Ireland · NCCA Curriculum Specifications
4th Year (TY) Voices and Visions: Exploring Language and Literacy
This course develops Year 4 students as confident communicators through the exploration of diverse text types and creative expression. Students engage in deep reading comprehension, purposeful writing, and collaborative oral language activities to refine their understanding of how language shapes meaning.
The Art of the Storyteller
Students explore narrative structures and character development in fiction to understand how authors build immersive worlds.
Analyzing how a character's desires and fears drive the plot of a story.
Investigating how descriptive language creates a sense of place and mood.
Examining the mechanics of rising action, climax, and resolution in short stories.
Informing and Persuading
Focusing on non-fiction texts, students learn to identify facts, opinions, and the techniques used to influence an audience.
Distinguishing between objective information and subjective viewpoints in media and reports.
Exploring rhetorical devices used in advertisements and speeches to sway public opinion.
Learning to organize complex information using headings, subheadings, and bullet points.
Poetry and Performance
Students engage with the rhythm, sound, and imagery of poetry to express complex emotions and ideas.
Using figurative language to create vivid mental pictures for the reader.
Exploring the musicality of language through various poetic forms and structures.
Developing oral fluency and expression by performing poems for an audience.
The Power of Dialogue
Students practice the art of conversation, debate, and collaborative discussion to build social and cognitive skills.
Developing the ability to listen critically and respond thoughtfully to others.
Working in groups to solve problems and build on each other's ideas.
Learning the structure of a formal argument and how to present a case clearly.
Grammar and Word Alchemy
Students investigate the mechanics of language, focusing on how word choice and sentence structure impact clarity.
Experimenting with simple, compound, and complex sentences to improve writing style.
Moving beyond common words to find the exact term that conveys a specific meaning.
Understanding how marks like commas, colons, and inverted commas guide the reader.
Media and Digital Literacy
Students analyze how information is presented in digital formats and learn to create their own multi-modal texts.
Analyzing how images, color, and layout communicate messages in digital and print media.
Developing critical thinking skills to determine the reliability of information found on the internet.
Combining text, image, and sound to create a digital presentation or report.