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
Subordinating Conjunctions Game Show
Use this interactive digital activity to assist your students in practising identifying and constructing sentences using subordinating conjunctions in a fun way!
- Plus Plan
Non-Fiction Text Features Task Cards
Get students exploring text feature examples with this set of tack cards perfect for literacy groups.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Homophone Mandala Flower Worksheets
Have your students create a colourful mandala flower while simultaneously demonstrating their understanding of common homophones.
- Plus Plan
Year 4 Magazine – What’s Buzzing? (Issue 2)
A beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 4 students.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Poster Pack
Surround your students with examples of homophones with this set of 20 classroom posters.
- Free Plan
Prefix Puzzles - Match Up Cards
Practise building, reading, and understanding the meaning of words with prefixes with a fun set of prefix puzzles.
- Plus Plan
Suffix Dominoes - Vocabulary Game
Identify new words that include common suffixes with a fun suffixes vocabulary game.
- Free Plan
Tricky Tongue Twisters – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article from the Year 3 magazine (Issue 3).
- Plus Plan
Angry Outbursts – Comprehension Worksheet
Explore emotional awareness and healthy calming strategies with this comic-style comprehension passage and accompanying questions.
- Plus Plan
Onomatopoeia Poems Poster and Templates
Use this onomatopoeia poem poster and accompanying template to teach your students how to write an onomatopoeia poem.
- Plus Plan
Jamie Oliver Biography – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a biography from the Year 3 magazine (Issue 2).
- Free Plan
Extreme Environments: Lands of Ice and Sand – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for an information report from the Year 4 magazine (Issue 3).
- Plus Plan
Concrete Poem Poster and Templates
Use this concrete poem example and accompanying template to teach your students how to write a concrete poem.
- Plus Plan
How to Make a Paper Plane – Procedural Writing Worksheet
Explore how to make a paper plane while your students fine-tune their procedural writing skills.
- Plus Plan
The Hovering Hoverboard – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a fake advertisement from the Year 3 magazine (Issue 2).
- Free Plan
Books for Sharing Indigenous Perspectives - Poster
A list of Indigenous storybooks for the classroom recommended by Aboriginal education organisation, Wingaru Education.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Literary Description Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about literary descriptions, including an annotated example.
- Plus Plan
NAPLAN-Style Assessment Rubric - Procedural Writing
A NAPLAN-style rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' procedural writing.
- Plus Plan
Out of the Book - Comprehension Board Game
A fun comprehension strategy board game for students to play during literacy rotations.
- Plus Plan
Inference vs Prediction - Presentation
A teaching presentation outlining the similarities and differences between inference and prediction.
- Plus Plan
Preposition Activity Sheet Pack – Read and Draw
Download this preposition activity sheet pack, where students read a series of instructions to draw scenes by identifying prepositions.
- Plus Plan
Compare and Contrast - Vocabulary Poster
A poster detailing vocabulary used when comparing and contrasting.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards - Recognising Cause And Effect
A set of comprehension task cards to help students recognise cause and effect when reading.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards - Understand Sequence
A set of comprehension task cards to help students understand sequence when reading.
- Plus Plan
Fact File Sorting Activity
Use this fact sorting activity to teach your students about informative writing.
- Plus Plan
Eagles Fact File and Report Writing Scaffold
Support your students in writing an information report about eagles with this fact file and writing scaffold.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Match-Up Cards
Teach your students the meanings and spellings of some common homophones with this set of 32 match-up cards.
- Plus Plan
5 Procedural Writing Prompts
Use this set of 5 procedural writing prompts to assess your students’ procedural writing skills.
- Plus Plan
Plan Your Own Adventure - Writing Template
Students use a template to help them plan stories with alternative pathways for their friends to read.
- Plus Plan
Understanding Sequence - Jack and the Beanstalk
A worksheet to use when teaching students how to understand sequence when reading.