CONTENTSOn this page
Oral language#
With your child, you could:
- retell favourite stories or parts of stories using interesting words and phrases
- talk about a recent family event or holiday, taking turns to describe what happened and share your favourite moment
- do activities together – for example, cooking, gardening, or bushwalking – and talk about what you did
- watch videos, read books, and listen to audiobooks about interesting topics and discuss the meaning of new words
- talk about their learning goals, progress, and emotions.
The teacher will focus on expanding your child's oral language skills. For example, by the end of the year your child will be able to:
- describe objects, experiences, and events, and retell stories with details to keep listeners interested
- plan and share a presentation that clearly communicates their ideas and considers the audience's needs, using their knowledge to support their point of view.
Using the skills above, they will be able to participate in discussions and conversations by:
- noticing and giving natural prompts for taking turns to listen and speak, like asking, "what do you think about that?" or, "how about you?"
- making comments and asking questions that encourage further discussion, thinking carefully about how they express their ideas to persuade or entertain, and considering how their words impact others
- set learning goals and choose strategies to improve their learning, like breaking an unknown word into parts to understand its meaning
- describe their emotions and use discussion and self-reflection to work through challenges.
Reading#
With your child, you could expand on what they are reading. For example:
- chat about their favourite character
- who is like that in your family or school
- work out what you have learned from this book
- think about their own experiences.
Help them understand difficult words – look for smaller words or word parts in longer words. Look up meanings in a dictionary if you need to.
You could:
- read recipes, instructions, maps, diagrams, signs, junk mail, and text messages
- visit the library and let them choose books related to their interests and things they are learning about at school
- encourage them to read books aloud to family members (siblings, aunties, grandma and cousins)
- read to them no matter how old they are – they can understand more challenging information than they can read.
The teacher will help your child improve their reading skills. By the end of the year, your child will be able to:
- read words with 2 or more syllables using their knowledge of letters, sounds, and word parts
- read longer texts independently, especially those related to their interests
- figure out the meaning of new words and phrases in Year 4 texts using information from the text, word parts, and knowledge from other subjects
- identify the audience and purpose of Year 4 texts that entertain, inform, or persuade
- find the main message or idea in a text and explain how the key details support it
- make predictions and connections within the text using both clearly stated and hinted information
- connect what they read to their own knowledge, experiences, and cultural understandings
- share opinions and feelings about ideas in texts and respond respectfully to others' opinions.
Texts for Year 4#
Books used during Year 4 will be a mixture of print and electronic oral, written, and visual fiction and non-fiction texts of different lengths. They will include poems, stories, plays, comics, articles, and instructions. These texts could include Level 2 School Journals.
There are example books on the page below.
Reading books at home in Year 4
Your child may bring books like this home. Many will be books they have chosen from the school library.
Writing#
With your child, you could:
- encourage them to write for pleasure, for example, emails to friends and family, postcards, poems, jokes, and comic strips
- write shopping lists, birthday and thank you cards, invitation lists for family events, and menus for special dinners
- help them to check what they have written, suggest ideas for improving their writing, and encourage them to share their work with family members
- do code crackers, word puzzles and crosswords
- talk about what you are writing, let them help you to make lists, type messages, and fill in forms.
If your child misses sounds in words, praise them for trying and encourage them to have another look at their writing.
The teacher will help your child improve their writing skills. By the end of the year, your child will be able to:
- write several paragraphs clearly and build up their handwriting stamina
- use apostrophes correctly to show possession, like "the dog’s bowl"
- spell common homophones correctly, like 'their, there, they're', 'your, you're', 'we're, where'
- identify the purpose and audience for their writing and understand that different audiences may respond differently
- make notes with key words and phrases to plan their writing
- use different sentence types and structures to suit the purpose of their writing and make it more impactful
- use punctuation correctly at the beginning and end of sentences.
Using the skills above, they will be able to write different types of texts, including:
- stories with a problem and resolution, organised in paragraphs with dialogue
- information reports with ideas grouped in paragraphs using linking words like 'also', 'another' and 'together with'
- persuasive arguments organised in paragraphs, with linking words connecting their opinions with reasons, like 'because', 'for example', and 'also'
- reread their writing to check and improve each sentence, paragraph, and the whole text, including replacing words or adding sentences
- give and receive feedback about writing with their classmates.
Resource#
Reading and writing at home - Year 4 NZ Curriculum 