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
Compare and Contrast - Venn Diagram Template
A template to use when teaching students how to compare and contrast.
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Narrative Writing Visual Prompts Presentation
A 19 slide teaching presentation containing visual narrative writing prompts.
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Improving Persuasive Texts Worksheets
3 pieces of text for students to rewrite in order to make them more persuasive.
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Informative Texts Writing Task - Elephants
A writing activity to help students construct an informative text based on factual information.
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Informative Texts Writing Scaffold
A scaffolding sheet which can be used to write an informative text.
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Writing A Persuasive Text Poster
Display this poster in your room as a visual reminder of the structure of a persuasive text.
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Earth Watch – Drowning in Plastic Reading Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article about plastic pollution in our oceans.
- Free Plan
Readers' Theatre Script - Treasure Map
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 8 years and over.
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Cursive Writing Worksheets PDF - Alphabet
Practise writing the alphabet in cursive with a pack of printable cursive alphabet writing worksheets.
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Summarising Teaching Slides
Teach students all about summarising with 15 teaching slides of summarising goodness.
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Making Inferences Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to make inferences with this 31-slide teaching presentation.
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Find the Adverbial Phrases Worksheet
Use this simple yet effective adverbs worksheet to assess students’ ability to identify adverb groups (adverbial phrases) in sentences.
- Free Plan
Readers' Theatre Script - Pet Rescue
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 8 years and over.
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Informative Writing - Fact Sorting Activity
A hands-on sorting activity to use when introducing informative writing.
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Exploring Poetry Workbook
A workbook to help students become more familiar with the genre of poetry.
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Packing in Meaning with Noun Groups Worksheet
Explore the concept of noun groups with this 2-page worksheet.
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Label the Non-Fiction Text Features Worksheets
Have your students label text features in non-fiction texts with this set of three differentiation text features worksheets.
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Inflectional Endings - Spelling with Suffixes Worksheets
Spell words with the inflectional endings -ed, -ing, -s, -es and -ies with a pack of printable practise worksheets covering inflected endings.
- Free Plan
Readers' Theatre Script - What's My Pet?
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 6 years and over.
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Phases of the Moon – Comprehension Worksheet
Analyse different moon phases and how their visual appearances change over time with this reading comprehension worksheet.
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Readers' Theatre Script - Foiled Robbery
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 8 years and over.
- Plus Plan
Persuasive Texts Writing Scaffold
A one page scaffolding sheet which can be used to write a persuasive text.
- Free Plan
Reading Fluency Assessment Tool
A user-friendly tool for teachers to test their students' fluency and accuracy.
- Plus Plan
Rhetorical Questions Interactive Activity
Explore rhetorical questions with your students using this digital game perfect for your persuasive writing lessons.
- Free Plan
Which Homophone? Worksheets
Download this differentiated homophones worksheet to help your students become more familiar with this tricky vocabulary!
- Plus Plan
Biography Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about the biography text type, including an annotated example.
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Finding the Main Idea - Comprehension Task (Thunderstorms)
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
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Comprehension Task Cards - Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion
A set of comprehension task cards to help students distinguish between fact and opinion when reading.
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Comprehension Task Cards Summarising
Practise summarising text with these relevant events-based texts.
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Subordinating Conjunctions Worksheet
Use this worksheet to enable students to practise identifying and constructing sentences using subordinating conjunctions.
- Free Plan
Narrative Text Structure Posters
A set of 8 narrative text structure posters to add to your classroom narrative writing display.
- Plus Plan
Let's Get Ready to Rock! – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for the information report from the Year 3 magazine (Issue 2).