From the 3/4 Classrooms
The Term Ahead
Well, following our return from Grade 3/4 Camp, students have well-and-truly got stuck into our English, Maths, Integrated, STEM and wellbeing units of learning for Term 3!
English
In Term 3 students will be exploring the text Pearl Versus the World, which is a moving illustrated novella written by Sally Murphy and illustrated by Heather Potter. Using a narrative format, including both rhyme and free verse, this story is told through the eyes of a young girl who is struggling to find her place in the world.
This text aptly links to both our integrated unit, the work we have done as part of our whole school visible wellbeing goal of strengths in Term 2, and our writing focus, poetry.
Students have been introduced to some new thinking routines, including 'Parts, Purpose and Complexities. Students considered the following questions when exploring the concept of family:
- What are its parts?(What are its pieces, components?) What is a family? Who is in a family?
- What are its purposes?(What is it for, what does it do?) What is the purpose of family?
- What are its complexities?(How is it complicated in its parts, purposes, the relationship between the two, or other ways?) How can families be different? Can families change? How?
They also explored the routine 'Colour, Symbol, Image'. Students were asked tio distill the essence of the character trait or strengths demonstrated in our book by choosing the following:
- a colour to represent it,
- a symbol that encapsulates it’s meaning, and
- an image that may provide an example of when or how you would use it
Here are some examples of their work:
Students have also begun to explore the purpose or poetry, the poetic devices poets employ to make their poems more interesting and engaging, and begun to experiment with using some of them to write their own poems.
Stay tuned for more poems coming your way!
Mathematics
In term 3, students continue use their knowledge of multiplication and arrays to help them with division. Students have been introduced to the algorithm using the correct division symbol, affectionately referred to as the 'bus stop'. Students have explored breaking the array, and using MAB to solve division problems with and without regrouping.
Our Grade 3/4s have just begun their exploration of Fractions by completing a 'Fractions Wild Walk' to find everyday fractions outside in our school yard. Students have also used Lego to help make and identify fractions, and name them using correct vocabulary. Later in the term students will be introduced to decimal place value.
As part our applied mathematical topics for the term, students have enjoyed looking at measurement, including length, area and perimeter. Time, will be our focus over the coming weeks, with students telling the time to the minute, the duration of different events and even elapsed time.
Parents & Guardians:
Here are somethings you can do at home to support your child with mathematics:
- Revise their timestables, particularly 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 (but feel free to go further)
- Include them in measuring things in everyday life, for example when cooking, discuss how many cups of flour you need for the recipe, or when building something, you might discuss the length or width.
- Find fractions out in the community, in nature and in built-up areas. You could even encourage students to cut up fruit and other food to show equal parts!
- Regularly ask them what the time is on both analogue and digital clocks, and ask the duration of activities, for example how long will something take to do, or how long it will be until an upcoming event.
- Play boardgames or write shopping list that require your child to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and divison while working with money.
Integrated - Allies for Inclusion:
This term our students will learn about fairness, inclusion and accessibility. They will learn about the difference between rules and laws and develop laws for a new local council. Students will consider how they can celebrate differences and be empathetic to others. They will become fairness inspectors as they look for ways to improve the physical accessibility of our school. Students will plan, draft, publish and present a picture storybook for younger students so share the importance of being an ally for inclusion.
Our essential questions for this unit are:
- Why is it important to be an ally?
- How can we respect and celebrate diversity?
- How can we make our communities fair, inclusive and accessible?
Parents & Guardians:
Take a look at this video below and have a discussion with your child about what they have learnt so far about inclusion. When you are out an about, encourage students to look at for signage and other things that make sure we are inclusive (ie. traffic light sounds, buttons in buses to stop the bus, etc.)
Students have also learnt about being an 'Upstander' by taking a stand and calling out behaviour that isn't respectful or inclusive! Ask them what strengths they may use to stand up for themself or another!
As part of our integrated studies unit, students will be participating in the 'Wheel Talk' and Auslan incursions to support their understanding of what it means to be an ally for inclusion!
STEM - The Effect of Forces:
Students have started to learn about different tupes of forces and their effects. They have begun to conduct simple experiements in small groups and complete a matching activity identifying examples of each type of force. Students will explore friction using a slice, explore elasticity and spring forces as they determine which ball will bounce the highest, use magnetic force to design a maze for a paper clip and investigate friction and gravity by deisgning a marble run.
The essential question we are exploring is what are the effects of forces on the motion of objects?
Parents & Guardians:
See if you can complete the Forces Matching Activity below by matching the definition to the picture and identifying whether it is a contact force or action-at-a distance:
Wellbeing
Following our start up program in Week 1, including our camp, where students revisited our school values, rights and responsbilities, we have embarked on the following wellbeing focuses for Term 3:
- Zones of Regulation - understanding our emotions, tracking when we change Zones, what triggers cause these changes and develop strategies to help us self regulate
- Resilience, Right and Respectful Relationships - Positive Coping Strategies
- Visible wellbeing - we continue to explore 'Strengths' and introduce students to the second element of the SEARCH framework, 'Emotional Management'.
HOME LEARNING IN TERM 3:
Just a reminder that students should be bringing their Home Learning book to School on Monday and Friday each week and their diary each day. Teachers will ask students to glue their home learning task sheet into their diary of the start of the week and it is is important that they complete the following home learning teasks each week:
- Independent Reading - 30 minutes each night
- Spelling - Look/Say/Cover/Write/Check each night
- Timetables sheet - once a week (or they can time themselves each night to beat their best score
- My Numeracy - once a week (as set by the classroom teacher)
- My Literacy - once a week (as set by the classroom teacher)
We look forward to a fantastic term ahead, as we learn to be allies for inclusion!
Prepared by the Grade 3/4 teachers