Year 3/4 Mainstream

Celebrating Learning

What we’ve been up to

Students have been engaging in our Term Unit Focus; Finding Our Heart as we’ve explored rules around us in school, at home and in the wider community. They have also looked at more serious rules that have more serious consequences- laws! We’ve investigated the roles of the three different levels of Australian government; Federal, State and Local. Students have enjoyed learning about First Nations councils and some of the services they can provide.

Maths

In Mathematics, students have been learning all about standard units of measurement. Students are discovering the most appropriate unit to measure various sized objects and spaces. They have been practising measuring lengths and areas, then making connections to the perimeter. Some questions that have arisen are:

• How can we make sure we measure the length of an object with accuracy?
• Why might two people who measure the same object get a different result?
• If the area of a space is 16cm2, is the perimeter always the same or can it change?

World of Maths Incursion

Students attended a World of Maths incursion last week. They had the opportunity to engage with hands-on, sensory and problem solving activities closely related to situations in the real world. It was a huge success and students enjoyed having the opportunity to engage with maths in a different way!

Literacy

3/4 students have been focusing on crafting persuasive texts, using a variety of persuasive devices to convince David of proposed rule changes or introductions at school, formatted as letters. They have also been exploring narrative writing in preparation for NAPLAN, practicing story planning, drafting, revising, and editing.

In Reading, students have been engaging in daily quiet independent reading, responses to class texts and participating in discussion around our inquiry unit topic, Finding Our Heart. This inquiry asks students to explore levels of government, responsibilities, rules, laws and allyship, with the Uluru Statement from the Heart at the centre of this exploration.  

In Writing, students have been practicing converting their notes and fragments of sentences into expansive sentences, using appropriate conjunctions and various sentence types. Students are about to jump back into the Writers’ Workshop process- seeding, planning, drafting, revising and editing, with new seeds and topics to dissect. 

What’s coming up:

• Year 3 NAPLAN: starts on Wednesday 12th March
• In Reading, students will start practicing their Reciprocal Reading roles with a focus on clarifying.
• In Writing, we will be revising our writing to make it even more engaging for our audience.
• In Mathematics, students will be investigating fractions of shapes and different ways of representing fractions.

Things families can talk about at home:

• Explore fractions through cooking, follow a recipe that uses different fractions of measurements.
• Practice reading the time on analogue clocks.
• Sharing reading interests; discussing books that you’re reading at home whether A.A. Milne or Tolkien.