Language
Year Four offers a variety of opportunities for students to build on their literacy skills. Students experiment with the writing process and practise self and peer editing. They write a variety of text types including poetry, letters, descriptive passages, journals, narrative, recount, biographies and reports. Emphasis is placed on conveying a clear message and the use of creative self-expression. Students discuss and analyse reading a range of different novels and texts. They identify structural features of different text types and analyse an author’s interpretation of character, setting, themes and plot development. Students participate in complex discussions, group meetings and presentations.
Mathematics
In Mathematics students continue to develop their number sense and numeration skills. They add and subtract whole numbers to three digits and numbers to one decimal place. Students solve equations and word problems using the four operations. They identify and compare fractions and mixed numbers and add and subtract simple fractions. In measurement they estimate, measure and calculate distances, perimeter, area, volume and capacity. Students construct 3D shapes and investigate different nets of a cube. They identify, draw and name regular and irregular polygons. Students investigate the concepts of calendar and time. Data handling skills are incorporated into the General Studies topics and ICT. Students have the opportunity to work both independently and in groups to solve mathematical problems.
General Studies
Immigration
This unit provides opportunities for students to explore how people’s lives change as a result of relocation. Students examine the many reasons why people relocate. They explore the challenges that these group of people face in their new home. Students also examine the contribution that migrants have made in a variety of places around the world including Hong Kong. They have the opportunity to interview family and community members as a way of finding out about the personal journey of individuals who have migrated. They take on the role of a historian as they collect data about immigration within their family and communities.
Ancient Civilisation – The Romans and the Celts
This unit explores the political, social, cultural and geographical aspects of Ancient Romans and the Celtic people. Students investigate, compare and contrast the ideas, beliefs, attitudes and experiences of men, women and children during this era. Students explore the validity of invasion with particular focus on the consequences of the Roman invasion and settlement of Celtic Britain. Students also conduct a short comparative study of modern and ancient Rome.
Skeletal & Nervous System
This unit explores the structure of the skeletal system. Students investigate how the muscles, bones and joints work together. They investigate how ligaments, tendons and cartilage are part of the muscular skeletal system and are vital for the body to move and grow.
The inquiry into the nervous system provides students with the opportunity to explore some of the functions of the brain, spinal cord and nerves. They investigate how thought, movement, sensation and emotion are controlled by the nervous system. Through the LEAP programme students investigate the effects of drugs and stress on their nervous system. They discuss various strategies for dealing with stress.
Circuits and Conductors
This unit provides students with the opportunity to further develop their scientific investigative skills. They are encouraged to design their own experiments using batteries, wire, light, bulbs, filaments, switches and fuses to create simple circuits. Students use the evidence obtained during their experiments to support their explanations and conclusions. They explore open and closed circuits. Students experiment with various materials to determine if they are conductors or insulators and describe the properties of a conductor and an insulator.
Habitats
This unit provides students with the opportunity to investigate and identify various habitats. They explore various living systems and discuss how these interact and depend on each other. Students investigate how changes in the environment impact on different habitats.
Forces
This unit provides students with the opportunity to investigate forces. They explore the effect of different forces including magnetism, gravitational forces and friction. They learn about the Earth’s magnetic field and magnetic poles. Students are encouraged to experiment with the different forces to further build their understanding. They construct a pendulum to demonstrate how a moving object depends on gravity and always falls back toward its centre of gravity.
Music
The German Swiss International School Hong Kong offers a comprehensive and varied music programme, which is two-fold:
1. Classroom Programme
Every class has two music lessons per week with a specialist music teacher. These lessons are a balance of LISTENING, COMPOSING, PERFORMING (singing, playing and moving) and cover a wide variety of musical styles. The focus is always on the concepts of music.
The programme aims to extend the child’s musical experience, knowledge and understanding of a wide variety of musical styles from all over the world. At the same time opportunity is given for children to draw on their own musical experience and knowledge and use their skills to enhance their learning.
Year 4
- Focus is on concepts of beat, rhythm and pitch, harmony and structure.
- Children use tuned and untuned percussion as well as the instruments they learn privately to consolidate the concepts and create their own music using the Pentatonic Scale
- Music of other cultures
- Unusual musical instruments
Songs and listening works are chosen to reflect or relate to General Studies topics.
2. Extra Curricular Activities
There are three performance groups that function as Extra Curricular Activities. All are open to all children from the English stream.
- Junior Choir – Open to any child from Year 3- 4. This does not require an audition and meets once a week.
- Recorder Ensembles – there are two ensembles, advanced and intermediate. They are open to all children from Years 3 – 6. These do not require an audition and meet once a week.
- Orchestra – Open to any child from Years 3 – 6. This does not require an audition but the children must play an orchestral instrument and be of an advanced enough level to cope with the music. The Orchestra meets once a week.
All the Music ECA groups work towards a programme of public performances. They are featured in some or all of the concerts throughout the year: Christmas Concerts, Spring Concert, Assemblies, and Special Celebrations etc.
Library
The library programme aims to deepen understanding and appreciation of literature and to develop information literacy skills. Learning is more powerful when skills are contextualised and not taught in isolation. The library programme is taught by a Teacher Librarian, in collaboration with class teachers, to target specific learning outcomes related to units of work being studied in class. Students learn new ways to think about, critically analyse texts and develop a range of transferable skills, strategies and understandings.
Briefly, the aim of the Information Literacy programme is to develop skills to enable students to locate information for a purpose, use a variety of strategies to record and think about the information, and then share their new knowledge. Information Literacy is often taught cooperatively with the ICT teacher, to integrate 21st Century skills and learning technologies.
The Literature Skills programme exposes students to a wide range of carefully selected, high quality texts across a variety of genres, to broaden their experience with literature. Students develop abilities to distinguish between realism and fantasy and discuss elements of plot, setting, character, theme, emotions and the relationship between text and illustrations.
Weekly timetabled sessions in the Library Information Resource Centre, can incorporate shared reading, teaching new skills and a focused task to complete. There is also time for browsing and home borrowing.
Learning Technology
Learning Technology is a digital tool which supports cognitive development, problem solving and thinking skills; it enables students to construct, represent and remix their own and others knowledge from the vast amounts of information available to them.
Learning Technology is represented by a combination of hardware and software solutions. In the EPD students are exposed to a range of hardware solutions such as laptops, video recorders, data-loggers, sound recorders and GPS. The majority of software solutions used will be Free and Open Source and browser based – examples can be seen in the Learning Technology room on LEO.
The main purpose of Learning Technology is to support learning skills such as enquiry, reflection and communication. It enhance our students’ learning capacity by making them more independent and creative learners. Learning Technology give students more choice and enables them to be more creative about how they represent and express their ideas and understandings. Particular emphasis is placed on developing Information and Digital Literacy skills.
Inquiring with Learning Technology
Students use Learning Technology for inquiry and research. They identify information needs, locate and access information. They organise, use and interpret information to improve their understanding.
Creating with Learning Technology
Students use Learning Technology to be creative in the way they extend and represent their thinking skills. They use Learning Technology to analyse problems and information needs, develop strategies and evaluate solutions. They make decisions about appropriate use of Learning Technology solutions They use Learning Technology to generate ideas and plans and to monitor and reflect on their learning.
Communicating with Learning Technology
Students use Learning Technology to enhance communication. They learn to communicate and apply Learning Technology to present information, engage with diverse audiences and collaborate. They communicate face-to-face and remotely with individuals and networks. Students experience and share alternate views, construct new understanding and develop empathy with others.
Operating Learning Technology
Students gain an understanding of the systems they are operating. Skills in operating one system can be transferred and built upon when operating other systems. They learn to apply Learning Technology standards and conventions. They apply preventative strategies to protect systems and data and solve basic Learning Technology-related problems.
Year Four Programme Outline
By Year 4 children have a good understanding of when and how to use a wide range of multi-media tools in Textease ( or Word, where necessary) to represent their ideas, descriptions and stories. They are also regular users of their Home Page on LEO and use this to publish their work. They are introduced to more advanced animation techniques – linked to their study of habitats and learn how to publish these on their Home Pages. They begin to use Wikis to learn how to work collaboratively ( Romans Topic) as well as use social bookmarking to share websites. The basics of ‘Smart Searching’ are introduced. Data representation develops through the use of line graphs linked to their class work. They are also introduced to simple spreadsheets, to undertake basic numeracy operations – adding subtracting etc. They are regular users of Photostory, Audacity and Google Earth. They are taught how to be more critical users of the Internet for information. They can manipulate images in Photoshop and use these to create posters or collages.
Physical Education
The Year Four Physical Education Programme takes an exciting leap forward exposing the students to Sports Day and a Swimming Gala where times are recorded, medals presented and school records maintained. Students further develop teamwork and sport-specific skills through netball, basketball, hockey, football, cricket and rounders. There are competitions with other schools in swimming, hockey and football. Swimming, cross-country and athletics also make up part of the curriculum. Students’ perform a dance and gymnastics presentation at the end of these units.
