What's Happening in the Middle School
Year 3
What’s Happening in Year 3 in March
Welcome to another exciting month in Year 3! We are so pleased with how wonderfully the children have settled into their routines. They have shown great enthusiasm, independence, and kindness as they navigate new learning experiences and classroom expectations. This month, the students have been especially engaged in our science unit. Their curiosity and excitement have been a joy to see! They are asking thoughtful questions, participating eagerly in investigations, and developing their understanding through hands-on activities. It is fantastic to watch their confidence grow as they explore new concepts and share their discoveries with one another. Thank you for your continued support, we are looking forward to another month of learning and growth together!
Wellbeing
This year, we will be using the Grow Your Mind podcast to learn about resilience, respect, responsibility, and relationships. It focuses on making the parts of your brain responsible for decision making and self-regulation relatable by connecting them to different animals. Over the next month, students will explore the role of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, reticular activating system, and amygdala and learn how to be of benefit to others.
Literacy
- We will also be practising NAPLAN style questions.
- We will continue to look at the features of a narrative and how we can use them effectively.
- We will delve into the features of persuasive text and how we can use them effectively.
- We have embarked on a new Word Study program called Word Origins.
We will be learning Anglo-Saxon and Latin root words and their affixes to build understanding of word meaning and etymology.
Maths
Time
- Relationship between days, hours, minutes, seconds
- Digital clocks – estimating duration of short events
- Basic elapsed time
- Calendars
Multiplication and Division
Arrays
- Facts for 2, 10, 5
- Fact families
- Facts for 3, 4
- Fact families
Patterns in multiples of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 1
Knowledge Unit
- We will continue our introduction to the broad topic of Chemical Science.
We will be exploring what makes a solid, liquid, and gas, and how we can change states of matter by cooling and heating.
Sport
- This year the cohort will participate in one hour of sport a week (in addition to PE sessions).
The focus will be teamwork and sportsmanship, and we will explore this using different team games. We are currently focusing on, tennis, lacrosse, T-ball and Aus Tag
Reminders
- Art Smocks returned to school please if they have not already.
- All children must wear a hat when they are outside. Please ensure your child has one, and it is clearly labelled with their name.
- Please ensure diaries come to school each day with nightly reading recorded. This may also be used to communicate information to teachers such as pick up arrangements, health concerns, and quick questions (book suggestions etc.).
- Week 7 – Monday 9th March Labour Day Public Holiday – No School
- Week 7 – Tuesday 10th March – Curriculum Day – Pupil Free Day
- NAPLAN Assessment – weeks 7, 8 & 9
- Week 9 – Wednesday 25th March – incursion: Chemistry Chaos
Year 4
What’s Happening in Year 4 in March
Another swimming program has been successfully completed, and all students should be congratulated for their positive mindset during the last two weeks. We are all now looking forward to going on camp, as well as participating in the Civics and Citizenship incursion following our return from Arrabri Lodge.
Wellbeing
Our wellbeing focus will continue to look at identifying our personal strengths as well as embracing our own differing capabilities. This has also supported building self-esteem and an ability to confidently adapt to change. The Year 4 students have also been introduced to a podcast called ‘Grow Your Mind’. Focusing on a growth mindset, classes will work their way through the various episodes and discuss skills and tools they can develop to assist their self-esteem development.
Literacy
During Literacy sessions, students will be learning to understand the difference between the main idea and a theme within a written piece. They will also be learning how to develop an opinion that includes a supportive argument, when writing about their own thoughts and ideas. We will also be continuing to read our class novel, Uncle X-Box. The ‘Word Origins’ word study program will also continue each day in classrooms.
Maths
Maths sessions will be revising our knowledge of place value as well as the reviewing student understanding of the four operations. Time, both analogue and digital, will also be a focus in the coming weeks. Students will be introduced to a new whole school Maths fluency program that is designed to increase student accuracy and fluency around maths.
Knowledge Unit
Our Knowledge Unit in Term 1 will be a study in Civics and Citizenship. This Year 4 unit places a particular focus on the structure of the Australian government as well as how a democracy functions in the world.
Home Reading Program
Year 4 students are expected to read every night and record their progress in their personal diaries. It is the responsibility of the student to bring their diary to school every day and take it home each night to log their reading. Classroom teachers will be checking and signing these diaries regularly to monitor student reading habits. The student diary will also be used to highlight important dates and reminders.
Important Year 4 Dates
Year 4 Camp: Wednesday 11th March to Friday 13th March
