Class News: Year 3/4
Year 3/4!
Year 3/4 are so excited to show off some our learning that has taken place this term! Please read through to see what our students have been up to!
Reading
"I could never work out why one old man who lived all alone would use so many tubes of toothpaste. He couldn't have spent all day cleaning his teeth. Or I should say tooth, because he only had one musty, old green tooth right in the middle of his mouth. In fact his tooth was so yucky I am sure he had never cleaned it since the day it first grew. I couldn't stop thinking about Old Monty and his bins full of empty toothpaste tubes. I just had to find out what was going on!" - One-shot Toothpaste
Year 3/4 students have begun the year reading some classic stories by the master Paul Jennings. They have enjoyed One-shot Toothpaste about a crazy neighbour trying to invent a special toothpaste and Spaghetti Pig Out, a story of a magical remote control and a school Spaghetti eating competition!
Students have read these stories together as a class, taking turns reading and sharing their ideas and opinions. We have even seen some of our students then go and borrow some more Paul Jennings from the library!
Further to this this term our entire class is reading the novel The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. The story is about a Rozzum unit robot (Roz for short!) who shipwrecks on a forrest island. Roz has to learn how to act without humans giving her instructions, and how to live with the other island inhabitants such as otters, crabs, bears and more! We look forward to progressing through all the different chapters and then watching the film version at the end of the term!
Writing
Students this term will work through both Narrative and Persuasive text types. These are both found on our upcoming NAPLAN Assessment, so will assist our Year Three students in their preparation. In saying this, both text types are always brilliant fun to unpack and we make sure we do them each school year anyway!
Students have been unpacking the Setting, Complications and Resolutions found in effective narratives. They understand that a story without these is not a fun read!
Using the Paul Jennings story we mentioned earlier, students mapped information about the Setting, Complications and the Resolution found in the short story Spaghetti Pig Out.
Further to this students began to draft and write complications from a story starter. We understand the complication in a story is where things might go a little bit wrong, and interesting things happen to our characters. Students picked up stories about a poor dad who loves breakfast, and some well meaning mini chefs who wanted to cook for him. Enjoy some of the complications students wrote below!
Integrated
This term our students are covering the Integrated topic of Geography, and are starting with a reflection of our beautiful natural world! Students are learning about environments and Biomes. Biomes are large ares where both animals and plants live and thrive in specific conditions. These include areas such as rainforests, grasslands and deserts. Students have been learning the features of different biomes and what may live there.
Later this term students will learn more about the sustainability factors in our environments, and the role humans play in protecting and nurturing the natural world. They will create posters to hang up in our school which promote good practices which help keep our plant and animal friends across Australia safe!
That's not all!
That's just a quick snapshot of what we have been learning in class, there is lots more happening! In Maths students have been practicing their addition and subtraction skills, including by creating fact families. In Religion students have been unpacking the concept of Free Will and how much control we have over our actions and words, and how they affect others. Not to mention all the work that is taking place in our Wellbeing sessions and Specialist classes!
We look forward to the opportunity to share more of our learning later this year! Anyone feel like Spaghetti for dinner?
Take care,
Tim O'Mahoney and Marie Georgiadis
Year 3/4 Teachers