Year 3/4 Mainstream

Celebrating Learning

What we’ve been up to

Students have shared what a fantastic time they had at the STEM evening on Tuesday. It was fantastic to see so many families present! Parents and carers reported how wonderful it was to observe what students have been learning in STEM, and to celebrate their achievements. 

As the end of the term approaches, students have been working hard to finish off tasks they have yet to complete. Next term will be an exciting term with a focus on “Caring for Country”. As such, they will be bringing home a small ‘seed’ homework task to complete over the holidays. Please support students to complete this as it will provide them with some inspiration for learning at the start of Term 2.

Maths

In Mathematics, our main focus has been learning to read the time on an analogue and a digital clock. We have explored AM and PM notation and used a number line to make links to the way we record 12 and 24-hour time. Students have also been exploring ways to problem solve elapsed time using a T-chart and a number line. This is something you can practise with them at home.

Some questions that we have explored during this unit:

• If we start at 9:00 am and finish at 3:30 pm, how much time do we spend at school each day? What mental and visual strategies can we use to solve this?
• What happens to the hour hand as the minute hand moves around the clock face?
• How is reading the time related to fraction ideas?
• What is the meaning of ‘analogue, duration, elapsed, AM and PM’?

Literacy

In Reading, students have continued exploring the four roles of Reciprocal Reading.  Reciprocal reading is where students work in small groups to explore different types of texts and respond or engage with these texts by applying a particular role. Currently, students are practising the role of the ‘Predictor’. Before starting reading, students make predictions about what they think the text is going to be about. During reading, they make predictions about what they think will happen next. After reading, students may reflect on their predictions, where they correct or incorrect OR if they haven’t completed the text they may further predict what might happen. Throughout predicting students are providing ‘evidence’ as to why they’re making each prediction such as basing it on their personal experiences or other books and movies. Predicting supports students to make inferences! Next term students will practice the roles of the ‘Summariser’ and the ‘Questioner’. 

In Writing, 3/4 students have continued with the Writer’s Workshop process, which includes: unpacking a ‘seed’, planning their work using planner templates, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. Students are at different stages of this cycle. Have a look at our work samples! Additionally, students have been learning about various types of verbs, practicing creative sentence construction, discussing grammar choices and expanding on each other’s ideas during rich class discussion. 

What’s coming up:

• In Reading, students will continue practicing their Reciprocal Reading roles with a focus on summarising and questioning.
• In Writing, we will be exploring different Non-Fiction text types including ‘Descriptions’ and ‘Compare and Contrasts’.
• In Mathematics, students will be exploring addition and subtraction strategies including ‘Part/Whole’, ‘Bridging’ and ‘Compensation’ 

Things families can talk about at home:

• Collecting writing ‘seeds’ to use for writing ideas in Term 2 e.g. tickets, photos, drawings, clippings from magazines or newspapers. Please refer to the envelope that has been sent home.
• Practice calculating elapsed time using a Numberline or T-Chart Strategies.
• Ask your child the time at various stages of each day so they can build fluency.
• When reading, remind students to practise preciting before, during and after. 
• Encourage students to read other types of texts such as newspaper articles, then use a dictionary to define words they didn’t understand.