English / Year 4 / Literacy / Texts in context

Curriculum content descriptions

Identify and explain language features of texts from earlier times and compare with the vocabulary, images, layout and content of contemporary texts (ACELY1686)

Elaborations
  • viewing documentaries and news footage from different periods, comparing the style of presentation, including costumes and iconography with contemporary texts on similar topics and tracking changing views on issues, for example war, race, gender
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Language conventions

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Teaching Text Structure

This resource explains the five most common text structures and how to help students learn to identify and use text structures in their reading and writing. It includes templates for five types of expository writing including Describe or explain, Sequence, Cause and effect, Problem and solution and Compare and contrast. ...

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Art in Advertising

In this teaching activity, students will explore how visual artwork supports key messages in advertising and the concept of a “call to action”. They will apply elements and principles of design to create original advertisements for an audience.

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Fairy Tale

How does culture influence fairy tales from storyteller to storyteller? Students will compare and contrast culturally distinct variations of the fairy tale, Cinderella. Students will also research the cultures represented in the fairy tales and create a visual art piece.

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Mythological Characters

How do Greek mythological figures inspire modern day characters? In this lesson, students will explore the connection between Greek mythology and modern culture. They will analyse Greek culture, mythological characters, and apply elements of mythology. They will design and paint original mythological characters with watercolours.

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Taronga Zoo - Wild Australia: iPad app

This iPad app is designed for Stage 2 students to use while on excursion in the Wild Australia area in Taronga Zoo Sydney and at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo. Students create a field report from observations and can email and review their editable summary poster for further study back at school. The app has intuitive ...

Online

Cats, Dogs and Us: Education pack (years 3-4)

This education pack is an International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) resource designed to build students' understanding about the special place domestic cats and dogs have in people's lives. The pack consists of a teaching guide, a student magazine and six student worksheets focusing on topics such as the physical characteristics ...

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Punctuation – What’s the point

This practice guide offers an overview of essential punctuation for writing across primary and secondary school. While an effective combination of sentence types adds depth and variety to a piece of writing, correct punctuation is equally vital for clarity and coherence. This guide aims to provide clear examples to support ...

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Punctuation “Theatre”: A kinetic approach to learning punctuation

This little mini-unit is a fun way to learn or review punctuation. This unit deals with just the punctuation marks that are used between words, not within them. Punctuation marks covered in this unit include full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, commas, colons, semicolons and the dash. The punctuation marks are ...

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Compound sentences

This guide provides clear grammatical definitions, and unpacks the features of compound sentences and how they function. It includes information about using conjunctions; coordinating conjunctions; using semicolons and common problems with compound sentences. The guide also offers, as a starting point, some strategies for ...

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Teaching Morphology to Improve Literacy: A Guide for Teachers

Morphological awareness is a powerful tool for improving many areas of literacy. Find teaching ideas for specifically teaching this skill across a range of year levels.

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Suspense Toolkit

Give students tips about some of the key ingredients of writing a suspenseful, scary story. This tip sheet provides a range of ideas suitable for the skills and abilities of different year levels. It also includes some teaching strategies.

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Varying openings

Use this worksheet to discuss the directions in which a story might go depending on what the opening sentence is.

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Bursting to Write

This article discusses the power of short-burst writing as part of warming-up a unit. Short burst writing is a process that supports children to think like a writer. It teaches them to bring their writing alive (painting pictures in their heads of their readers) and helps them to understand the craft of description.

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Viewing and Representing

Reading/viewing requires students to construct meaning by interpreting the parts (images, symbols, conventions, context) that are related to the visual message and to understand not only “what” the text is saying but “how” the text works. Find prompts, assessment rubrics and other supporting elements.

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Some ideas on how to teach the more tricky grammar elements

Refresh your knowledge of grammatical points prior to teaching your students with this digital presentation that covers topics such as the role of determiners, of pronouns, of prepositions, of subordinating conjunctions, of punctuation and of tense. While this is a resource developed for a UK-based audience, it is relevant ...

Online

TrackSAFE Education Primary School Resources: Year 3 and Year 4 English

This unit of work focuses on behaviour in and around tracks and rail infrastructure. Activities build subject-specific vocabulary and understanding of procedural text structures. Guided writing activities support students to develop a series of track safe procedures while a slogan writing activity focuses on effective ways ...

Video

Developing characters with Leigh Hobbs

How can drawings of characters give readers clues about who they are? What are some of the clues Leigh Hobbs gives us about Old Tom's character through his drawings of him? Do you have a character in your head that you've been thinking about for a while? As you draw or write about your character, remember what Leigh says ...

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Know your audience

Before you watch this video, guess the intended readership of Shamini Flint's Diary series about a boy playing sports. How did you come to this conclusion? Were you correct? Why do you think it's important for writers to think about who their intended readers are?

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BBC Bitesize: use of punctuation - worksheet

This is a brief, printable worksheet where students insert the correct punctuation into gaps in sentences. The punctuation marks required include full stops, question marks and speech marks. This resource is one of a series of online resources from the BBC's Bitesize collection.

Interactive

Syllabus bites: types of sentences

A web page resource with information, teacher guides and activities on types of sentences to support the Australian Curriculum in English K–10. It has detailed activities, links to resources and quizzes.