Year 3/4 - Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to Term 2! We’re excited to hit the ground running this term.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and fantastic holiday break over the school holidays. It has been so wonderful hearing about all the terrific things the kids did over the break!

What's happened in Year 3/4 over the first weeks of term?

English – We have resumed our morphology studies, introducing the suffixes ‘-al’ and ‘-able’. You might like to quiz your child about its meaning! Throughout the term, we will continue to review and expand our understanding of new affixes and vocabulary.

Our new class novel, Uncle Xbox, will also inspire our writing unit, which will focus on composing factual recounts. We have already started to research, plan and write our class factual recount on the British Colonisation on First Nations Australians.

Maths - Last week our students explored Location, using grid coordinates and directions (such as 90 degrees clockwise, 90 degrees anticlockwise) to navigate and describe different locations.

This week, our students have begun their Additive Thinking unit- looking at the connection between Addition and Subtraction.

Inquiry- ‘What Makes a Design Go Bang!?’

This term we begin our new Inquiry unit. We will be aiming to answer the following key inquiry question:

• What is an invention/design and why do people invent/design?
• How are inventions/designs created?
• What are the stages of the invention/design process?
• How do they influence our lives?
• How can we determine if an invention/design is successful?

We began our unit by looking at some of the most famous inventions throughout history - the light bulb, first computer, toilet, etc. It was amazing to see how old some inventions truly are, and how new some are.

At Home Project Information:  

This term, all Year 3/4 students will be completing an ‘at home project’. This will be presented to the students in week 5. They will be required to research an inventor and complete an oral presentation (keynote, poster, brochure etc), and present to the class in week 10. 

Your child will be given a checklist and will need to complete all the tasks each week and bring it back to their teacher by the dates outlined. The checklist and recording sheet will be sent home in the coming weeks. Students need to tell us who their inventor by this Friday 22nd May, following this, the first component of research is due to be returned to us by Friday 29th May. We are more than happy for homework to be completed BEFORE the assigned date.

Wellbeing - In Wellbeing, we have been learning about self-compassion, teaching the students how to manage uncomfortable feelings, put things in perspective, and ease their worries. We also looked at Friendology’s four strategies for making new friends, including the art of conversation to go from strangers to friends.

Specialist Classes

Specialist class timetables have been finalised and any changes to your classes schedule will be outlined by your classroom teachers. 

Important Information

Homework 

Reading homework continues this term. We are asking for a minimum of 80 minutes of reading a week at home. This does not include in class reading, and needs to be logged into their diaries each night, writing the Title, Pages read and time of reading 

* I.e., “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, pg. 100 – 133 (15 minutes).

We ask that you please write the total time read throughout the week, and sign your child’s diary on a Thursday night to confirm they have kept up with their reading. If your child does not meet the required 80 minutes, they will be given the opportunity to catch up during the first part of Friday Fun.  

Mathletics tasks will become available Friday afternoons and will be explicitly linked to our focus in class. 

* We encourage your child to practise their basic maths through Live Mathletics once they’ve completed their tasks.

We kindly ask that you email your class teacher, or send a note, if your child is unable to complete their homework by Friday morning.

What’s coming up:

. ENPS Movie Night (Zootopia 2) - Friday 1st May

. Curriculum Day (Pupil Free Day)- Monday 18th May

. Maths Morning- Wednesday 20th May (more information to come on COMPASS)

. Athletics Day- Monday 25th May (consent needs to be given on COMPASS)

. Urban Up Cycle- (Incursion)-  Friday 29th May (3/4A & B & C) or Friday 5th June (3/4D & E) (consent & payment needs to be given on COMPASS)

. King’s Birthday- Monday 8th June

Student Awards

Look out for your class’ individual email Friday afternoon for the Student of the Week & Student Recognition Award shoutouts.

Have a great weekend.

The Year  3/4 Team