as readers through a Reading Choice Board
Completing a reading pre-assessment
Exploring noun-group phrases
Exploring verb-group phrases

WRITING

The new unit for writing will focus on descriptive language, and exploring how language choice can enrich a text. Students will also explore creating literary texts.

Tasks this week include:

Completing a writing pre-assessment
Engaging students as writers through a Writing Choice Board
Mini lesson focusing on nouns and verbs
Examining figurative language through exploring proverbs

While writing, we encourage students to use the writing cycle to ensure they are continuously developing and improving their writing.

The writing cycle consists of five stages:

1. Plan

2. Draft

3. Revise

4. Edit

5. Publish

Word Study

Students will continue to practice 30 "codes" of the English language through watching videos uploaded by their class teacher. Grades 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D will continue to explore Rule 30, a spelling rule which explains when to choose the code "ar", as in "car", or the code "a", as in "fast". They will demonstrate their understanding of the rule through an assessment at the end of the week. 4E will begin to explore a new spelling rule, known as "The FSZL Gang" which explains when to double f, s, z and l. The "bootcamp" process allows students to practice the new skill until it becomes "automatic" in their brains.

Mathematics

In Mathematics, students will begin a new unit, exploring shapes, symmetry and tessellations. They are also encouraged to play number games or use Mathletics to continue practicing basic number skills.

Tasks for Week 8 include:

Completing a pre-assessment: students will explore shapes and symmetry in their house
Exploring The Four Triangle Problem
Collaborating to complete The Tangram Puzzle - students will work together using Google Slides to complete this puzzle over two days

Unit of Inquiry

This week, students will begin their new unit of inquiry, How We Express Ourselves. Students will inquire into the central idea, 'Artistic expression forms connections.' Students will explore how art can be expressed in different forms across cultures, how art connects and influences people, and how imagination supports our artistic expression.

Tasks for Week 8 include:

Completing a Unit of Inquiry Choice Board
Philosophical Inquiry mini lesson centered on the question, 'Is This Art?'
Provocation: creating an artwork based around 30 Circles
An inquiry into why people create art and why we need to express ourselves

Wellbeing

Students will participate in Circles discussions as they reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. Students will set a goal they would like to work on for the rest of home learning.

Throughout the remote learning period there has been a strong focus on student wellbeing. We hope the students enjoy ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ this week and that it helps everyone refresh and refocus. On Wednesday there will be no normal daily schedule. Instead, students will have the opportunity to complete wellbeing activities. The students are also being invited to write their own personal affirmations for this week’s challenge.

Here are some additional ideas and resources to support wellbeing during home learning:

Reminders

Make sure to check the Specialists Snapshot for learning tasks from the Specialist team.

Grade 4 Team

4A Melanie Davis

4B Andrew Yeaman

4C Phoebe James

4D Nicole Klaassen

4E Heather Jenkins & Zoe Picton

Hearing unit - Amy Chadwick

Grade Four Snapshot 2021 - Term 2

Welcome to Week 7 Term 3 of Home Learning

Issue 18 · 28 Aug 2020

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