October 2016
Dear Year 4 Parents and Girls, Welcome back to Term 4 2016. We hope you all have had a lovely relaxing break and are ready for another exciting term, albeit the last in Year 4. English Reading We will continue to build the girls’ reading stamina with an expectation for them to be able to read silently for 20 minutes at a time. Exploring rich literature in conjunction with our science unit will also be a focus. Spelling We are moving ahead with our spelling rules. It is also important for the girls to consolidate their high frequency words and to transfer these to their everyday writing. Writing This term we will be exploring techniques that engage the readers through character actions and events.
Handwriting In readiness for Year 5 we will be focusing on the girls’ cursive handwriting. Emphasis will be on the correct joins and fluency for efficiency. Please note, this section is written in Foundation Cursive font and we attach a writing sample for your reference. Science – “May the Force Be with You” Big Idea: Forces move objects in different ways and occur in everyday life. This unit provides students with the opportunity to explore forces and motion. Girls will work scientifically, engaging in hands-on activities to identify forces that act at a distance and those that act in direct contact. They will investigate how different-sized forces affect the movement of objects, using a range of methods to record their observations. Throughout these investigations, the girls will be encouraged to produce evidence that can be shared with peers and related back to predictions. They will also be encouraged to reflect on the relationship between the process undertaken and their evidence. A highlight of this unit of study will be a workshop “Billy Carts” which will involve designing and building and driving a billy cart. This should be a lot of fun. Mathematics Week 1 3D Shapes - make, compare, sketch and name three-dimensional objects, including prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones and spheres, and describe their features. Week 2 Volume and Capacity - measure, record, compare and estimate volumes and capacities using litres, millilitres and cubic centimetres.