Prep | Year 4 News

Unit of Inquiry

In Week 4 of Term 2 the boys concluded their inquiry into How the World Works and shared their understanding of how a specific form of energy works through creating models and giving a demonstration. Week 6 saw us begin our new unit of inquiry, How We Organise Ourselves. In this unit our lines of inquiry include: The Digital World and its features; The Digital world as a platform for interactions; and Ethical use of technology. The key concepts for this unit are Form, Connection and Responsibility.

Maths

In Week 4 the boys completed their unit on Measurement (Volume, Capacity, Mass and Temperature). From Weeks 5 through 8 they are studying Patterns and Algebra. They will be learning about different patterns which involve increasing and decreasing patterns, different operations, missing numbers and how to create rules which explain how a pattern works. For algebra, the boys will look at the key components and rules associated with algebra and start to develop their understanding of how symbols or letters can be used to represent parts of a question, a missing number or a possible solution to a sum. The boys will work on building their understanding of the different concepts, methods and strategies associated with patterns and algebra and aim to increase their confidence using this particular area of mathematics.

English

Within Literature Studies, we have been focusing on a range of comprehension skills relating to texts related to their current UOI focus. Some of these have included: Main idea and detail; character and settings and inferring.

Our writing focus has moved onto persuasive texts as our part of our new UOI focus. Students are currently looking into the features of persuasive texts, with a specific focus on perfecting their introductions. Students will understand how to structure their introductions and begin having a better understanding of how to enhance their texts using high modality, rhetorical questions and convincing research to back up their arguments.

Mandarin

Year 4 boys have been enjoying the vocabulary competitions and they have boosted their word learning and practice in reading, listening, writing and dictation translating in between English and Chinese.

The teacher focused groups have started in Week 4. While the class concentrates on the assigned learning tasks, the teacher meets small groups checking their learning and creating chances for the boys to communicate in Chinese with their peers. There are a variety of activities in the focused groups, including language recognition, reading, speaking, quiz and competitive games.