Classroom News
Grade 3 & 4
Term 3, Week 10
END OF TERM 3 NEWSLETTER
Wow! What an absolute action packed term we’ve had. The Year 4s had a blast at camp, we visited the Melbourne Museum and learned a lot about Australian History. We had an exciting Book Fun Day with everyone dressed up as their favourite book character and to wrap up Term 3, we went swimming! We are all really tired and are ready for the holidays.
In Reader’s Workshop, we focussed on reading and understanding non-fiction texts about indigenous culture and various historical explorers. We investigated the common themes in texts and used evidence from the text to support our thinking. We unpacked interesting and unfamiliar vocabulary and looked at strategies on how to read and understand these words. Our other focus this term was open- minded portraits, where students put themselves in the main character or person’s shoes and think about what they might have felt.
In Writers Workshop, we have had a very action packed term exploring two different writing genres and their key features. At the commencement of the term, we focused on the genre of Recount where we looked at word choices involving time connectives. Time connective words help the flow of sentences when retelling events we’ve experienced. The other key focus in our writing this term was looking at the Structure of Biographies. We researched relevant information and expanded our ideas into paragraphs.
In Mathematics this term, the grade 3s and 4s explored a wide variety of multiplication and division strategies, such as repeated addition and subtraction, groups of strategies, arrays, vertical multiplication and short division. Being able to use a range of strategies helps students as they are able to choose the strategy that is most effective for a given problem. We also explored angles, looking at what an angle is and the various types of angles, such as acute, obtuse, and reflex angles. Lastly, we will finish the term by examining time. We will examine the use of analogue clocks, conversion between units of time such as seconds to minutes and minutes to hours, and will focus on solving real-world problems that involve time. We have done amazing work this term and are excited to finish our mathematics learning for term 3!
Over Term 3 in Integrated Studies, we’ve gone on an exploration of pre European settlement in Australia and the early years of colonisation. Our excursion to the museum set us up to gain a good understanding of many aspects of Aboriginal culture and history. We also investigated cultural and technological changes over time and compared various eras. Our work in Writing on biographies then allowed us to begin to build on our ability to write about the past and we put together some fantastic projects on Australian explorers, including details, such as timelines, achievements and legacies.
Have a wonderful holiday!
Reminders:
Students will have to wear their school hat in Term 4