Year 4

AMANDA PEMBERTON Year 4 Coordinator

As our young TSS students start Year 4, their journey through the Prep School steps up and they face the exciting challenges of the upper primary school. From the very beginning of Term One to the end of Term Four, the boys have many wonderful experiences both inside and outside of the classroom.

YEAR FOUR CAMP Our boys began the year with their first outdoor recreation camp at Tyalgum Ridge Retreat in Northern New South Wales. We embarked on this adventure in the third week of the school year, which allowed the teachers and students to really get to know one another in a fun and relaxed environment. The boys enjoyed their two-night sleepover sharing rooms with bunk beds and their own ensuite bathrooms! Not quite the “camp” they expected.

The boys were split into groups and rotated through a number of activities each day. After a hearty breakfast, the boys headed out to try their hand at archery, group “trust” games and hiking or canoeing. We would all head back in time for morning tea, a change of clothes or shoes and then head off again for further activities, including the low ropes, rockhopping and feeding the farm animals. The boys worked up healthy appetites and luckily the staff provided filling and healthy meals throughout the day. The day always ended up with some free time as the camp staff clocked off. The boys could swim in the pool, play a game of touch football or soccer, or use the games room and improve their table tennis or snooker skills. By the time dinner came around the boys were winding down and ready to chill out in front of a movie or try their hand at trivia.

Our final day at camp is always a race against the weather for some reason, and this year was no different. The boys hiked with wet-weather gear to try their hand at making damper in the slightly soggy campfires that they had learnt to build, and walked down to the creek to look for crystals among the rocks. By the time we all arrived back at the lunch area the boys were exhausted, muddy, hungry and ready for home.

After three days away we returned back to school totally exhausted and in one piece, although slightly soggy and smelly and all looking forward to a decent night’s sleep!

HISTORY In Year 4, as part of the Australian Curriculum, the boys learn about Indigenous Culture and the years before, during and after the arrival of the Europeans. Our boys wrote stories and journals, travelled back in time, sailed the seven seas with different explorers, travelled across the world to establish a colony as a First Fleeter and grew to understand a little more about our past and how we could improve our future. We had visits from a variety of actors and performers who brought our history to life and spent an enjoyable day dressed up as our “First Fleeters” participating in fun activities, including damper-making, a scavenger hunt, tent races and ball games.

ENGLISH This year has seen Year 4 continue to develop their understanding of THRASS and apply their knowledge in lots of different ways through spelling, handwriting, reading and writing activities. We have created poems, written and presented speeches, persuaded each other on the perils of video games, written stories with morals and stories about real-life people who lived a long time ago. Our consolidation of reading and comprehension skills continued with the boys working on their Guided Literacy program, and many Year 4 boys were awarded with Master’s Order of Credit awards for outstanding Literacy work in their Bookweb program. Once again the boys of TSS Prep showed their outstanding public-speaking ability with another wonderful display of speeches that were difficult to choose between. In addition, many boys in Year 4 participated in the Master of Prep Reading Challenge again this year, and were rewarded with certificates and medals for all of their hard work.

SCIENCE The Science curriculum in Year 4 is focused around four key units of work. Beneath our Feet (Earth Sciences) in Term One; A Material Word (Natural and Processed materials) in Term Two; Smooth Moves (Physics) in Term Three and finally, Plants in Action (Biology) in Term Four. Throughout our science units boys learnt about the changes in our environment and the way things move around us. They created some amazing projects, including park ride designs and models, and grew our own bean plants aka Mr Bean in our classrooms. The boys really enjoy the hands-on learning that science provides.

MATHEMATICS We have continued working in Maths groups this year with all boys able to work at their own pace to support and extend their learning. This enables our students to truly experience differentiation and a little bit of what it is like to move to a different classroom and teacher for subjects. This concept continues on throughout their Prep school years, ensuring that all boys are catered for at their own level. The Australian Curriculum is divided up into the strands of Numbers and Algebra; Measurement and Geometry; Statistics and Probability. Students in Year 4 focused on improving their number fact knowledge and skills, improving place value and developing understanding of fractions and decimal fractions. Students were also introduced to different forms of measurement in length, mass, volume and area. We also discovered tessellations, investigated number patterns and were introduced to different ways to interpret and represent data through graphs.

GEOGRAPHY This year has seen a few changes to our Geography program with the introduction of a new unit, The Lorax. We used the story by Dr Seuss to help the boys understand the concept of sustainability. We then looked at the changes to our local environment in the Prep School with the building of our wonderful new hall and how this will impact upon our existing rainforest area and its surroundings. The boys looked at ways to incorporate a new rainforest and garden area into the plans for the school. We looked at sustainable uses and how we can re-create something that the boys can continue to play and “work” within. The boys have really developed a good understanding of what it means to be sustainable and how important it is to save our environment.

In conclusion, Year 4 2015 has been an incredibly busy, exciting and successful year. As the year closes I would like to thank all of the wonderful staff who work with our boys every day throughout the Prep School, especially my fellow teachers of Year 4, Ms Angela Tyler (3/4T), Mr Steve Hamilton (4H) and Mr Scott McLennan (4M). I know that all the staff have enjoyed working with the Year Four boys this year and are pleased to see them grow and mature into fine young gentlemen.

YEAR 4H

SEATED ROW: J. FOSTER, W. COX, S. HAMADI, N. EVANS, J. BENDER, O. O’NEILL, D. MCINNES, S. LEDINGHAM, T. WEBSTER SECOND ROW: D. BURNZ, J. NICHOLSON, B. TZANNES, B. HAYES, N. PIERRON, X. STEINFORT, H. GOFFMAN, B. CONDON THIRD ROW: B. JURISICH, S. FANCUTT, T. GOFFSASSEN, S. COLLIVAS, B. FAULKNER, T. QUINN, F. KUKAS, C. HUTCHISON TEACHER: MR S. HAMILTON

YEAR 4M

SEATED ROW: S. RICHARDS, R. EAST, D. CHEN, D. STATHAM, J. MCDOWELL, T. MULLINS, N. MAHONY, A. BROWN SECOND ROW: L. DELL, J. ATKINSON, J. WATERS, M. FISHER, C. CARLOS, A. ROBINSON, S. STURGESS THIRD ROW: B. PARKER, R. MAHON, A. VAN RIET, L. MURPHY, T. ROSSITER, C. LYGO TEACHER: MR S. MCLENNAN

YEAR 4P

SEATED ROW: P. BOUSGAS, J. RYAN, J. WESTMACOTT, X. GRASSO, J. JACKSON, B. STROEBEL, C. MURAKAMI, J. MCCARTHY SECOND ROW: M. SHARP, B. SHUTTLEWOOD, J. TEE, N. VAN DER LAAN, A. WHITTAKER, B. NICKALLS, O. JACKSON, B. WELLARD THIRD ROW: Z. BATTOCCHIO, A. HILL, A. MCMATH, B. BRINSMEAD, O. HAMID, M. SCHWEDE, M. BIALOCERKOWSKI TEACHER: MRS A. PEMBERTON