Grade 4

Welcome to term 4. My how the year has flown by with some incredible learning being had by our grade 4's. Term 4 is a busy one with excursions and lot's of sporting opportunities such as Jett's Gym and swimming and promises to continue to hold wonderful learning opportunities.
A major highlight of last term was the grade 4's annual camp. This year they attended Cave Hill Creek where they took part in lot's of fun activities including canoeing, map reading, bush cooking, archery and much more. Student's had an absolute blast!

Another major highlight of last term was the whole school production of Beauty and the Beast. The whole school put in such a tremendous effort to ensure the production was a success and it truly was a magical performance. 

Curriculum

English

In English this term, students will be focusing on explanation, recounts and revising the structure of narrative and persuasive writing.

During the first several weeks of term 4 students will be focusing on the structure of explanation writing. They'll review different topics of explanation pieces and then produce their own. 

Student's will then revise the structure of narrative and persuasive texts where topics will be linked to our upcoming excursion to the Zoo and Christmas stories. 

Topic Studies

In Topic Studies this term students will be studying the unit 'Home amongst the gum trees.' Student's will learn about eucalyptus trees and how they are an important feature of Australian life. The Among the gum trees unit provides hands-on investigations, where students explore the fruit and flowers of eucalypts, how different living things interact with the tree, and plan and conduct an investigation of how eucalyptus oil may inhibit the growth of plants beneath its canopy or microorganisms in its leaves.

ICT

Within ICT this term, students will be looking at technology through history, external and internal hardware of a computer, different devices that can be used with a computer, how to perform simple tasks of opening, saving and locating a document. Student's will also learn how to use simple coding techniques with programs such as Excel and Scratch.

Homework Expectations

Within the grade 4 cohort, homework expectations are as follows:
  • 5 nights of reading per week
  • Spelling practise at student's own discretion
  • Unfinished work from the week will be completed during 'free time Friday block'
  • Some unfinished work may need to be completed during part of student's lunchtime, fruit break time or at home if classroom time wasn't used efficiently/appropriately.

Key Dates

  • Jett's Gym at 1:30 - 9th October
  • Regional Athletics - 15th October
  • Walk to school launch - 16th October
  • Jett's Gym at 1:30 - 16th October
  • Discovery Centre/Planetarium excursion - 17th October 
  • Relay for life - 19th October
  • Jett's Gym at 1:30 - 23rd October
  • Jett's Gym at 1:30 - 30th October
  • Bendigo Cup - 31st October
  • Art show - 8th November
  • Zoo excursion - 13th November
  • Swimming - 28th of November - 14th December 
  • State wide Step Up Day - 11th December
  • Year 2-5 Award ceremonies - 18th December
  • Class parties - 19th December
  • Special lunch - 21st December
  • Last day of term - 21st December, early finish at 1:30pm

Math

In Math this term,  students have been strengthening their skills in the areas of:
  • Fractions and Decimals
  • Chance and Probability
  • Patterns
  • Time
  • Maps, Scales and Networks
  • Money and Financial Math
  • Revising key topics covered throughout the year

Students have been completing a variety of activities including rich inquiry based tasks to strengthen their knowledge in these key areas of the curriculum.

Science

In Science this term, student's will be studying the unit 'Beneath our Feet and Night and Day.' To extend student learning within these units they will be taking part in two excursions. One to the Planetarium and one to the Melbourne Zoo. 

Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships

In term 3, students will continue to work through Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships program as well as the Wilson McCaskill Play is the Way program. These programs and learning materials assist students' emotional development and their social, emotional and positive relationship skills.  

STEM

At Maiden Gully Primary School, student's take part in many STEM activities to provide rich and meaningful learning experiences that often compliment the current topic student's are learning or as an introductory activity.