Year 3/4 Term 3 Overview

Year 3/4  Term 3 Overview           

Welcome to Term 3!

 We hope that all of our school families had a restful break and managed to avoid the winter sickness. 

It was wonderful to come back to school and listen to the children reconnect and share their school holiday events. 

Important dates to remember

JULY

Mon 28 - Year 4 District Basketball

Wed 30 - Yr 4 & 5 attending Emmaus/ Cinderella Performance

AUGUST

Tues 5 - Australian Mathematics Competition (select students)

              - STEMania Incursion 2pm

Thurs 7 - Inform/Empower Cyber Safety Parent Night

Mon 11 - Book Week Incursion 2pm

Tues 12 -SCHOOL CLOSURE - STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING DAY

Fri 15 - Feast of the Assumption Mass 10am

Tues 19 - Book Week Dress Up Day - Parade 9am

Thurs 21 - Student Led Conferences

SATURDAY, 23 August - St John's Parents Major Social Event - 7pm 

Tues 26 - 3/4A Mass 10am

SEPTEMBER

Fri 5 - Father’s Day Breakfast

Mon 15 - 3/4B Mass 10am

Wed 10 - P-6 History Expo - 2.20-3.20pm

Mon 15 - STEM Week

Fri 19 - Footy Day

Last day of Term 3 - 1pm finish

Love One Another 

Big question: How does learning from Australia’s history build our knowledge and hope for the future? 

Religious Education

In Religious Education this term, we will be focusing on God’s love for us being a constant in our lives, even during challenging times. We will explore Jesus’ commandment to Love one another and examine how this is portrayed in scripture and religious artworks. The students will discuss how God gives us the freedom to make choices and even though at times we may betray others, we still need to live by Jesus’ commandment. 

At the conclusion of the unit, we will reflect on our choices in light of Jesus’ commandment and plan to take action in our school community that reflects our love for others. 

HISTORY - Inquiry Learning

In Inquiry, we will be learning about the history of Australia and doing a deep dive into the experiences and perspectives of all involved. We will be exploring:

• the causes for the establishment of the first permanent British colony on Gadigal Country (Sydney) in 1788
• the experiences and perspectives of individuals and groups involved, including military and civilian officials and convicts
• Aboriginal Peoples’ experiences, perspectives and responses to the impact of colonisation following the arrival of the First Fleet
• different interpretations of the early colonisation of Australia

Throughout both our RE and Inquiry units, we will weave our theme of Love one another.  Towards the conclusion of the term, we will bring together all our learning to consider our big questions:

Why does learning from Australia’s history bring us hope for the future? 

How can we spread the message of love so we can all live together harmoniously and peacefully? 

Mathematics

This term in Mathematics, we will be focusing on the following areas, using evidence-based, knowledge-rich and sequenced lessons. Daily reviews and spaced practice will also be incorporated in our Maths lessons in order to reinforce learning and ensure retention. We will continue to use concrete materials to assist with building understanding and incorporate mental maths experiences to develop fluency of number facts. 

Number 

• Multiplication and Division
  • representing multiplication and division problems with bar models
  • using the CUBES strategy to identify information in a worded problem
  • creating multiplication and division number sentences from worded problems
  • using mathematical modelling and concrete materials to solve problems involving multiplication and division
  • developing efficient mental and written strategies to solve multiplication and division problems
  • recalling multiplication facts for 3, 4, 5 and 10 (year 3) and multiplication facts up to 10 × 10 and related division facts (year 4)

Measurement 

• Angles
  • identifying angles as measures of turn and using right angles as a reference to compare angles in everyday situations
  • estimating and comparing angles using angle names including acute, obtuse, straight angle, reflex and revolution, and recognise their relationship to a right angle
• Time 
  • reading analogue times to the nearest minute
  • matching analogue and digital times
  • solving problems involving analogue and digital time

Number

• Decimals
• representing and writing tenths and hundredths in decimal format
• ordering decimals on a number line
• applying decimals in financial situations, measurement of length and mass

Measurement

• Mass and capacity
  • reading mass and capacity measurement scales 
  • estimating, measuring and comparing mass and capacity using scaled instruments

Literacy

This term, we will read, analyse and respond to the mentor text The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.  The Iron Man is a classic children's book about a mysterious and colossal metal robot that appears in a coastal farming village. The robot initially causes fear and chaos, but as the story progresses, it reveals itself to be a gentle and helpful creature. We will then move on to study the rich picture book Girl on Wire by Lucy Estella and the classic novel, Charlotte’s Webb by Eb White.

Some of the key foci include author's purpose, character analysis. vocabulary and comprehension skills such as summarising, questioning and visualisation. 

In Writing, we will spend the first 3 weeks continuing to explore poetry writing, learning about the language, grammar and structure of Haiku, Cinquain, Quatrain and Limericks. We will then focus on Narrative writing with an emphasis on character and setting descriptions, action and problem development and finally a story resolution.

Spelling will remain a focus, with explicit teaching of different spelling patterns and rules and explicit instruction on sentence level writing including statements, questions and commands. 

Social & Emotional Learning

This term in SEL, we will continue our sessions of The Resilience Project. We will explore our own emotions and identify what we notice and feel in our bodies, hearts and minds when we experience uncomfortable, painful or challenging moods or emotions. 

We will explore techniques and strategies that can help us process and cope with challenging moods and emotions. We will continue to learn about empathy as an important social skill in managing social relationships. Empathy involves noticing and responding to the feelings and emotions of others and we are more likely to offer help and support to someone when we can identify their feelings. 

STEM

This term our STEM unit ‘Super Forces: Friction, Gravity and Magnetism’ is focused on Physical Sciences and will provide the students with hands-on opportunities to:

• Observe and identify forces: gravity, friction, magnetism
• Draw and label forces in real life situations and activities
• Conduct experiments to manipulate and harness forces
• Create a game using forces
• Design a superhero with the power of two forces

Specialist Classes

Please see the timetable below for specialist lessons. All 3/4 students will be required to wear their sport uniform on Friday. Students will also need to bring in their library bag and books on their designated library days.

Home Learning 

Please ensure that students are recording their reading in their diaries every night. Homework will recommence in Week 2. 

The connections between home and school are very important. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We can be reached via email or leave a message at the office and we will endeavour to respond in a timely manner, between 8am and 5pm on weekdays. 

3/4A - Rebecca Stuart rstuart@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au

3/4B - Nicole Webb nwebb@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au (Monday-Wednesday)

3/4B - Anna Hendy ahendy@sjmitcham.catholic.edu.au (Thursday & Friday)