Year 4

The Grade 4 teachers are so excited to welcome everyone back to school and the upcoming 3/4 camp. 

Reading

In term 3 students are focusing on questioning to help us understand and engage in our text. Throughout the term students will ask thick questions to clarify, predict, infer, gain information or extend their thinking before, during and after reading. Once students have asked their questions they will be able to determine and explain if and how they were able to answer their questions. This may require the students to infer the answer, find the answer in the text, use prior knowledge, an outside source (other book, film etc.) or one of the Question Answer Relationship (QAR) strategies. After identifying a question that requires an outside source to answer or questions they were unable to answer students will begin to research using outside sources such as non-fiction texts to answer their questions. 

Writing

In writing, the students will begin the term focusing on Poetry. We will start with free verse poems, that have no structure but include a range of poetic devices such as similies, onomatopoeia, personification and metaphors throughout. We will move onto Haiku poems and Limericks, analysing the structure and creating our own. Throughout the unit students will include spoonerisms (bunny rabbit becomes runny babbit), neologisms (I am going to Kleenex my nose) and puns (lets Taco about it). The remainder of the term we will be focusing on Biographies. During this we will focus on the purpose of a biography and it’s structure. The students will be able to demonstrate their learning and understanding by researching and creating a biography of an Indigenous Australian of their choice.

Maths

In term 3, we will begin the term by revising time. We will be able to identify any knowledge gaps and focus on these areas to strengthen our ability to read, tell and convert time. 

We will then move onto a data and probability unit. This will start by developing an understanding of the vocabulary used  and applying this throughout our learning. We will then start looking at the likelihood of things occurring.

After data and probability we will start a multiplication and division unit. In this unit students will use their knowledge of place value to help solve problems. We will have a strong focus on multiplication facts and continue to develop this skill throughout the unit. Students will solve multiplication problems using arrays and  the AREA model of multiplication.

To finish the term students will focus on location and symmetry. Students will use scales and legends on maps to find locations, use directions to find features on a map and create symmetrical shapes and patterns.

Inquiry

In Term 3, our Grade 4 learners will be exploring a topic called, ‘Roam If You Want To’. The key understanding for this unit is: ‘European settlement had a major and lasting impact on the lives of the Indigenous people of Australia.’

Students will work on their research skills as they inquire into why the great explorations occurred and why Europeans settled in Australia. They will have access to a selection of websites and videos from which they can find the answers to their questions and take notes. Students will also build and deepen their understandings of the nature and consequence of contact between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and early traders, explorers and settlers. Our Grade 4 students will explore how life was for the Indigenous Australians before European settlement and compare this to how life changed when the Europeans established a penal colony in Botany Bay. Students will then synthesise their notes and findings to create a final assessment piece that shows the causes and effects of European settlement on an Australian area.

ART

Term 3 will start with the 3/4 students finishing off their colour theory unit. Their beautiful ‘Cityscapes’ incorporating warm and cool colours, will soon be displayed with bold and bright colours throughout the school. The students will then be learning to design using lines. Lines play an important part in Art and design and they create a foundation for drawing. The grade 3/4 students have been involved in choosing some of the activities for this term, some of which include; Zen tangle drawing, Anime drawing, Aboriginal Art, Still life design and Graffiti Art. The students will be exposed to a variety of different practical skills to help them incorporate lines in their artwork, to help create maximum design effect. The students will also be focusing on enhancing their work's meaning to an audience through display. An added benefit to learning practical drawing, is that it helps to improve fine motor skills in children, which supports other areas of the curriculum. In addition to our line unit, the students will incorporate pattern and shape to their designs this term. I look forward to broadening horizons with a fun and creative art program for all to enjoy. 

LOTE

Welcome back to another exciting term! In term 3, students in years three and four will learn to use the sentence structure to express simple likes and dislikes. They will use Chinese to write a dialogue: “which country do you want to go to?” “I want to go to …”. The students will use Chinese to say and write “today’s weather”.  They will also learn to create basic questions, for example: Where do you like to go? Do you like summer? Do you like rainy days? etc.

PE

Welcome back to all our grade 4 students for another exciting term of Physical Education! Throughout term 3 we will be learning about Australian Rules Football and how to use our skills in order to develop some game sense scenarios and drills to be able to understand how AFL players move the ball to other players on their team. We will be learning about Rugby and how to pass and begin to understand the offside rule when playing rugby, we will touch base again with our hockey as we did a lot of our two handed strikes in term 1 and finally we will be finishing with Gymnastics where we will be able to try out our own gymnastics routines as a class. This term we will be pushing to conduct more fair play and team sports to get students ready for their upper primary years.

SCIENCE

Welcome back grade 4’s to a fun filled Semester 2 in STEM. This term, the grade 4’s will continue to focus on developing their problem solving, critical and creative thinking. The first half of Term 3 sees the students investigating the engineering design process as they plan, create and test their cardboard arcade games.  

The second half of term 3 will see the students planning and conducting investigations in the area of Physical Science, which involves forces including pushing, pulling, friction, gravity, and magnetism.  

Term 3 in STEM will be full of hands-on, fun, and creative learning activities - I hope you don’t mind being pushed and pulled in all directions on this ride!