St Thomas Catholic Primary School

YEAR 4 CURRICULUM LETTER- Term 1, 2016

Dear Parents,
This year 4B is being taught by Anne Ryan (Mon-Wed) & Louise Jongejan (Thurs-Fri)
and 4Y will be taught by Jessica Francis. We are delighted to have the privilege of
teaching your children in Year 4 this year. The class program is planned together and we
regularly communicate with one another regarding the children and their welfare.
Important dates for this term are as follows:
Year 4 will attend the Parish Mass: Thursday, 25th February.
4B will have their class assembly is on Friday Week six, 4th March at 2.30pm
Here is the outline of work planned for Term 1.
Religion
Living the Good News of the Gospels: This module will introduce students to the gospels as
a unique form of literature, which for Christians is Good News as illustrated in Marks gospel
which begins with the words, This is the Good News about Jesus Christ , the Son of God (Mk1:1).
Students will begin to explore the four gospels of the canon of the New Testament, the gospels of
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They will be introduced the idea that these gospels are not
biographies of Jesus life despite containing biographical details.
Lent to Easter- The focus of this module is to encourage, nurture and inspire an authentic sense
of tolerance and compassion for all Gods children. Students are often unconsciously cruel or
simply intolerant of those they perceive as different to themselves. It is hoped that as a result of the
experiences of this module students will welcome and indeed embrace those whom they may have
previously presumed less worthwhile than them. The potential of this module can also be explored
through students meaningful experiences of the celebration of Eucharist as an opportunity to share
in Christs meal where all are called to the table as equals.
English:
We will be studying imaginative text and students will explore how various literacy
devices and techniques depict the theme of relationships. The theme sustainablity will be
viewed using a variety of different text types which may include
Picture Book Windy Farm
Movie
The Lorax
Key English Concepts to be covered
Responding to Text -Justifying Opinions and Evaluating Ideas ( Sustainability)
-Visual Literacy
Focus Questions to be covered
How is your opinion influenced by the text you read?
How do the images in text influence your opinion?

Reading:
The reading for this term will include:
Shared Reading:
Reciprocal Teaching:This takes the form of dialogue between the teacher and the
students as they use and develop strategies of predicting, clarifying, questioning,
note taking and summarising text. Reciprocal teaching helps the readers learn to
internalise the strategies employed by effective readers.
Independent Reading:
Regular time is given for children to read books of
their own choice and to practise their reading skills. These books can come from
home or a library and need to be brought to school daily. It is important that the
material is neither too easy nor too hard. Children will be required to give a
written review of each book and, periodically over the course of the year present
these to the class.
The literacy (small group) strategy will be:
Guided/ Reciprocal Reading - instruction which involves the teacher and the
children reading their way through a text.
Response Task
Comprehension Task
Print Conventions
ICLT and handwriting
These group activities will be for approximately 30 minutes, 5 days a week.
The weekly spelling list is drawn, not only from the topics covered in Key Learning
Areas, but also the Year 4 core and theme spelling lists as well as words misspelt in their
daily work. The word meanings are expected to be looked up in a dictionary and placed
in sentences. The spelling words will be attached to the home learning sheet and a
spelling test will be given each Friday.
Library: Library lesson take place each Tuesday and children will borrow from the
Library each Thursday. Please ensure that your child has a library bag, clearly labelled,
borrows regularly and reads daily.
Mathematics
Whole Number: Students will engage in tasks using place value to read, write, represent
and order numbers up to 4 digits. They will also be expected to count forwards and
backwards by ten both on and off the decade.
Addition and Subtraction: Students will use the inverse operations to check addition
and subtraction calculations. They will solve mental and written strategies for addition
and subtraction of two-, three-, four- and five- digit numbers.
Patterns and Algebra: Students will generate, describe and record number patterns
using a variety of strategies.

Time: Students will convert between seconds, minutes, hours and days. They will use
and interpret am and pm notation, as well as read and interpret simple timetables,
timelines and calendars.
.
Integrated Unit:
Our Local Environment
Complex Question
How can we interact with our local environment?
Inquiry Questions
What is our local environment like?
What is the role of our local council in our environment?
How do we solve problems that we have in our local environment?
This unit provides opportunities for the students to explore the types of environments in
their local area and the factors affecting these. They will also investigate the role of the
local council in managing the problems related to our local environment.
Personal Development/ Health/Physical Education:
Me, Myself & I: In this unit we will be exploring the question: How is personal growth
and development influenced by personal identity, values and changes related to puberty
and life?
Our focus in this unit is also on Social & Emotional Learning skills such as: selfawareness, self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making and social
awareness.
School Rules - Respect Self, Respect Others and Respect our Environment, will be
revised.

by being a good listener

learn and let others learn

be in the right place at the right time

care for belongings

speak and act with kindness.

P.E:
This is taken by specialist teacher, Mrs. Courtney Statos, each Thursday.
Science and Technology
The children will be required to investigate and describe how people interact within built
environments and the factors considered in their design and construction. The children
will focus their exploration on the design of the local Willoughby council area.
Creative Arts
Visual Arts:
Our Visual Arts unit of work is part of the integrated program focusing on Local
Environment. The children will make a study of artworks by painters Margaret Preston, a
local North Shore artist, and Sali Herman, who painted inner cityscapes.
The focus will be mainly on the elements of line and colour. The children will investigate
how Margaret Preston used these elements to create a dramatic visual effect in her wood
block printing.

The children will also investigate how both artists have used these elements to create
perspective in their paintings. The children will be given opportunities to experiment with
these aspects of the artists works.
Technology via the use of the digital camera will be used to photograph the local
environment.
Drama:
Topics will be linked to activities from the Integrated Unit and English.
Music:
This is taken by specialist teacher, Paoley Tjia each Tuesday.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any concerns regarding your child. We look
forward to a productive and enriching term and year.
Yours sincerely,
Anne Ryan, Jessica Francis and Louise Jongejan