Welcome back...again.

Hello! 

What a year it has been so far! 4S and 4Z are so excited to be back in the classroom and with their friends. There has been much lively banter and conversation! It has most certainly been a very challenging year with many obstacles to overcome. Between the social distancing, online learning, shops, parks and playgrounds being closed, our students have shown great resilience towards this ever changing environment.

As we only have seven weeks left of Year 4, we would like to take this opportunity to share with you our focus for the rest of the year.

THE NEW BIG IDEA

‘How and where we live influences our quality of living and can be impacted by our natural and man made environments’

Our previous Big Idea provides a wonderful segue into our current Big Idea. The students can apply their prior knowledge and understandings to a new topic.

This term we will be unpacking the big idea through exploring geographical, natural and man made features of Australia and its neighbouring continents of Africa and South America. We will investigate that where we live, can impact on who we are as a person and, as a global citizen. We will explore the influence of people, including the influence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, on the environmental characteristics of Australian places.

LITERACY

READING

BOOK WEEK

We have been exploring the CBCA Short-listed books such as - 'Three' by Stephen Michael King, 'HELLO LIGHTHOUSE' by Sophie Blackall AND 'SEARCHING FOR CICADAS' by Lesley Gibbes

The students watched a virtual performance of the book 'Three' by Meerkat Productions. This text can also be viewed on Story Box Library.

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WRITING

The students have been experimenting with creating narratives through the 6+1 Traits of Writing and, through exploring mentor texts.  

4S used the text HELLO LIGHTHOUSE as a mentor text to create their own stories. They focused on IDEAS as a writing trait to enable the reader to paint a picture in their mind.

Once there lived a little boy called James. James lived in a small town near the beach. It was along the Great Ocean Road and it was called Apollo Bay. The place sounds tropical but, it is actually really cold.

One afternoon James asked his dad if he could go rowing. “NO!” his dad replied. But James did it anyway. He was far out to sea now. The mainland was far out of sight. The thick wet mist was swirling around him. His clothes were wet, cold and uncomfortable. Just then, some lightning flashed. It lit up sharp pointy rocks surrounding a grand old lighthouse. James thought he was doomed! 

By Amber

One cold, lonely, winter’s day, a lighthouse stood along a jagged rocky island at the end of the world.

Mist dimmed the light he made, mist that was made from his tears. 

All the lighthouse wanted was a friend, but everyone was too scared of being so close to the edge of the world, in fear of falling off it.

Meanwhile, at a warm sunny beach, lived a girl named Natalie. She swam in a teal coloured sea and rode on a pink flamingo, looking up at the clouds. Suddenly, a loud BOOM came from the clouds and an arrow shot out of the sky. 

To be continued… 

By Anabelle

MATHS

'Understanding and using geometric properties and spatial reasoning'

Throughout this unit we will explore the following concepts:

• Visualising, describing, analysing and interpreting shape, objects (2D and 3D), mapping, models and diagrams
• Problem solving relating to navigation and orienteering

This focus involves learners visualising, describing and analysing the way shapes and objects are combined and positioned in the environment for different purposes.

Language that we will encourage to make the focus explicit:

• Symmetry, reflection, tessellation, rotation, flip slide, corner, edge, vertex, face, circumference, prism, pyramid, rectangle, parallelogram, rhombus, trapezium, kite, quadrilateral, straight line, degrees, acute, obtuse, straight and reflex angles, parallel sides, diagonal
• “I wonder why the floor plan of most classrooms are nearly square. What might be the advantages of that?”
• “What do you notice about shapes in our environment that do and do not tessellate? What are the features of these shapes?”
• “Let’s find out how jigsaws are made. How could we do that?”

WELLBEING

Since returning to school, we have made adjustments to our timetables to incorporate wellbeing in the forms of art, music and mindfulness. With this approach, both classes have taken time to reflect on learning, re-energise our bodies and minds, and consider our approach to learning by keeping focused and giving it our best at all times. By taking time out of the day, we reset the mind and approach each lesson as a new start, refreshing our minds and our bodies. 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

We were encouraged and inspired by Gus (4/5Z) and his mum Tahli to make a difference in the lives of others. Gus’ great grandmother is in care at Mecwacare in Malvern. Gus has been creating art works and writing letters to the residents. 

He came and spoke with 4S and 4Z to share how he has been making a difference in the resident’s lives. The students wrote to the residents expressing their interests / hobbies and how they want to see the world when they grow up. The responses were lovely. This term we hope to continue to create art works, draw, write and imagine to brighten up the lives of our treasured residents.  

PARTNERING WITH PARENTS

We would like to extend an invitation our our parents to participate in a group virtual meet next week (date to be advised). Before we meet however, we would like some feedback: Questions or wonderings from you about what you hope the rest of the year will encompass.

Please make your comments on the padlet link provided below:

https://padlet.com/09309454/ubnjn3zjq7t5qe8s

You may wish to remain anonymous.

HOME LEARNING

As the students have come to the completion of presenting their ERPs, we will resume home learning on Monday. The tasks will be posted on Google Classroom and your child will be expected to upload their tasks by Friday. If your child does not have a device at home, we can provide paper copies and send them home in your child's home learning folder.

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Stay safe and well.

Allira and Angela