Year 3/4

Dear Families,

We’ve had a shorter week with the Tuesday pupil-free day (for staff professional development), but it’s still been full of learning and progress!

✏️ Literacy

• Spelling: We’re continuing our PLD spelling program based on End of Term 1 data. Students are currently working in two groups:
  • One group is learning about the 'kn' spelling for the /n/ sound (e.g. know, knight).
  • The other group is focusing on the ‘a’ spelling making the /ar/ sound, as in glasses.
• Reading:
  • We’ve wrapped up our novel from last term, Leo and Ralph, and have just begun reading Uncle Xbox. Uncle Xbox is a coming-of-age story about Dusty, a boy who loves online gaming, especially with his stepdad Marcus. When Marcus leaves – taking the Xbox with him – Dusty sets out to buy one of his own. Along the way, his Uncle Rick introduces him to surfing, culture and Country. Dusty discovers there’s more to life than gaming. This novel explores the experiences of a First Nations Australian boy, and exploring themes of poverty, racism and family separation (age-appropriate for this year level).  
  • Students are also working on regular reading fluency, building instant word-recognition, pace and expression while reading aloud.
• Writing:
  • We’ve been sharpening our sentence-level writing skills—adding adverbial phrases, conjunctions, interesting verbs, and detail to expand our ideas.
  • We’ve also started looking at Factual Recounts, breaking down the structure and purpose of the introduction paragraph. This will link with topics connected with our class novel, such as British colonisation and its impact on First Nations Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• Grammar:
  • We revisited adverbs and adverbial phases. The students were asked to identify adverbial phases in sentences, what type of adverbial phases they were (time, place or manner), and have a go at manipulating them by moving them from the back to the front (called a fronted adverbial phase) and vice versa. 

🧮 Maths

• We’ve continued our work on fractions, beginning with unit fractions and now exploring improper fractions and mixed numerals. It’s a challenging concept, but students are rising to the occasion with persistence and enthusiasm.

🌏 Inquiry

• With a shorter week, we haven’t launched our new Inquiry unit just yet, but we’re looking forward to diving in next week.

✝️ Religious Education

• We’ve been revisiting the events of Holy Week, exploring the themes of sacrifice, love, and hope, and identifying key symbols connected to this important time in our faith.

📚 Professional Learning

• I’ll be attending a "Sharing Best Practice" professional development session this weekend, focusing on evidence-aligned teaching strategies. I look forward to bringing fresh ideas into the classroom.

🎒 Coming Up: Grade 4 Camp!

• A reminder that our Grade 4 Camp is next week from Wednesday to Friday. We’re all looking forward to this exciting experience!

Warm regards, 

Mr. Giles

Grade 3/4 Teacher