Year 3/4 News

Year 3 

During Week 6 we were lucky enough to have author Andrea Rowe join us for a literacy visit. She spent some time working with the 3/4's explaining the writing process she uses when writing her books. 

ReligionThe students have spent time exploring the Beatitudes, writing a modern day

 version to help them understand and reflect on how we can uphold them in our own lives. Following this, we have begun learning about Jesus’ temptations in the desert. Students have had great fun acting out the scripture and preparing to perform their role play in front of their peers.

Wellbeing

During Bullying No Way Week students participated in a Kids Help Line online session, discussing the role of being an upstander and learnt about some of the resources available if they face bullying. To show our understanding we made an anti-bullying superhero and wrote slogans showing how we can support and assist people who may face bullying in our community. 

Literacy

Students explored Andrea Rowe’s books, ‘Jetty Jumping’, ‘Sunday Skating’ and ‘Castle Crashing'. Students were able to place themselves in the stories and one of the highlights included students making their own Skateboards with motivational phrases. In preparation for Book Week we explored four different books, ‘Once I Was a Giant’, ‘ The Colour of Home’, ‘Dear Broccoli’ and ‘Derek’. Students loved doing the hands-on art tasks, the students look forward to sharing them with you at the Expo. This week we have continued to explore Roland Harvey’s ‘Off We Go Around Australia - All the Way to WA’. In our search for “Uncle Kev” the students have made a wanted poster sharing their understanding of who Uncle Kev is.

Mathematics

Over the past fortnight we have been learning about time, using analogue and digital clocks. We explored placing the time on a clock face and reading the digital time. Students played a game where they matched their digital time with an analogue clock. Following this we have begun our study of shapes and objects, making the connection with 2D shapes and 3D solids, and their nets. 

Inquiry

Students have continued to explore maps, particularly a map of the globe, and could identify the continents and oceans that surround us. Students are using their ICT skills to explore digital mapping and researching information about the different locations.In year 3 we have been continuing to return to our routines well and are getting into the swing of term 3.

Year 4

What a busy and exciting term it has been so far! The Urban Camp was certainly an exciting time, and this provided the students with an opportunity to explore landmarks in the City of Melbourne. We also had a children's author called Andrea Rowe visit our school during the lead up to Book Week, and Bullying No Way Week.

Urban Camp

At Urban Camp the students visited key venues around the City of Melbourne that included the Shrine of Remembrance, MCG and Australian Sports Museum, Old Melbourne Goal and St Patrick’s Cathedral. The camp enabled the students to develop friendships and social skills, independence skills, and apply geography skills they had acquired through an Inquiry unit on Australian geography. Overall, the camp was an adventure and an opportunity for the students to go beyond their comfort zones, and this would not have been possible without the many hours of planning and preparation involved to ensure its success.

Religion

In Religion, the students have continued to inquire into the Church. They explored St Mary MacKillop, and how she founded Australia’s first religious order the Sisters of St Joseph. After listening to her life story, the students brainstormed her thoughts, words, views, sounds, and travels, which they used to create either a crest shield or a social media post. They developed an understanding that in face of poverty, hardship, misunderstanding and powerful opposition, Mary MacKillop remained faithful to her vision and to her calling to serve people.

Wellbeing

In Wellbeing Hour, the students developed strategies for navigating uncomfortable situations when online. This involved defining an upstander online and what positive actions they could take when they see mean behavior, cyberbullying, or someone being left out on apps, games, or social media. The students developed the understanding that an upstander helps make the internet a safe, kind place.

The students also participated in Bullying No Way Week, national week of action. The theme was “Small Acts, Big Impact” and they were encouraged to engage in small acts that could have a big impact against bullying. Some of the school actions included viewing daily message videos with a particular focus on what bullying is and how we can be upstanders.

Literacy

On Monday, 17th August, we had a children's author called Andrea Rowe come and visit our school. She spoke to the students about her book writing and how this included a celebration of culture and the environment in our everyday lives with the questions and reflections that draw people together. In the lead up to our author visit, the students had the opportunity to explore some of Andrea Rowe’s books. These included Jetty Jumping, Castle Crashing and Sunday Skating. The students unpacked some of the vocabulary in each book, and used creativity skills when responding to text related activities.

Mathematics

In Mathematics, the students extended their understanding of representing halves, quarters, thirds, fifths, and tenths to identifying and comparing equivalent fractions. They used shaded shapes and parallel number lines to grasp equivalence and order fractions.

These skills intend to prepare the students for solving fraction problems and link fractions to decimals. They also used bar modelling of fractions to represent operations with fractions, tenths grids and hundredths grids to support their understanding of decimal notation. 

Inquiry

The students continued their inquiry into the geography of Australia. They used Google My Maps to plot the route for camp, and this involved dropping pins on the places they would be visiting in Melbourne. The students then plotted a route to connect each place with a particular focus on key landmarks such as Federation Square, State Library, and St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Tissues Please

It's that time of year when there are lots of sniffles & tissues are in high demand.  If you could donate a box of tissues to your child's learning group that would be much appreciated.

Reminders and Important Dates

• Students are to bring their laptops and headphones to school each day. Please make sure these are fully charged. 
• Make sure that all your children's belongings (clothes, lunch boxes, drink bottles, stationery, etc.) are clearly labelled with your child's name. Labelled property can be easily returned to its owner. 

Year 3 & 4 Team 

Sam, Krystin, Rita, Josh, Hayley, Ben, Anthony, Anastasia, 

Sue, Kelsey, Helen, Anna & Sandy