Year 4
The English curriculum is built around the three interrelated strands of language, literature and literacy. Teaching and learning programs should balance and integrate all three strands. Together, the strands focus on developing students' knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating. Learning in English builds on concepts, skills and processes developed in earlier years, and teachers will revisit and strengthen these as needed.
In Years 3 and 4, students experience learning in familiar contexts and a range of contexts that relate to study in other areas of the curriculum. They interact with peers and teachers from other classes and schools in a range of face-to-face and online/virtual environments.
Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment. They listen to, read, view and interpret spoken, written and multimodal texts in which the primary purpose is aesthetic, as well as texts designed to inform and persuade. These encompass traditional oral texts including Aboriginal stories, picture books, various types of print and digital texts, simple chapter books, rhyming verse, poetry, non-fiction, film, multimodal texts, dramatic performances and texts used by students as models for constructing their own work.
The range of literary texts for Foundation to Year 10 comprises Australian literature, including the oral narrative traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, as well as the contemporary literature of these two cultural groups, and classic and contemporary world literature, including texts from and about Asia.
Literary texts that support and extend students in Years 3 and 4 as independent readers describe complex sequences of events that extend over several pages and involve unusual happenings within a framework of familiar experiences. Informative texts include content of increasing complexity and technicality about topics of interest and topics being studied in other areas of the curriculum. These texts use complex language features, including varied sentence structures, some unfamiliar vocabulary, a significant number of high-frequency sight words and words that need to be decoded phonically, and a variety of punctuation conventions, as well as illustrations and diagrams that support and extend the printed text.
Students create a range of imaginative, informative and persuasive types of texts including narratives, procedures, performances, reports, reviews, poetry and expositions.
(source: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au)
Achievement Standard
Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)
By the end of Year 4, students understand that texts have different text structures depending on purpose and context. They explain how language features, images and vocabulary are used to engage the interest of audiences. They describe literal and implied meaning connecting ideas in different textsÂ
They fluently read texts that include varied sentence structures, unfamiliar vocabulary including multisyllabic words. They express preferences for particular types of texts, and respond to others' viewpoints. They listen for and share key points in discussions.
Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)
Students use language features to create coherence and add detail to their texts. They understand how to express an opinion based on information in a text. They create texts that show understanding of how images and detail can be used to extend key ideas.
Students create structured texts to explain ideas for different audiences. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, varying language according to context. They demonstrate understanding of grammar, select vocabulary from a range of resources and use accurate spelling and punctuation, re-reading and editing their work to improve meaning.
(source: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au)
- Plus Plan
Context Clues - Printable Word Meaning Worksheet
Download a Context Clues - Printable Word Meaning Worksheet to help your students practice finding word meaning in context.
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Monitoring Comprehension Anchor Charts
Display these Monitoring Comprehension Anchor Charts to help students with sentence starters and ways to monitor their comprehension while reading.
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Free Click or Clunk Worksheet
Support students in monitoring their reading comprehension with this Click and Clunk Reading Strategy Recording Sheet!
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Free Monitor and Clarify Poster
Display and remind students to monitor and clarify their comprehension of a text while reading with this Monitor and Clarify Poster.
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Persuasive Letter Prompts Task Cards
Use these persuasive letter prompts to get your students writing convincing persuasive letters on a variety of topics.
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Comprehension Fix-Up Strategies PowerPoint
Teach your students different comprehension fix up strategies with this set of informative teaching slides.
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What’s the Heading? Task Cards
Explore the heading text feature with this set of task cards perfect for literacy groups.
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Landform Report – Mini Book Template
Download this information report template to use when teaching informative writing to primary students.
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Australian Conservationists: John Walmsley – Comprehension Worksheet
Learn about Dr John Walmsley and his conservation work with this 2-page reading passage and accompanying comprehension questions.
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Subordinating Conjunctions Posters
Display this colourful and informative subordinating conjunctions poster set to remind your students of the functions and types of subordinating conjunctions!
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Subordinating Conjunctions for Conditions – Interactive Activity
Use this interactive digital activity to help students identify conditional subordinating conjunctions, and construct sentences using this part of speech.
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Non-Fiction Text Features Flipbook – Read and Find
Get your students to find text features in non-fiction books with this student-centred flipbook activity perfect for literacy groups.
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Non-Fiction Visual Features Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this visual text features worksheet when exploring text features such as photographs, maps, charts and diagrams with your students.
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Nonfiction Text Features Worksheet
Download this nonfiction text features worksheet so students can practice locating different types of text features found in an information text.
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Year 4 Reading Comprehension - The Day of the Dead Reading Passage
Read and learn about the Mexican holiday, Dia De Los Muertos, with a reading passage and Year 4 reading prose comprehension test.
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Report Writing – Firefighter Activity Pack
Engage your class with firefighter activity that combines informative writing practice with real-world learning about community helpers.
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Hunting for Homophones – SCOOT! Task Cards
Get your students to identify the correct homophones in sentences with this set of 36 task cards for your vocabulary lessons.
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Halloween Roll-a-Story Dice Game
Spark spooky creativity with this Halloween Roll a Story game that helps students generate exciting writing prompts while making narrative writing fun and engaging.
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Which Homophone? Interactive Game
Add some excitement to your vocabulary lessons with an interactive game exploring homophones and their definitions.
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Words with Suffixes - Word Building Activity
Build words by matching the root word to suffixes and recording the new words on the answer sheet.
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Greek and Latin Roots- Vocabulary Notebook
Enhance vocabulary containing Greek and Latin roots with a Google Slides Interactive vocabulary notebook. Also available in print format.
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What is an Affix? Suffix Puzzle Pack
Practice building, reading, and understanding the meaning of words with suffixes with a fun set of printable puzzles for kids.
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Greek and Latin Roots – Card Kaboom!
Explore Greek and Latin word origins with this hand-on card game.
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Halloween Reading Comprehension – Fiction Story and Task Cards
Practise reading comprehension skills with an exciting Halloween reading comprehension activity for Year 4 students.
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Biography Flip Book Template
Create a flipbook that clearly illustrates the most significant aspects of a biography subject.
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Example of a Formal Letter with Template
Use this example of a formal letter featuring the Big Bad Wolf’s humorous apology to the Three Little Pigs to teach letter structure in an engaging way.
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J. K. Rowling Biography and Worksheet
Download this J.K. Rowling biography and worksheet, designed to help students learn about the life, education and writing career of the world-famous author.
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Year 4 Magazine – "What's Buzzing?" (Issue 3) Task Cards
A set of five literacy rotation task cards to be used in conjunction with Issue 3 of Teach Starter’s Year 4 magazine.
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Dice Roll Vocabulary Game
Use our Roll-the-Dice Vocabulary Game as an opportunity to help your students grow their vocabulary skills in the classroom.
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Review Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about reviews, including an annotated example.
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Literary Recount Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about literary recounts, including an annotated example.
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120 Comprehension Strategy Question Cards
A set of 120 open-ended question cards to help students apply comprehension strategies when reading.