HERITAGE COLLEGE

Year 4 2018

2-10 Heritage Court, Oakden 5086 South Australia

T (08) 8266 5122 E khealy@heritage.sa.edu.au W www.heritage.sa.edu.au

INTRODUCTION Heritage College aims to be a place where children can find a happy and safe environment to grow

up in God’s ways and this aim is at the heart of all College programs.

I am very excited to be teaching the Year 3/4 class this year and I am looking forward to a productive

and interesting year, God willing. I thought it would be useful to write some notes for your information

to help with the smooth day-to-day running of the Year 3/4 class.

YEAR 4 CURRICULUM English Oral language: Students learn to speak before an audience at assemblies, class presentations and oral language activities. Reading: Guided reading – two or three times a week stu-dents are taught comprehension skills through explicit teacher instruction in small groups. They read texts at their level and answer questions tar-geting a deeper understanding of a text. Individual reading– students take home readers every night for homework. Novel study – A variety of activities accompany each novel studied. Novels to be studied include

The Little Sea Horse Helen Cressswell The Mouse and the Motorcycle Beverly Cleary Helen Keller Margaret Davidson A friend for Grace Sofie Laguna

Writing: Students write a variety of text types with a particular focus on narratives, exposition (argument), explanation and recount. It is especially important that students write in complete sentences with fullstops and cap-ital letters. They are also taught and consolidate use of punctuation marks. Students consolidate their use of cursive. Spelling: Students are pre-tested on each week’s list and 8 incorrect words are practised daily at school. Year 4 students will have words from the Year 4 list. The post–test on Friday is recorded and the test sent home. Students do activities relating to their spelling words during the week. They also extend and revise letter/ sound knowledge.

The Arts Music: In Year 4 music students have been divided into small groups to learn an instrument. The strings are taught by Ian Russell, the Brass by Sam Hicks and the Woodwinds by Kirsty Palmer. In their weekly group lessons students will learn how to play their instrument, how to read music, build a music vocabulary (including many Italian words), and how to play in an ensemble situa-tion. The students will also have regular opportu-nities to showcase their learning in the format of the music program. Visual Art: Students develop skills in using mate-rials, observational drawing, painting/ printing, design, colour etc. Design and Technology: Students develop skills in design, making and critiquing various projects. HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences) Geography: Students develop skills in research, mapping, note-taking, interpreting information from various sources including DVDs, atlases etc. Topics include: Sustainability and recycling, tradi-tional management of land, Africa and South America. History Students develop skills in examining primary sources (photos, letters etc, perspectives/ points of view, and developing opinions). Topics include: Early world exploration, Arrival of the First Fleet, early contacts in Australia and Civics and citizenship (rules and laws).

Mathematics At Heritage College, there is an emphasis on number, ensuring that students have a good understanding of the number system and a solid foundation on which to build future concepts. Quick basic fact recall is practiced daily. Students are encouraged to approach Maths with a positive attitude, enjoy challenges, persist with and solve problems. Topics covered include Space—maps, angles/ lines, shape 2D and 3D Chance and data- reading and creating graphs Measurement- area, perimeter, mass, capacity, Volume, Length, Time and Temperature Number—addition/ subtraction, multiplication/ division, fractions, decimals, patterns and algebra, place value, numbers to 10 000, problem solving and rounding to 10,100, 1000. Science Students develop skills in predicting, conducting and recording experiments, drawing and interpreting diagrams, tables and flowcharts, researching and interpreting information. Topics include: Materials and their

properties Life cycles Weathering and erosion Forces

Hebrew Students’ knowledge of the Hebrew language and the Jewish and Israeli culture will be reinforced and developed further by revisiting aspects already learnt, as well as learning new and more complex ones. This is relevant to all areas of the language, e.g. listening, speaking, reading and writing with emphasis on grammar and text reading. The language and culture will be taught through multimodal texts, such as flash cards, interactive games, DVD’s, worksheets, and hands-on activities. Health and PE Health: Students learn about the many ways to keep safe and be healthy. They learn about

themselves and others and how to solve problems and conflicts and how to protect themselves. They learn how to keep safe in the classroom, out in the playground, in the community and in their home. Physical Education: Students learn about many different ways of moving safely and extending their physical skills. They learn the skills necessary for participation in Sports Day (term 1), Footsteps dance (term 1), swimming (term 1) and other sports. They participate in fitness throughout the week and a dedicated PE lesson. Home Learning Excluding Wednesday nights, your child will have home learning tasks. 1. Spelling: Students will have a pre-test on the week’s list and the incorrect words are highlighted in their spelling book. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday students can complete tasks from the spelling matrix to practice their words. The Friday test results are recorded and the tests sent home. 2. Readers: Students read a take home reader each night at home. (except if going to the class on Wednesdays) You can help your child by asking them some simple questions to check their understanding. For example, -Tell me in 2 sentences what this book was about - Why do you think this book was given that title? - How do you think he/she felt when…? - Why do you think...happened? 3. Times tables: Students in Year 4 should be fluent at recalling all of the multiplication facts and also the division facts. 4. Studyladder: Students have been issued a Studyladder account for online learning. This online learning tool allows the teacher to set tasks appropriate for their learning level to practice skills across all curriculum areas. Students may do additional practice at home if they wish using this account. They are allowed up to 3 activities per day at home. (but I would ask that they do not do the set tasks for school during this time) If you wish for them to do further tasks than the allocated 3, you have the option of setting up your own Studyladder account for them at home.

CLASS ORGANISATION Attendance If your child is absent, please send an email to the front desk and copy me in. Behaviour Management This year our class will use the “Class Dojo” App to reward and reinforce expected behaviour in class. Students will receive points individually and as a class. For behaviour that doesn’t meet class expectations, the following steps will be issued: 1) Reminder 2) Warning 3) Time out room The school-wide commendation card system will continue this year. Food Please observe the nut aware policy of the school and also be aware that some of the students in the class are gluten free. Please do not send any lollies or chocolates to school as part of any Birthday celebrations. Bible study themes The themes for the following terms will be: Term 1 Respect Term 2 Responsibility Term 3 Resilience Term 4 Reflection. Library Students will have opportunity to visit the library every week on Tuesday during reading rotations. Subject Teachers Music teachers—Tuesdays Brett Arnold—PE on Tuesday Revital Aharon—Hebrew Thursday and Friday Science—Keren Healy History—Jo Weedon Sarah Kemp—Geography Uniform If there is a reason why your child is not in the correct school uniform, please write me a note of explanation (either by note or by email). Please ensure your child is dressed in sports uniform on Tuesdays, Thursdays and on Friday if they are involved in after school sports.

ICLT and Typing Tournament This year we will be teaching the students a variety of computer programs and computer skills to help them navigate the computers well. These programs will include: Word, Powerpoint, Scratch and other Coding applications. Students have also been issued a Typing Tournament account which they will use to learn how to touch-type. Typing tournament is an online learning tool that can also be accessed from home, should they wish to practice further skills. Students will need a pair of headphones and a USB memory stick for their studies in ICLT. Communication If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me or arrange an appointment time. khealy@heritage.sa.edu.au