The Lyrebird Word

Year Three/ Four

Communicating with the Year Three/Four Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2022, 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 

Michelle Wright
Melinda Rowe
Rebecca Tilley
Michelle Wright
Melinda Rowe
Rebecca Tilley

ENGLISH THIS TERM

Spelling

This term, the students have continued the MultiLit Spelling Program.

Year 3

The Year 3 students have learnt letter combinations to spell the long vowel sounds 'e', 'i' and 'o'. They also learnt about homophones; words that sounds the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings. Some of the words they learnt include: 

  • There, their and they're
  • Meet and meat
  • Ate and eight
  • Knot and not

They learnt the importance of listening to the context of a word and what the word means in a sentence.

Year 4

The Year 4 students have learnt vowel syllable patterns and syllable types, letter combinations to spell the 'j' and 'ch' sounds, and apostrophes of possession. Some of the letter combinations they have learnt include:

  • 'ch' and 'tch'
  • 'ge' and 'dge'

Reading

This term we are reading the book ‘Demon Dentist’ by David Walliams. ‘Demon Dentist’, by David Walliams is a great book full of mystery and all of the students are enjoying reading it. 

This term the students have been working hard to use reading strategies such as maintaining fluency, summarising the text and using spelling strategies to sound out words. Working through these strategies helped Year Three students to complete the NAPLAN reading assessment with ease. After the craziness of NAPLAN, the students have settled back into their differentiated reading groups and are learning to interpret different text types and use their spelling knowledge to sound out new words. 

The students have been working on their reading skills by completing 15 minutes of independent reading everyday. During independent reading, teachers have been assessing students comprehension and reading skills as we are now beginning to write student reports. 

 We look forward to finishing ‘Demon Dentist’ and finding out what happens at the end of the book!

 

‘Demon Dentist’

Darkness had come to the town. Strange things were happening in the dead of night. Children would put a tooth under their pillow for the tooth fairy, but in the morning they would wake up to find… a dead slug; a live spider; hundreds of earwigs creeping and crawling beneath their pillow.

Evil was at work. But who or what was behind it…?

Writing

This term we have returned our focus to narrative stories. The students have been exploring aspects of narratives including the setting, characters and how to build suspense in a story. We then will explore how to incorporate dialogue into stories before putting all of this knowledge together to write a story.

CHARACTERS

We have been exploring the traits and personalities of characters. These characters will be used in future narrative stories. 

SETTINGS

Whilst writing a descriptive setting, the students included information related to our senses. What can you hear? What can you feel? What can you see? What can you smell? What can you taste? 

SCIENCEWORKS EXCURSION

We had a wonderful adventure exploring the Earth, Moon and Sun whilst on our recent excursion to Science Works! Here are some photos to show you some of the experiences we had!

REMINDERS and IMPORTANT INFORMATION

  • Messages - If you need to have a message passed on to your child during the day, can you please send this via the office as we cannot guarantee that emails will be read during the day. 
  • Year 3/4 Common Room. The students in Year 3/4 all keep their bags in classroom 7. We would love to be able to set this up as a common room with some couches. If you happen to have a spare dark coloured couch or two that are in good condition that you are rehoming, we would love for you to consider donating it to the school for students to use. Please contact Mel Rowe if you have something suitable.
  • Diaries - Your child should be bringing home their school diary each night. We would like to encourage your child (or parent) to write down the title and author of the book that is read, along with the page numbers that have been read. They should also be writing down which times tables they have worked on that day. Students should be bringing in their diary to school daily. We would also appreciate if a parent/guardian signs the diary at least once a week.
  • Times Tables - Please assist your your child to practice these times tables so that they can respond automatically and in any order. When your child feels confident to be tested, they should let their teacher know. They will then be tested over the next few days. If they successfully pass the set of times tables, they will receive their next ninja belt (set of tables) to learn. 

OUR SPECIALIST SESSIONS