Year 3/4 Mainstream 

Celebrating Learning

Over the last two weeks we have continued our Unit Focus topic for Term 2, “Among the Gum Trees”, in which we are exploring the life cycles and beneficial interactions between eucalypts and animals/insects.  Last week 3/4 students participated in an anti-bullying incursion with Project Rockit. Students explored different ways to approach bullying in various situations online and offline.

Maths:

We have begun an exciting unit on measurement this term. Through hands-on experiences, students are developing their understanding of the range of ways we use measurement in the real world. They are practising to estimate, accurately measure, record, compare and order various standard units of measurement. This includes: 

• length
• area
• volume and capacity
• mass

We will learn about measuring ‘time’ closer to the end of the term. It’s a great TIME to invest in an analogue watch for your child if they don’t already have one!

Did you know that many of the measurement names in our system are of Greek origin? For example, kilo (1,000) and centi (100th). The name “decimal” is derived from the Greek word “deka”, which means “ten”.

Photos show students exploring various areas of measurement.

Literacy:

In Writing, students are collaborating with a group to write an information report on an Australian animal. During this focus they had to research their animal and work together with their peers to follow a set structure and create a report. They also began to practise their peer editing skills by identifying one area that they wanted their editor to focus on when giving feedback.

In Reading, we have been practising our reciprocal reading skills. In reciprocal reading, students are building towards working in small groups to discuss a shared text. They will each have a different role and meet in a book club format to share their knowledge about what they have read. As we are consolidating this process, the whole class has been working on one role: the summariser. Students read a text, then find the main ideas. These ideas are then put into full sentences in their own words to create a shorter piece of writing that explains what the text was about.

In Unit Focus, students have identified trees in the playground that are eucalypts and explored what animals and insects interact with the trees.

We have also examined the parts of a eucalypt flower through creating detailed labelled diagrams.

What’s to come in the next two weeks:

• Over the next two weeks, 3/4 students will be going to TarraWarra Museum on an excursion. Make sure you check Compass for event details!
• We will be finishing our information reports and begin writing text types of students’ own choice.
• In Reading, we will start working in groups to practise reciprocal reading with a shared, short chapter book. 
• Our measurement unit finishes this week, so we will begin learning about subtraction in Maths.