Year 4 have hit the ground running this term with their learning both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. As a class we have a yearning for learning and are loving every opportunity to delve into learning. 

In Maths we are enjoying working in our Connecting Maths Concepts groups Monday- Thursday. These groups are helping to consolidate learning of key concepts with the four operations, in particular multiplication and division. We are using these skills to improve our mental maths facts for speed and accuracy. On Friday we love our hands on approach to learning. We have been exploring measurement and have learnt how to convert measurements between mm, cm, and metres. We have been exploring how to use a trundle wheel successfully, and how it can help us measure in metres. Lots of deep discussion was had as to the length and breadth of the oval, and we are now in the process of working out its perimeter and area. 

In English we have been working in both our Spelling Mastery and Reading Mastery groups to hone our skills to improve our reading and writing skills. In class we been reading the novel ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo as our class novel. We have been using this as a springboard four our writing and research. The novel is about a boy that gets washed up on a deserted island, after he was swept overboard on his family’s yacht as they travel the world. As a class we have been researching whether sailing around the world would be a wonderful adventure… or a complete nightmare! We have been writing persuasive letters to our families to put some of these ideas to them as to why or why not such an adventure would be a good idea as a family! We have also been writing letters to Mrs O’Neill to try to persuade her with some ideas to improve the school further. 

In History we have been learning about explorers of the world through the middle ages up to British settlement in 1778 in Australia. We have learnt about many explorers from different countries such as the French, Dutch and Chinese that came to Australia before the British. We also have been learning about some of the trade routes with Indonesian and PNG peoples with Indigenous Australians in the north of Australia that have been happening for thousands of years. We have explored the difficulties that explorers had to go through with boats that relied solely on wind power. We also learnt about the ingenious ideas of the Chinese explorers to grow their own food on their sail boats to eliminate diseases such as scurvy! We built our own replica Chinese boats using paper and straws to see the size and magnitude of the boat compared to the sails. 

In Art we have been exploring the use of oil pastels and blending with a variety of different projects. We have created a cross for the start of our Lenten season, as a reminder of the time of waiting for Easter. We have used both cool and warm colours to show the contrast between the shapes in a way to replicate stained glass windows. We have also created our own beach landscape with blending skills to emulate the water colours and waters edge as a final reminder of summer as we enter the cooler months of Autumn. 

In PDHPE we have been learning a variety of team sport skills in readiness for our AFL Gala day we had on Wednesday. We really enjoyed the opportunity to work as a team, and were able to put our skills into practice. Although not many of us had played AFL properly before, we relished the opportunity to get onto the field and have a go at learning a new skill! We had such wonderful feedback about our great sportsmanship from both John and Lachlan from AFL South Coast as well. 

In Religion we have been learning about the heroes of the Church as part of our unit on ‘Jesus is our guide’. We have learnt about the qualities of Jesus and how we use these to model ourselves and we see role models in our community. We have read scriptural passages from Matthew explaining Jesus’ ministry and compared them to people in our Moruya community who also help others. We created our own paper bag puppets of role models in our community like our parents, grandparents, Father George and other important people in our lives.

Mrs Carla Durnan
4 Blue Teacher