Year 3/4 News

 Learning Centre Two 

Term 3 has certainly raced by, and each day brought with it many wonderful learning moments and memories for our students. 

We have celebrated Book Week, with our whole school Book Week Parade, and it was wonderful to see so many students dressed up and sharing their love of reading. A big thank you to families for supporting the creativity and joy of the day. The students had fun trying to work out which staff member was the real 'Where's Wally'!

Our students shone on stage in our Wizard of Oz performances. Everything ran smoothly, and we are so proud of how well our students performed. Not only did they bring energy and talent to the stage, but they also showed excellent behaviour and teamwork backstage, supporting one another throughout the production.

A huge thank you to our staff, families, and volunteers for their support in making the production such a success!

After all the excitement of the Wizard of Oz we celebrated our dads & special males in our lives at the ‘Father’s Day Breakfast’ The staff were at school bright and early to fire up the barbies and make the delicious bacon & egg rolls. The coffee van was popular with our visitors. After breakie we gathered as a whole school community and had a prayer celebration. 

Lost Property

We have a HUGE container of lost property in LC2. If your child is missing a jumper or jacket PLEASE come into LC2 and search through the tub. Any unclaimed items will be donated to the second hand uniform shop. 

Religion

Year 3 have been looking at the concept of neighbour. We began with reading John 13: 34–35: ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’  The led to interpreting the principle of human dignity and how it applies to actions towards others, especially those in need. We also explored how making decisions and taking actions guided by faith, hope and love can positively affect ourselves and others.

The Year 4 students explored the life and legacy of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Australia’s first saint. Through her inspiring story, students learnt about the importance of faith, courage, and compassion. Students expressed their understanding of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop by designing their choice of a social post or prophet crests that highlighted the values Mary lived by. 

The last three weeks of term the Year 4 students are inquiring into a range of local organisations, and how these connect to the ‘Catholic Social Teaching’ principles. These organisations include the Uniting Age Well nursing home, the Wyndham Park Community Centre Food Bank Program, and an annual program called Socktober. The students are investigating how these organisations serve our community, and how they apply each principle as an inspiration for their work.

Literacy

As part of our Book Week celebrations, the students continued exploring the Children’s Book Council of Australia shortlisted books. We have enjoyed reading titles such as How to Move a Zoo and One Little Dung Beetle. Each day, students have been creating thoughtful and creative reading responses to the books, helping them to engage more deeply with the stories, themes, and illustrations. It has been wonderful to see the excitement and imagination these stories have inspired across all year levels.

We have begun exploring the elements of poetry. This has included listening to poems that tell stories, poems that describe, and poems that reflect on all aspects of life. The students have had the  opportunity to write their own poetry, and these  included, haiku, cinquain, rhyming couplets and limericks. They are learning about the effects of literary devices used in poems such as metaphors and similes, rhyme, and stanza form. The students are collaborating with their peers to share feedback on their word choice for their poems, and how these conveyed specific meanings, emotions, and created imagery for the reader.

Mathematics

Year 3

In Mathematics, Year 3 students have been learning how to tell the time to the minute and confidently match analogue times to digital clocks. This has been a hands-on and practical unit, with students enjoying opportunities to practise reading real and classroom clocks. It’s been fantastic to see their growing independence in applying these important everyday skills.

They have also been exploring and naming 3D shapes, it was fun creating the shapes using playdoh ^ match sticks as well as making shapes from nets.

The last couple of weeks of term we are looking at addition and subtraction and using strategies to solve worded problems. One strategy is the CUBES strategy: 

C: Circle important numbers

U: Underline the question

B: Box any important/keywords

E: Evaluate what steps are needed

S: Solve and write in sentence

Year 4: 

The Year 4 students have been exploring location through reading and using map grid systems to locate features and describe positions using grid references. Students have been practicing how to give and follow directions accurately on a grid map and are putting their creativity and knowledge to work by designing and drawing their own grid maps of their dream bedroom. 

We have been extending our understanding of fractions from representing halves, quarters, thirds, fifths, and tenths, to identifying and comparing equivalent fractions for various denominators. We have used shaded shapes and parallel number lines to grasp an understanding on equivalence and order of fractions. This learning intends to prepare the students for fraction operations, and further links between fractions and decimals. They also used bar modelling of fractions to represent operations with fractions, tenths grids and hundredths grids to support their understanding of decimal notation. 

Inquiry

In Inquiry, our Year 3/4 students have been learning how to organise information using flowcharts and branching. They explored how a series of yes/no questions can be used to classify objects, helping them understand how information can be sorted and structured in clear and logical ways. This has been a fun and interactive way to build critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This has led to the students  inquiring into how to create simple algorithms as visual programs by using control structures and input. They are investigating ways to connect points of communication in a program called, ‘Minecraft: Education Edition.’ This helps them to apply their branching and questioning skills to have fictional characters go to non player characters. The program encourages the students to collaborate on their projects in a secure online environment.

Wellbeing

In Wellbeing, the students participated in ‘R U OK? Day’ with a particular focus on relationships, personal and social skill development. They identified the most important parts about being a good friend, along with the key parts of what makes a quality friendship. Some of these friendship qualities included, being trustworthy, supportive, asking your friend questions, celebrating with your friend, and sharing. They have also watched a video clip video that explored the 4 steps of an R U OK? conversation:  Ask, Listen,Encourage Action and Check in.

Sun Smart

It's that time of year again when all students must wear a hat when outside. It is strongly suggested that the hat be a bucket style as this gives the best protection. School hats are available from the uniform shop. Please make sure your child's hat has their name on it. Students who do not have a hat will be asked to stay in the shade as we do have...

NO HAT, NO PLAY 

Tissues Please

We are in desperate need of tissues in the learning spaces.  It would be great if each family could donate a box please.

Reminders:

• Students bring their laptops and headphones to school each day.  Please make sure these are fully charged.
• Please make sure that ALL your children's belongings (clothes, lunch boxes, drink bottles, stationery, etc.) are clearly labelled with your child's name. Labelled property can be easily returned to its owner. 

Happy Holidays

The Year 3/4 team, want to wish everyone a happy and safe break. Hope you get to spend precious time as a family & get to enjoy some outside time. 

We look forward to seeing you all on Monday October 6th ,refreshed and ready for more exciting adventures!

If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact your child's learning group teacher or Sandy.

Year 3/4 Team:  Tina, Jannine, Josh, Hayley, Leeza, Anthony, Anastasia, Helen, Anna, Amelia,  Gabby, and Sandy