Year Three/ Four

Communicating with the Year Three/Four Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2021, and welcome your input:

Melinda Rowe (Class 34A) Melinda.Rowe@education.vic.gov.au 

Rebecca Tilley (Class 34B) Rebecca.Tilley@education.vic.gov.au

Michelle Wright (Class 34C) Michelle.Wright@education.vic.gov.au 

LITERACY THIS TERM

In Writing, the Year Three/Four students began the term creating a Fact File about a bush food they have explored in Inquiry. The students researched their bush food and then paraphrased the information they found; writing it into their own words. They then wrote a good copy of their fact file, focusing on using joins in their handwriting. We then moved on to explore fractured fairy tales. We began by looking at traditional fairy tales and identifying points in the story that we could change. The students then chose a traditional fairy tale and re-wrote it; changing the story in some way.

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Upon our return to on-site learning, the students began to plan a Scary Story. To assist their planning, the students needed to select their characters, setting, problem and additional story items from card provided to them. They then planned and drafted a scary story. Once they had completed their draft, the students revised, edited and published!

Over the past two weeks, the students have revised what they know about Persuasive writing by creating a Monster for Sale writing piece. The students designed their own monster and then wrote a persuasive advertisement to sell their monster. The students were asked to use persuasive techniques such as exaggeration, rhetorical questions and emotive language in their writing. This week, the students have been publishing this writing piece, with a focus on using joins in their handwriting.

Next week, the students will continue looking at persuasive advertising by creating a spoken advertisement. The students will need to plan and write their advertisement and then record it using the iPads. 

To finish the year, the students will revisit information reports and create a piece of informative writing linked to our Inquiry topic “Masterchef”. If time permits, we then plan to explore and create some comics; identifying how a written story can be turned into a comic.  

Numeracy in Term Four

In Mathematics, the Year Three/Four students started Term 4 looking at 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes. The students practiced identifying the names of 2D and 3D shapes, and calculating the number of edges, faces and vertices of each shape. The students then spent a week investigating Angles; identifying whether an angle was acute, obtuse or a right angle. They drew on their creativity and artistic skills, and identified the angles in their names.

With the return to on-site learning, we delved into Fractions and Decimals. The students spent two weeks exploring fractions; spending time making fractions using tactile resources such as plasticine and blocks. The students then learnt all about fraction walls and how they can be used to identify equivalent fractions. We then began looking at the connection between fractions and decimals. Students explored the relationship between fractions and decimals, and learnt strategies to convert between the two. We wrapped up our fractions and decimals unit by completing a summary tasks displaying everything we learnt about fractions and decimals.

Over the next two weeks, the students are investigating money. The students will participate in hands-on activities involving money calculations. They will also complete real-life scenario activities such as planning a birthday party and a trip to a theme park. 

We will finish the year by looking at problem solving tasks involving math; engaging the students in fun scenarios and building their resilience to challenging problems.