Grade 3/4 News

Learning In 3/4A

Dear Families,

We hope this newsletter finds you well and thriving! 

Important Announcements

• NAPLAN: This week and next, our Grade 3 students will be participating in NAPLAN. We wish them the best of luck as they showcase their skills!
• Sports Day: Mark your calendars for Sports Day on the 13th! Students are encouraged to bring a packed lunch and a drink bottle. They can wear their house colours to school. We will have sunscreen available, but we recommend that students come prepared to apply it before heading outside.
• Harmony Day: On the 21st March, we will celebrate Harmony Day. Students are invited to wear a touch of orange to show their support for inclusivity and diversity.

Celebrations from the Week

This week has been filled with exciting learning experiences:

• Numeracy: Our students have been engaged in renaming three-digit numbers and developing flexibility in partitioning larger numbers. Many have even tackled reading five to six-digit numbers, with some reaching numbers in the trillions—what an incredible achievement! They’ve also learned about the role of zero as a placeholder, understanding its importance in number representation.
• Literacy: We continued our study of Mr. Fantastic Fox by Roald Dahl, focusing on expressive reading. The students have been analysing how Dahl’s use of exclamations adds drama and urgency to the story. It's delightful to witness their growing fluency and comprehension skills as they connect with the themes in the text.
• Verbs Exploration: Our exploration of verbs has been particularly engaging! Students learned that verbs encompass more than just action; they can express thinking, feeling, saying, and states of being. During a fun scavenger hunt, some students identified an impressive 74 verbs, which we classified together in class. Their enthusiasm for learning is truly inspiring!

                                  GRADE 3/4B LEARNING

Last week was an absolute whirlwind, blink, and it was over! This week isn’t much better, with only two days in the classroom, but in that short time, I have been blown away by the growth in this class. Their willingness to take on new challenges and their resilience in pushing through tough moments have skyrocketed. I have been reminding them that putting in their best effort leads to a sense of pride and, of course, makes me one very proud teacher!

One of the highlights has been our ‘Selfie & Showcase Box’, a special place where students can pop in their work and request a celebratory selfie. That means you will be receiving some proud snapshots of your child and their achievements, which should help counter those classic ‘I did nothing at school today’ responses!

I have to admit, the requests have been rolling in faster than I can keep up with (clearly, I need a personal assistant!), but the best part is seeing a shift in their mindset. There’s far less of the ‘I can’t do this’ talk and much more positive self talk happening in the classroom. And that, is a win worth celebrating! 

We have also been diving headfirst into the world of narrative and characterisation, specifically, creating vivid and memorable characters. Our challenge? To uncover the magic behind Roald Dahl’s character descriptions in 'Fantastic Mr Fox' and figure out how he makes his characters so wonderfully larger than life.

We closely examined the structure of each farmer’s description, noticing a clear pattern,  every paragraph kicked off with the farmer’s name and occupation, followed by details about their appearance, diet, and personality. With this in mind, their task was to create a brand new 4th farmer, ensuring their description mirrored Dahl’s signature style. This meant using statement sentences to provide key facts, carefully selected adjectives to bring their character to life, and, if they were feeling brave, a comparison or metaphor (which the students are still getting their heads around). 

The creativity on display was outstanding, and the energy in the room was electric. I think Roald Dahl himself would have been thoroughly impressed and maybe even a little worried about the competition!

Below are a few examples of the activity.