The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

Year 4C News

Our second unit of inquiry, ‘How the world works’, focused on the celestial bodies in our solar system. The boys were fortunate to visit the Planetarium at Scitech as an immersion activity. They enjoyed a session with the amazing Professor Quinn and learned about radio astronomy. The boys also welcomed local astronomer, Richard Tonello, from Astronomy Education Services. He taught the boys about celestial bodies and technology which aids space exploration. He brought a solar telescope, which allowed the boys to view the sun safely. The boys enjoyed researching their own planets, creating their own orrery and learning about space phenomena such as Neutron stars and the Northern lights. They wrote fantastic expositions in response to topics about money being spent on space and whether they would like to be a settler on Mars. 

In our current unit of inquiry, ‘How we express ourselves’, the boys have explored traditional stories from different cultures. We invited Mark Greenwood, a local author and history hunter to visit Year 4. He told the boys about the origins and inspirations for his books. It was wonderful to learn about the legendary people in his books such as John Simpson, Ned Kelly and Moondyne Joe. Greenwood has certainly inspired the boys to develop their curiosity about legendary people, books and creative writing. 

We have been very lucky to have Eugene Cha’s mum, Saki, come in and teach the boys about Japanese stories. They learned about the importance of stories in Japanese culture and particularly enjoyed reading the ‘The Child Gods’. They also loved reading Greek myths and learning about gods, monsters and brave heroes. The boys created their own version of ‘King Midas’ for our assembly item; their performance is sure to be amazing.

All in all, it has been a fantastic term in 4C. The boys are looking forward to exploring more traditional stories and beginning our next unit of inquiry, ‘Where we are in place and time’.

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Miss Olivia Creagh
Year 4 Teacher