Grade 3/4 News

Reminders and Upcoming Events:

• District Athletics Day (select students)- Tuesday 5th August
• Bendigo Writer's Festival (select students)- Friday 15th August
• Footy Colors Day (Whole School)- Friday 12th September

WELCOME BACK!

We’re excited to kick off our Semester 2 adventures! There’s so much to look forward to... camp, our 'Into the Unknown' topic on Exploration, camp, hands-on Mathematics investigations into money, symmetry, algebra, statistics, and mapping, engaging persuasive writing tasks, and of course... camp. It's going to be a fantastic term filled with learning, curiosity, and fun!

It was a pleasure meeting with our wonderful families earlier this week for our Term 3 conferences. Thank you for taking the time to connect and discuss your child/ren’s progress.

Just a friendly reminder — you're always welcome to reach out if you have any questions, concerns, or even some positive feedback (which we love to hear!).You can contact our team via the following emails:

• Rohan Daenke: rohan.daenke@education.vic.gov.au
• Daniel Lidgett: daniel.lidgett@education.vic.gov.au 
• Lauren Schulz: lauren.schulz@education.vic.gov.au 
• Alisha Mitchell: alisha.mitchell2@education.vic.gov.au 
• Brooke Ingram: brooke.ingram@education.vic.gov.au

Camp

Packing lists and Medical/Dietary forms were handed out during parent/teacher interviews this week. Please make sure to have all forms and consent submitted by Thursday, 14th August. Thankyou for your assistance with this! 

Maths Challenge

Check out our first Maths Challenge of the term below!

What we are learning...

In Reading and Writing, our focus has been on persuasive texts. We've been learning to identify high-modal words and persuasive phrases in the texts we read and are beginning to recognise how important fluency is when it comes to being truly persuasive. We've also explored how to structure a strong persuasive piece. One of our favourite activities so far was creating advertisements for everyday classroom objects—using persuasive devices to make them sound irresistible. It turns out we’re very convincing… who would’ve thought!

During our Mathematics fluid group rotations and problem solving sessions, we've been diving into the topic of 'money' and financial matters. Anything money-related sparks our curiosity — although we’re always a little disappointed we don’t get to use the real thing!

We’ve explored a range of real-world problems, including identifying Australian coins and notes, using the four operations to add and calculate money amounts, working out change, finding the 'best buy', sticking to a budget, and even planning a party!

In Applied Mathematics, we've been focusing on recognising composite shapes and exploring symmetry. We're learning that composite shapes are created by joining simpler shapes together. We've also been investigating rotational symmetry — identifying objects that look the same after being turned around a central point.

TOPIC:

This term, our Grade 3/4 students will embark on an exciting integrated unit titled Into the Unknown. Throughout this inquiry, students will develop their historical and geographical understanding by examining the impact of exploration on communities, landmarks, and Australia’s national identity. They will delve into key themes such as early navigation, famous voyages, the role of explorers, and the tools they used to chart new territories.

To launch our unit and build essential background knowledge, students participated in a fun and engaging vocabulary hunt around the school. In groups, students used clues to navigate the school grounds, locating and recording definitions of key terms linked to our history unit.

Last week, we were fortunate to attend Bendigo South East Secondary School’s production of Matilda. It was such a treat to watch local students showcase their talents on stage — we even found ourselves singing along to some of the familiar songs! A big thank you to the Year 5/6 classes for inviting us to join in the fun.

Book Week (Week 5)

It is that time of year again when we dust off the hot glue gun and put together a costume to celebrate Book Week. This year, Book Week will be celebrated from Monday 18th to Friday 22nd August, and the 2025 theme is Book an Adventure! 2025 is a milestone year, celebrating 80 years of the Australian Children’s Book Week! 

We have organised 2 family events for the week: 

• On Monday 18th August from 8.45am to 9.00am our school will open our libraries and classrooms for families to read a story book with their child/ren. 
• The second activity will be held on Friday 22nd August for our annual whole-school book parade. This will be held in The Hub at 9am. We encourage all students to dress up as their favourite book character on this day.

Our Grade 3/4 students will do some additional activities during the week to help celebrate and promote Book Week, including our own judging of the short-listed children’s picture books.

From the Grade 3/4 Team