Yr4 Curriculum Update – 01/11/19
Working together to achieve success for every child
Sharing the Planet
A unit which brings excitement to each year group is beginning! Students love this unit of inquiry and already we are seeing this excitement and anticipation in our classrooms. Our central idea and lines of inquiry are:
Central idea: Living things survive and thrive in specific ecosystems.
- Adaptation and ecosystems (form)
- Why living things survive and thrive in specific ecosystems (causation)
- Human impact on ecosystems (responsibility)
Beware of sharing this central idea with your children just yet as we might well be creating a puzzle from our central idea and asking students to solve it! Here is what some students have to say about reflecting on our last unit of inquiry and beginning our new one.
During this last unit year 4 have made their own Learning journey website. We made a paint chart, where we needed to show how if we think which activity is most useful and which is least useful.
By Hannah and Emily 4C
In this new unit year 4 has had a preassement about sharing the planet. In our preassement we had to choose an animal to write about, we wrote how they live, survive, eat, drink, poo and who they live with. We did this preassement so our teacher knows what to teach us. Our unit is about animal and how they survive in the world, (Sharing the Planet).
By Renee and Vandita
Literacy
What an amazing, authentic reason for students to practise reading, speaking, listening and writing; by preparing for our 3 Way Conferences. Some students want to share some of our learning engagements which enhance our literacy skills.
Year four have been preparing for 3 way conferences by writing our next steps on our learning journey website. We needed to make sure we used capital letters and full stops so that our parents can read it. We will also practise speaking when we practise our 3 way conference in class. We will do this so we can be clear in the 3 way conference when we speak with our parents.
By Sophie 4C
This week we have practiced reading and listening to our assembly scripts. Some of us practiced reading smoothly and slowly to let the other people listen to what we are saying. We have also practiced our listening skills while we are listening to other people’s speech.
By Colin and Jason 4C
Our focus for Literacy in our next Unit of Inquiry will be about word choice and organisation. Here is what some students think this might mean.
Our last focus for English was writing conventions. Writing conventions are how people always write. This means using full stops at the end of a sentence and capital letters at the start of a sentence. We leave spaces between words so we can see the words perfectly. I think word choice means choices about your words like choosing which word you want to say.
By Deesan and Athena 4C
We also had an inspiring visiting author, Jan Latta. This was perfect timing as we are starting our new unit all about animal adaptations. She told us all about her trips to photograph and video these amazing animals in the wild.
Maths
As we wrap up our Unit of Inquiry about place value, well it’s never really wrapped up as it appears within all our maths learning, we have been reflecting on our new understandings. Here some students will tell you about how we reflect and our next Unit of Inquiry for our maths learning.
We have been learning about place value & rounding. We have also made a video about rounding. For this whole unit we have been watching very useful videos about rounding. 4C has also done a glow and grow to reflect on our place value learning. It is important to reflect so you know what you need to learn.
By Daniel and Rhiyoo 4C
Y4 have been preparing for our 3 way conference by using a math mindset next step and doing some preasesments (and summative assessments) so we are prepared for our 3 way conference. Our learning journey website helped us a lot because all the learning we have done, we have put it on our learning journey website.
By Brita and Tanya 4C
We have begun our learning of the four operations in math such as adding, dividing, subtracting and multiplying. We also did a pre assessment to show what we know about plus and minus. We needed to find different ways to show the answer but we had to do it mentally in our head. We also had to find the answer in our head in many ways. It is good to have a pre assessment to show what you know and what you don’t.
By Tristan & Tashi 4C.
KJS Community and Upcoming Events
Students have been asked to bring their library bags everyday to school so that they can safely take their Chromebooks to Mandarin each day. Since they are walking up and down the stairs, having their library bag over their shoulder will ensure that they have their hands free to grab the handrail on the stairs.
Thank you to everyone who has sent in a pair of headphones or earphones to school with their student. We have been using these almost daily. It helps our students to focus better when listening to books online, watching videos or recording their own videos.
In November, we will be taking a field trip to the Hong Kong Wetlands Park. We will be asking for parent volunteers to join us on the field trip to this beautiful place. More information to follow!
Reminders
- Please help us in making sure students are given the opportunity to read everyday, either on their own or with someone at home
- Due to severe nut allergies in Y4, please do not send any food with any type of nut. Thank you for helping keep all of our students safe!
- Students are reminded to only use the central staircase in the morning and to wait until 8:15 before coming upstairs to ensure there is supervision in all the classrooms
- Sun safety is very important to us! Students need to bring their hats every day, as children who do not bring their hat will not be allowed to take part in snack or lunch play
- Students also need to bring a reusable water bottle every day, labeled clearly with their name
Important Dates
October 31 & November 7 3 Way Learning Conferences (3-6pm)
November 12-15 School Photos
November 15 Bingo Night
