Year Three/ Four

Communicating with the Year Three/Four Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2020, and welcome your input:

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

Meghan Henchley (Class 34B) Meghan.Henchley@education.vic.gov.au

Melissa Woollard (Class 34C) Melissa.Woollard@education.vic.gov.au

WELCOME BACK!

Welcome back to learning in the classroom! It has been so lovely to see everyone's smiling faces and to be back together as a 3/4 cohort. The students have really enjoyed catching up with their friends and teachers, and have done a great job in settling back in. There has been a real excitement bubbling throughout the school with students chatting about what they have been up to and teachers relishing in being able to teach their students face to face. We are looking forward to a fantastic final term for the year filled with fun, learning and friendships!

An Overview of our Learning

This term in English:

Spelling

We are continuing on with the Smart Spelling program this term. On Mondays, students select their words from a given list along with some personal challenge words. These words are explicitly taught to the class and students complete a range of spelling activities throughout the week to enhance their learning of their chosen words. Students are tested on these words at the end of the week. We encourage students to continue to learn these words at home to reinforce their learning.

Reading

This term, the grade 3/4 students are completing a book study.

The chosen book for the term is 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl. Each

week, the students enjoy listening to their teacher read two

chapters of the text and then have a class discussion about the

text. Students follow this up with activities that explore their understanding of the characters, the plot and events that occur throughout the story.

As part of our Reading block, students also read a book of their choice for approximately fifteen minutes. Each classroom has a wide selection of books in their classroom library for the children to choose from. Your child however, is more than welcome to bring in their own books from home if they prefer.

Writing

A big focus for our writing this term is biographies and autobiographies. Students will also be revising how to write a well-structured and interesting narrative. We will be focusing on sizzling starts, the use of interesting dialogue, exciting endings and editing the piece of writing for correct structure, spelling, meaning and punctuation.

Maths

As part of our gradual release of responsibility model of teaching, students are working in small groups to explore a range of Maths concepts.

Here is our outline for the term:

Week 4: Money and financial mathematics
Week 5: Algebra and number patterns
Week 6: Addition and Subtraction
Week 7: Multiplication and Division
Week 8: Data representation and interpretation
Week 9: Project based learning
Week 10: Project based learning

Inquiry

This term, our Inquiry unit is titled 'What's the Matter?'

Students investigate the properties and make-up of different objects and explore how heat can be applied to these objects. They learn how heat can be produced in many ways and can move from one object to another. Through scientific inquiry, they experiment with common materials and objects to create changes of state between solids, liquids and gases by adding or removing heat.

This week we looked at thermal energy. If you add some drops of food colouring to a glass of cold water and to a glass of warm water......do you think the reaction will be the same? We conducted this experiment to find out!

Upcoming Important Dates

Monday 2nd November - Curriculum Day
Monday 9th November - Professional Practice Day - Looking at current assessment data to plan and inform our teaching

Justin Scicluna, Penelope Lang and Alexandra Jones will be teaching the classes on this day