Year 4
Semester One
Semester One is a busy time for Year 4. We begin the year by looking at how we value relationships. This helps the students’ immensely when we go on our Camp to YMCA at North Pine. The Year 4’s focus on the recount genre at the beginning of the year studying diary entries, camp journals and letters. The students create a photo journal of their time on camp as a part of their assessment. We also work on developing our number skills, particularly with addition, and looking at patterns in our environment for Maths.
We then begin to explore the narrative genre. The students’ are involved in activities to enhance their understanding of this genre and have are required to write their own narrative based on their study of their local area in SOSE. In Maths we look at measurement. Using a number of hands on activities we will cover a variety of measurement areas including length, time, mass, area and capacity. Students’ will also begin looking at different subtraction strategies, including regrouping. Both students and teachers find Semester 1 exciting and full of new information to absorb!
Semester Two
In Semester Two we begin to explore our environment, focusing on how it changes and the weather patterns that influence this change. This will then be followed by a fun unit on conservation where the students will take on roles in a fictional community to explore the effects humans have on their environment. This unit will help us focus on our genre for this semester, expositions. This Semester sees the students’ reading in English, the novel, ‘Ferngully’ by Diana Young. This novel supports our unit on conservation as well as introducing the children to the ‘novel’ genre. Students’ also look forward to their local area walk which ties in with all areas of the curriculum. In Maths, students will be involved in activities to do with shape, exploring their properties through a variety of hands-on activities. They will also delve more deeply into multiplication and the various strategies associated with this number concept.
Following on in Semester Two the students’ will be introduced to the genre of newspaper writing and will be involved in a fun unit in which they will each design their own newspaper based on the theme of ‘Christmas Around The World’. Each page will include their own writing samples of editorials, newspaper articles and other relevant newspaper additions. Students will also participate in a variety of activities to introduce them to the concept of division and increase their understanding in the areas of fractions, chance and data. Following on from their experience in the Life Education Van they will also be involved in a unit that explores the functions of the human body and how we maintain a healthy human body. All students and staff are looking forward to a fantastic year!