Year 4s Parent Night 2013
‘Together we Achieve’
Year 4 A & B Information Evening (7.2.12)
Teachers: Mrs Deb Searle, Mr Ben Campbell & Mrs Jillian Granger
YEAR 4 A & B WEEKLY TIMETABLE
Daily Items: hat, drink bottle, “pollywally”, message book
Monday
Day Uniform
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Sports
Day Uniform Day Uniform
Uniform
School
Integrated
Subway
RETURN
Assembly
Arts with Mrs
HOMEWORK
Donna Gray
4A
Lib Lesson
4B
Integrated
Arts with Mrs
Donna Gray
4B
Lib lesson
4A
Swimming
Integrated
4A 12.30pm
Arts with Mrs
 Library
Donna Gray
borrowing 4B 1.15pm
4/5A
4A & B
Friday
Sports
Uniform
Tuckshop
Homework
given out
Staff
Integrated
meeting –
Arts with Mrs
unavailable Donna Gray
for parent
4A Odd
meetings
4BEven
MONDAY Library borrowing – Remember your Library bag!
Swimming Items: sun shirt, togs, cap, goggles, sunscreen, thongs and
UNDIES!!
Chess lessons are optional and on Tuesday mornings from 7:40am
Children may bring their own book from home, or use their own borrowed library
book for silent reading in the classroom. There is always a bulk loan of library books
in the classroom which are available for reading. Children are responsible for always
having a book ready for silent reading. Children are responsible for choosing their
own book for our reading program “Reading Friends”.
GENERAL AIMS
Skills for lifelong learning, underpin all that we do inside and outside our classroom.
We are always promoting self-confidence, trust, pride, risk-taking, responsibility and
independence through positive relationships with your children and with you. We do
have high expectations in terms of manners, doing one’s best and accurately
completing set tasks. Children will develop skills to be able to work quietly as
individuals as well as in co-operative situations to achieve work of which they (and
others) can be proud. In Year 4, children learn to become much more responsible
for their own learning.
Please help your child take on some of the responsibility for being organised for
school life (e.g. charging then packing their computers, getting swimming gear
ready the night before, packing their own bags)
HOMEWORK
Homework includes learning work (spelling, reading, work practice & research
work). We would expect children to be spending the equivalent of 20 – 30 minutes
four times a week on homework.
Learning of basic facts is essential in Year 4.
Your child’s highlighted list words were the ones identified as being spelt incorrectly
in the pre-test and are the ones to focus on for the week.
We encourage children to read as much as possible. Home reading material is free
choice. Books would be the normal medium but not the only one. Newspapers,
information on the computer etc also provide variation in reading practice. We
encourage you to use the ‘Reading Friends’ method.
Please initial homework – spelling page. This provides you with an opportunity to
have a conversation with your child about their work. Neat presentation is required.
Feel free to add any comments on the sheet as regards your child’s learning.
Family life always comes first so a note from you is all that we require to excuse a
student from homework. Homework is sent out on Friday and is to be returned on
Thursday. Children have 6 days to complete. Check OneNote (The Hub)
homework page.
Please check one note every night as work could be added to homework.
For example: Research/work which needs to be finished.
COMMUNICATION
Throughout the year it is our hope that you will feel welcome to see us about any
concerns or queries that you may have. It is usually best to make an appointment as
needed, however, we are happy for you to drop in and see if we are available.
CAMPS
Yr4 are going to’ Underwater World’ on Thursday 17th
October and arrive home on the 18th October.
Communion and Confirmation
Year 4 students will have the opportunity to participate in the Jubilee Sacramental
Program for Communion and Confirmation. They will have a retreat day on
Thursday the 12th of September; with the sacraments of Confirmation on Friday
followed by Communion, which will be celebrated over the weekend.
We look forward to a happy and productive year and thank you in anticipation of
your support.
Yours sincerely
Deb Searle
Ben Campbell
Jillian Granger
CURRICULUM
RELIGION
This is an integral part of the everyday life of our school, where the focus is Making
Jesus Real which includes reflecting regularly on how we have made Jesus real for
each other and how others have made Jesus real for us. We offer thanks to God
regularly.
This term, our unit is called the “People of Justice”. We learn about respect and
fairness and how to treat others. At the end of the term we will look at the important
events of Holy Week and Easter.
All experiences of Mass and Church are particularly important for your children this
year as the 4’s become more focussed in their special year of preparation for the
Sacraments.
ENGLISH
Spelling strategies (including rhyming words; adding ed, s, ing, other suffixes:
alphabetical order) grammar, punctuation (including consistent use of full stops,
capital letters, direct speech), neat cursive handwriting, reading and comprehension
strategies are the focus.
This term, our writing tasks will be using the persuasive genre with the focus on
writing well constructed paragraphs.
Reading will include many different genres with explicit teaching of skills for
understanding and finding the meaning. Such comprehension skills will include
finding the main idea, prediction, reading for details, skimming, meaning of
vocabulary (including synonyms and antonyms, compound words), understanding
sequence, making inferences and judgements.
Speaking and Listening for Term 1 will include general participation in co-operative
group learning as well as morning presentations relating to a particular topic?
Students will share with a listening audience.
MATHS
Year 4 concepts include
 making connections between representations of numbers
 extending place value to decimals
 recalling multiplication tables, communicating sequences of simple fractions,
using instruments to measure accurately, creating patterns with shapes and
their transformations, and collecting and recording data
 deriving strategies for unfamiliar multiplication and division tasks
 evaluating the appropriateness of different displays
History
This year we will introduce world history and the movement of people. Beginning
with the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, students will
examine European exploration and colonisation in Australia and throughout the
world up to the early 1800s. Students will examine the impact of exploration on other
societies, how these societies interacted with newcomers, and how these
experiences contributed to their cultural diversity. Students look at the founding of
British colonies and the development of a colony. They learn about what life was like
for different groups of people in the colonial period. They examine significant events
and people, political and economic developments, social structures, and settlement
patterns.
Key Questions
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Why did the great journeys of exploration occur?
What was life like for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples before the arrival of
the Europeans? Why did the Europeans settle in Australia?
What was the nature and consequence of contact between Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait
Islander Peoples and early traders, explorers and settlers?
What do we know about the lives of people in Australia’s colonial past and how do we
know?
How did an Australian colony develop over time and why?
How did colonial settlement change the environment?
What were the significant events and who were the significant people that shaped
Australian colonies?
HPE
 Swimming
 Cross country and athletics
 Blue earth Program
 T-Ball as part of Gala Sports on Fridays in Term 2.
 Gymnastics
TECHNOLOGY
 Publishing using Microsoft word
 internet as a research tool
 Scootle
 Australian History CD-Rom
 Spelling city
 Cool Maths
 Ziptales and more.
HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUR YEAR 4 CHILD AT HOME
 Speak positively about school in front of your child.
 Encourage and praise your child.
 Encourage your child to take responsibility for their own organisation and
time management.
 Encourage your child to make use of the local and school libraries.
 Let your child see you reading and writing. Discuss events in the news or in
the paper – is it local, national or international?
 An Australian and world map visible in the house is useful.
 Have a dictionary readily available at home and use it often! Use a calendar
regularly
 Look for patterns in everything.
 Teach your child to play games – card games, jigsaws, dice and board
games, computer games
 Problem solve whenever possible.
HOMEWORK
 Find a quiet spot
 Turn off the television
 Encourage but let your child work independently. Encourage them to
complete all the activities they can before coming to you for help.
 Help your child develop a routine. (It will help in the future studies.)
 Encourage and praise your child for independent, focused efforts.
READING
 Listen to your child read aloud twice a week if they are competent readers
or each night if they need help. Practice is the key. Encourage your child to
read aloud using expression, pausing at full stops, emphasizing bold words.
Direct speech can always have expression added. Use the ‘Reading
Friends’ method.
 Read with or to your child
 Check your child’s understanding and comprehension of the book when
they have finished reading it. Ask them to tell the story in their own words or
ask them some questions. “Does that make sense?” – “Why do you think
the character said that?” – “What might happen next?” - Talk about the
start of the story, what happened by the end of the story, the people in the
story ....- Find me the part that tells me .....Was there an interesting
beginning to the story? What was the complication and how was it
resolved? Does this give you any ideas for your story writing?
WRITING
 Encourage your child to write things down. Reading and writing go hand in
hand. Good readers are generally good writers.
 Letter writing, sending postcards, making lists all encourage writing for a
purpose.
 Encourage your child to proofread and edit their writing if someone else is
going to read it.
 Encourage your child to attempt all words even if they are unsure of the
spelling. Underline words they think might be spelt incorrectly. Use a
dictionary if not sure. (If the first three letters of a word are known, the word
can usually be found easily enough.)
SPELLING
 Hear your child’s spelling remembering that spelling is a written activity.
 Expect that your child will use the correct spelling of any homework words
in any written work.
 Expect that any words already visible on a page will be spelt correctly.
MATHEMATICS
 Encourage and work with your child to help them to learn basic facts and
perform mental computations. Spend 5 minutes daily and say them
whenever possible e.g. in the car
 Speed and accuracy in addition facts are just as important as multiplication
facts.
 When speed and accuracy develops with addition and multiplication facts
then subtraction and division facts will come easily.
 Have a multiplication chart visible in the house.
 Talk measurement at home – this includes time, calendar, litres, millilitres,
metres, centimetres, kilograms, grams.
 Cooking – measuring, estimating, timers;
 Shopping – estimate cost, count money, change
 Use all coins and notes to make up different amounts of money
 Telling the time using digital and analogue clocks, finding out the time of
television shows, talk about time e.g. half an hour, how long is it until we go
swimming, what time will it be in ten minutes, how long is it until,
‘Reading Friends’
Catholic identity
The Hub
Spelling
Ash Wednesday
MJR
Spelling strategies
Interactive Angle Games
S.A. Tests
Testing
SSR
Religion
What do the students know
Angle Hunt
Prayer
Spelling
Compare and identify Angles
Angles
Friendship
Maths
Reading
Zipptales
Writing
English
Getting to
know each
other.
Fun
Routine
Homework
Lent
Word Processing Skills
Persuasive Texts
Year 4
Group skills and expectations
Class Covenant
Ways of Working
Geese
Collaborative Skills and Expectations
Values
Integrated Arts
The Hub
Technology
Special Days
Class Expectations
Team building
Connected
Learning Pod
Australia Day
Personal identity
Digital Citizenship
Assembly
Australian Identity
Saving
Routines
Morning class routine
Group
Skills/Collaborative Art
Generosity
Resposible use
Passwords
Charging
Job Lists
Line up
Folders/Computers
SpiderScribe.net simple Demo