Should students have more break time? Is camping better than staying in a hotel? Should students have more homework? Should televisions be allowed in a child’s bedroom? Is eating hotpot better than eating a hamburger? Students of the Year 4 Learning Community weighed in on these topics and many others as they engaged in a rewarding time developing and applying their reasoning skills in a persuasive text.

Lessons involved students formulating and verbalizing their opinions through interactive activities. In the horseshoe activity, students stood on an imaginary horseshoe that reflected how strongly they disagreed or agreed to a topic. Students were able to move along the horseshoe in response to other students’ opinions. It was a great visual on the way well-articulated and well-supported arguments by students could persuade and influence others’ stance on a topic.

Year 4 students learned the power of providing well thought out arguments in their writing. Students were also encouraged to write a persuasive piece in their mother tongue before tackling writing in English. Students were excited to see their published work displayed in the library.

Students have also written stories set in imaginary worlds. First the children explored various well-known texts such as Harry Potter, The BFG and Jack and the Beanstalk. Then they started to create their own characters and imaginary worlds. They built plots and problems that helped to build dramatic stories.

As a Learning Community, the students created an 8 chapter story book, in small groups before writing their own individual stories. We have many budding authors in Year 4!