Middle School 

Grades 3 and 4

Welcome back to Term 4

It was lovely to see all the students back at school last week. The grade 3/4 teachers can see that the students have grown over the holidays and we are all looking forward to this busy term ahead. There are lots of things happening including learning, swimming, Christmas carols, transition, Literature Groups, Money, fractions, chance activities, games and even more learning.

Literacy

This term all the classes are reading the novel "Runt" by Craig Silvey. This story is based in a small Australian town called Upson Downs, where we learn about the Shearer family with the main characters Annie and her dog Runt. The Shearers are working to survive a drought, the damming of the water by the formidable lawyer Earl Robert Barren and the loss of friends and neighbours who can no longer survive on the land. 

It has been great to see the students engage in the story and they are asking questions about the interesting words in the text such as pugnacious, formidable and smorgasbord. We are hoping to watch the movie later in the term.

We are also about to start Literacy Circles with the students. This is where they work in small groups all reading the same text. Students will be reading a book by Roald Dahl. Each group member is allocated a task to complete by the end of the week. The tasks are: Discussion Director, Illustrator, Connector, Summariser and Vocab Enricher. The aim is that students are taking the time to look more closely at what they are reading, making connections with the story and characters (connecting to their lives, other things they have learnt, read, and know), what message the author is giving and what they can learn from the books.

Dates to remember

Term 4

4th November - Curriculum Day

5th November - Cup Day

11th November - Remberance Day

19th November - Choir to sing

25 November - 6th December (except 27th Nov) - Grade 3/4 Swimming