Term 1 Learning

Health - Building Healthy Relationships

• What makes us special and unique?

• What are the qualities of friendship and being friendly?

• How can we manage our big emotions?

Inquiry Learning Area - Technology

The Big Idea: People create technological solutions to enrich the lives of themselves and other living beings.

Lines of Inquiry:

• Technology enriches our lives

• Ways technology is used to enrich the lives of animals in our lives

• How places like zoos use technology to enhance the lives of animals in captivity

Literacy -

Reading: In Year 4 most of our children are now reading to learn rather than learning to read. In the early years, children move through reading levels at a relatively quick pace and have usually developed strong decoding skills. However, in Year 4 the focus is on comprehension, vocabulary, reading pace and being able to use text material in a variety of ways. There is also not the same number of levels as in the early years so children are likely to spend longer on one level, as more time is spent on the content.

Children can read either to you, another family member or a friend. Please read and discuss a book with your child. It is a good idea to ask your child questions about what they have read e.g. Who are the characters? Where was the story set? What happened in the beginning/middle/end? This is to encourage a deeper understanding of what has been read. Comprehension and understanding text is a major part of our reading programme this year.

The children will not always bring home the book they are working on in class. They have the option of choosing a school journal, reading a chapter book from home or a book they have chosen from the school library. Reading and library books will not be sent home if your child does not have their book bag at school.

Writing: This term our focus is on writing Narratives and Instructions. We will be teaching the correct structure for each text type and using strategies from Writers toolbox to improve students sentence structure and writing vocabulary.

Spelling: We will be running a spelling programme in class. Please help your child to improve their spelling skills at home by using StepsWeb.

Handwriting: Students will learn how to form letters correctly.

Oral Language: Students share their ideas, thoughts and opinions. Share their work with peers, small groups and the class. Give constructive feedback to help their peers.

Mathematics -

Number: Please help your child to practice their addition and subtraction basic facts to 10, moving to 20, and 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x and 10x multiplication and division facts. Online programs such as Steve Storm and the Tables of Doom, Studyladder, and Khan Academy are great for this.

Strand: Measurement – length and area

• Use a ruler or tape measure correctly

• Carry out practical measuring tasks using appropriate metric unit

Te Reo Māori - 

This will be integrated into our daily programme and will focus on informal greetings and farewells, counting to 100, and basic commands.

Digital Technology - 

Digital Citizenship and responsible use of digital equipment will be woven into our Sherwood HEART values and will focus on responsible and reflective behaviour. The children will learn how to use google docs in writing, maths, reading and for inquiry based research.

PE (Friday) -

Please ensure your child has suitable footwear for sport on this day. They are also welcome to wear the school PE uniform if they have it, but this is optional.

Focus: Adventure Based Learning and Let’s Kick It (Football)

NZ Curriculum Key Concepts:

• Identify risk and use safe practices in a range of contexts.

• Identify and demonstrate ways of maintaining and enhancing relationships between individuals and within groups.

• Participate in and create a variety of games and activities and discuss the enjoyment that these activities can bring to them and others.

• Explore how people’s attitudes, values, and actions contribute to healthy physical and social environments.

• Celebrating the game of football and New Zealand’s role in hosting the tournament, and bringing this to life in a learning context for our tamariki.

Music (Friday)

Focus: Exploring the rhythms of Music in different countries and cultures represented in our class or kura

NZ Curriculum Key Concepts

1: Practical Knowledge: How to play a drum

2: Developing ideas: From crotchets to semi quavers

3: Communicating and Interpreting: Sending messages

4: Understanding context for different purposes and cultures. What does it mean to each culture?

Library (Tuesday)

Please remind students to return their library books on their library day, so they can get a new book to read.