Year 4 has had a very busy and engaging term. There have been many highlights including our most recent visit to the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens last week. 

Science - Life Cycles
What a fun unit of work this has been! Students have been exploring how frogs and butterflies change during their life cycles. We have been amazed to see how a simple small egg can transform into a new living creature. Our experiment to see how the wind disperses seeds, tied in beautifully with learning about the life cycle of a eucalypt tree during our excursion to the Eurobodalla Botanic Garden. Our natural environment is truly amazing and learning experiences such as these remind of the importance of taking such great care of it.

This term in Science we have been learning about a life cycle. I have really enjoyed it. My favourite part was studying one of the animals. One we looked at was a cricket. Anikah H

In Science we have been learning about life cycles with different animals e.g. frogs and pandas. First we had to choose an animal, then look at the different stages it goes through and draw a diagram.  Abbie H

Religion
In Religion we are developing an understanding and appreciation of stewards of earth. The students have been exploring and learning to implement ways to continue the mission of Jesus in our school and community. As stewards of creation we are entrusted with caring for the gifts of creation and preserving them for future generations. We have explored the significance of Lent and Holy Week, whilst focusing on the meaning of each  Station of the Cross. 

In Religion I have enjoyed learning about God’s marvellous creation and linking this to my favourite place. I chose Moruya because I was born here and I love how the sunset is red, orange and sometimes yellow. It also has perfect beaches! Charnaya T

Geography
This term we have been travelling (virtually) to many different countries and continents around the world. After learning about the natural features of our own country Australia, we have travelled to China in Asia, Madagascar in Africa, and Brazil in South America. Each of these countries have their own unique natural landscapes, climate and vegetation as well as many interesting animals. It has been a great unit of work to hone our research and note taking skills.

I have enjoyed learning about the Spiny Forest in Madagascar. Some animals are known to live in the Spiny Forest, such as lemurs and tortoises. The tortoise can live up to 180 years old. The trees in the forest have really spiky thorns as sharp as snake fangs. Liam G

The Spiny Forest is a forest in Madagascar. Some animals such as the radiated tortoise live there and can live up to 180 years. The trees in the forest have amazing spiny leaves and branches perfect for catching rain. Alex S

English
Year 4 are enjoying Spelling Mastery which takes place for the first 30 minutes of the day. Spelling Mastery is a scripted direct instruction program that helps students understand the relationship between sounds, word parts and spelling patterns. The students are continuing to engage with fast paced, high impact Daily Review lessons. We are being introduced to new vocabulary each day through our Daily Reviews to expand our writing skills. 

In writing, we have focused on Persuasive Writing. We know that there are persuasive texts all around us; television and newspaper advertisements, brochures, catalogues, reviews, campaign flyers and many more! I am certain that even we have all tried to be persuasive towards our parents recently! Using the right persuasive techniques, a persuasive text can hook a reader or viewer, engage their emotions, leaving them feeling inspired to take action or change their opinion. We focused our writing piece on beach safety, as without a doubt, I am sure everyone sitting at home knows that beach safety is definitely important!

Year 4 are learning about sizzling starts in writing. Most people wrote horror sizzling starts. “The night the power went out” and “There is a tree in the backyard that eats kids” were the best horror topics. I had so much fun. Thanks Mr Bateman and Mrs Kenny. Benji R

This term we have been learning to write sizzling starts. I have really enjoyed it. For example ‘Boom!I stood in my house alone. I keep hearing something odd. I looked around. Nothing was there.’ It’s probably been my favourite writing to work on. Madelyn M

This term I have enjoyed writing a persuasive text on ‘Beach Safety’. It was very fun because you got to pick the topics on beach safety you would like to write about. It took a long time but I enjoyed it. Lily M

Without a doubt persuasive text writing was my favourite thing we learnt. Would you want to drown in a rip at the beach? Swim between the flags if you don’t want to drown, it’s the safest place to swim! Sam W

I have enjoyed writing sizzling starts. ‘As I felt vibrating footsteps and noises I felt scared and alone. I ran and ran until I was safe’. Anthony M

We have been learning about writing persuasive texts on beach safety. We have been pulling the text apart to see its structure. We put our new vocabulary into our persuasive text to make it stronger. Declan T

We have been learning about sizzling starts in writing. I wrote one about a murder mystery. ‘The moon is up and the sun has said goodnight as the demonic tree woke up hunting for kids’. Sam H

We have been learning to write about persuasive texts on beach safety. Some of the persuasive arguments we learnt about were swimming between the flags, checking the water before entering and wearing sunscreen. Persuasive texts are used to change someone's opinion. Tessa H

It was a dark and stormy night as I was playing my Nintendo and watching scary stories. “BOOM!’The house went pitch black and my dad came into my room with massive candles. Dakota S

In English I have enjoyed writing sizzling starts to engage the reader. Chomp, crunch chomp!. “Ahhhhh!!!” cried the kids as the horrifying tree chased the kids around. Mackenzie H

Maths
Daily Review and Explicit Direct Instruction is also a huge part of our Maths curriculum. Students are able to put their learning that has been previously taught into practice through a range of rich activities. We are learning to solve vertical algorithms with three and four digit numbers, exploring place value of numbers up to five digits, comparing and ordering fractions. We are working on our automacy with times tables and turn and then successfully transferring this knowledge when exploring the tricky division concept! 

This term we have been learning about sketching 3D shapes e.g. triangular prism, rectangular prism. We have also been learning about multiplication, division, subtraction and addition algorithms. Leroy L

This term in maths I have enjoyed subtraction, addition and multiplication. I like doing graphing because you get to learn about people's favourite colours, animals and footy teams, it’s so much fun. I love doing maths! Bella S

We have done lots of fun activities in maths, learning about multiplication and division, adding and subtracting and drawing 3D shapes. My favourite activity that we worked on was graphing. I collected data from Year 1 students and put the results into a picture graph. Billie B

Art
In Visual Art, the creative vibes have been flowing! Students have enjoyed creating many different artworks throughout the term. Our most recent art piece is without a doubt our Australia Bird Collages! The detail and creativity within each bird is impressive! We have also created graffiti name walls which focused on line, colour and shape. Our photography ‘all about me’ posters were also a favourite where we used edicol dye and black and white imagery. We look forward to creating a Pete Cromer inspired artwork, optical illusions and mixed media picasso faces in Term 2.

In art we recently completed an Australian bird collage. We had many Australian birds to choose from such as a kingfisher, fairy wren, rainbow bee eater and crimson rosella. Once we had finished our birds we painted a colourful background to stick our birds on and make them stand out. I was very impressed with how they turned out.   Ellie R  

In art we have been making Australian birds. We have been studying their types of colours to see what colours to use. We painted a background and made branches out of black paper then glued it all together. They looked amazing when completed. Liam M           

PDHPE
We have been learning about the water conditions and swimming between the flags at the beach. I have learnt that you don’t go in the water without a grown up and that kids can get lost at the beach if they’re not supervised. Gracie P 

This term has been amazing! Everything was so interesting, but the biggest standout was PDH. Thanks to Mr Hill and Mrs Grant I went to the Southern Region Carnival  in swimming and Mr Hill has really helped me identify how to be beach safe. Matilda W

In health we have been learning about water safety. I have been loving this. It has really got me thinking about how to be safe in the water. Ollie A

Sophie Kenny and Justin Bateman
4 Blue Teachers