Grade 4 Term 2 Curriculum News
Grade 4 Term 2 Curriculum News
This Term Newsletter will provide you with information about your child’s upcoming teaching and learning experiences in the new term. There is also plenty of additional information provided via Compass throughout the school year, so please make a point of touching base regularly.
General
Well done on a fabulous start to the year, Grade 4. What a fabulous Term 1 the children had! All the teachers are so very proud of how the children have settled into Year 4. Children have settled in quickly to the rhythm and routines of the day and are working hard. We hope you enjoyed the term break and that you and your child are recharged and ready to start a new school term. The Year 4 team are ready and excited about the upcoming learning opportunities planned for Term 2.
Literacy
During Term 1, students worked together and did a fantastic job of setting up their classroom libraries. Teachers are highly impressed with the way the Grade 4 students are utilising their classroom libraries to ensure they are reading exciting texts that are ‘Just Right’ for them. In Term 2, students will be practising a range of reading comprehension skills including predicting, clarifying, questioning, inferring, visualising and summarising. Alongside their regular Independent Reading, students will be partaking in Guided Reading sessions to better target their areas of need.
The children have been very proud and excited about their writing so far! In Writing, teachers have been pleased to see the wonderful way in which students are using their Writers’ Notebooks to write in a range of genres, and the way they are taking risks to experiment using new vocabulary. This term, students will be writing narratives, biographies, information reports and scripts to support their Inquiry topic of ‘Early Explorers’.
Mathematics
Students have a higher chance of being engaged and successful in Mathematics if the content we teach is linked to real-life problems. In Term 2, students will continue to develop their understanding of the Four Processes (+, -, x, ÷). Students will be encouraged to use a variety of problem solving strategies to efficiently and effectively solve a wide range of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems through engaging hands-on tasks, games and real-world written problems. This term, students will also be focusing on money, measurement as well as 2D and 3D shapes. We encourage you to show your child how you use maths in your everyday activities at home too, such as adding and subtracting amounts, walking or riding distances, measuring ingredients, timing how long it takes to do different activities and recognising number patterns in the environment.
Inquiry
The children have been developing their skills as inquirers! They have been practising asking questions and discovering the different ways that we can find out information about themselves and those inside our classrooms. In Term 2, our Inquiry unit is ‘Early Explorers’. It involves students researching and presenting historical information based on ‘the journeys of a significant world navigator, explorer or trader up to the late eighteenth century, including their contacts with and effects on other societies’ (Victorian Curriculum). The Grade 4 students will be involved in developing their research skills, writing a biography on a world explorer, developing their geographical knowledge of the major continents and bodies of water in the world and creating a script to teach others about their explorer.
Homework
Homework slips were sent home in Term 1 and described the requirements for Grade 4. It has been so pleasing to see so many children completing their minimum 4 nights of home reading, recorded in green Reading Journals, and completing Maths tasks over a minimum of 2 nights for at least 20 minutes each session.
A friendly reminder that your child needs to hand in their green Reading Journal each week to ensure teachers are able to keep a record of homework history to report to parents and future teachers. Should you be experiencing any difficulties, please do not hesitate to send a handwritten note through to the classroom teacher or send an email via the Compass app.
Reminders
*Clothing: A reminder that students are to be in full school uniform every day. As the colder weather approaches, please ensure your child has enough clothing to keep them warm at school.
*Communication: If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to email or make an appointment with us if there is anything you wish to discuss.
Each year level team has provided their families with a detailed newsletter such as this. If you are interested in reading about all the exciting things happening across the rest of the school, these can be accessed online at our school website from early next week.