Icarus Community Report

Welcome to the 3/4 Icarus Community for 2022

Wow, what a fantastic start to the year it has been for the Icarus Community! The students have settled in well and Linda, Christina and Lisa have enjoyed watching them grow as learners. We would also like to welcome Natalie to the Icarus Community and we congratulate her on her appointment. 

Literacy

Reading

In Reading, 3/4 Icarus has been busy establishing a Reading Community. This has entailed understanding our learning model, identifying good fit and free choice texts as well as setting individual reading goals. The genre we are focusing on is Fiction. Students have responded to texts by predicting and making connections with events and characters 

Our Home Reading program will commence shortly. Students will be required to borrow good fit texts (texts that students can read comfortably and independently) and read these at home each day. We require students to keep a log of their reading, return their books to school daily and engage in reading and discussions with family members. We would also like parents to sign their child’s record book. 

Writing

In Writing, we have also established a Community of Writers. Students know the importance of understanding the flow of a writing session. They aware of the steps to produce a quality piece of work including-brainstorming, planning, drafting, conferencing, editing, and publishing. Students have analysed the structure and the features of narratives and are currently writing their own narratives. They have used mentor texts, and focused on language conventions (spelling, sentences construction, word usage and punctuation). 

Speaking and Listening

Icarus students have been learning about active listening and speaking with clarity. They are aware of the need to look at the speaker and listen with their whole body. If they wish to contribute to a discussion, they know to take turns. 

We encourage you to engage in discussions with your child at home about their reading and their school day. Encourage him/her to speak using full sentences. Here are some sentence starters they can use:

Today at school I enjoyed… because…

I was proud that I was able to… at school today.

A strategy I used to read unfamiliar words 

I was able to include imagery devices in my writing today to engage the reader. I used…

A strategy I used in Maths today was…

I learnt to…

I found…challenging 

Numeracy

In Numeracy, we have been focusing on understanding Place Value. Students are learning to recognise, model and order numbers to at least 10 00 and place four-digit numbers and beyond. They can place a number line with regard for scale. They partition and re-arrange to show the value of a number in more than one way. The Icarus community have been focusing on ‘show me another way’ by renaming 10 hundred to make 1 thousand. They can record the number and rename the digit values to tens of thousands, thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. Students can explain that a number such as 4005 has 40 hundred and 5 ones or 400 tens 5 ones. Students can read, write, compare, order and sequence 3-, 4-, and 5-digit numbers and beyond. Students have been counting on and back by twos, fives, tens, hundreds, and thousands to consolidate understanding of place value.

Inquiry

In Inquiry this term, students are exploring the question ‘How do I fit into the Digital World?’. Throughout this unit, students will be learning about their digital footprint and ways they can protect themselves online. Students are also learning about being respectful online and what to do if they see something they do not like whilst online. 

Parents are encourage to talk to their children about being Cyber Safe and ensure that they monitor their child when using devices. More information on this can be found at:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/bullystoppers/Pages/parentcyber.aspx

SEL

In Social and Emotional Learning, students have begun learning about the difference between a fixed and a growth mindsets and how successful learning use a growth mindset. Students are learning about mindfulness and how it can be used to regulate their emotions. Furthermore, students are learning about our school values and how we can show these.

 Friendly Reminders

• Please ensure that your child brings a labelled water bottle to school each day. 
• Aim to get your child to school on time, every morning to ensure that they don’t miss valuable learning time. 
• Please ensure your child has a clean mask each day and some spares in their bag in case they need to replace it during the day.
• Ensure your child reads every night, records their book in their log and returns their log and book to school each day. 
• Please check Compass notifications regularly to stay informed. 
• If you would like to speak to your child’s teacher, please call the school to organise an appropriate time.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with students and their families. 

The Icarus Community Teachers