Grade 3/4

Dear Families,

Welcome to Week 9 of Term 1! We are heading towards the end of term 1.  We've had a fantastic term as our students worked hard and showed  great enthusiasm for their learning. It has been wonderful to see them supporting one another, sharing ideas, and building confidence across all learning areas.

Reading  

In reading, students have been working on developing their comprehension and critical thinking skills. They have been learning to identify the main idea and supporting details in a text, making connections between the text and their own experiences, using evidence from the text to support their thinking and responses and also developing an understanding of characters, themes and messages in the story. Students have explored different text books based on the themes of culture, identity, belonging and connections such as 'My Culture and Me',  ' Words that Taste like Home', 'The boy who tried to shrink his name.' and 'The Proudest Blue.'

Writing 

In writing, students have been focussing on persuasive writing. Students have enjoyed discussing their opinions and viewpoints and sharing then with one another.

Students have learnt about the purpose of persuasive texts, how to clearly state their opinions, providing reasons and examples to support their ideas and using persuasive language such as rhetoric questions, modal verbs etc, to make their arguments more convincing. 

Students have also explored narrative writing by planning and writing stories using the narrative structure.  Students have been working on developing their understanding about all the steps of the writing process by referring to the writing process wheel.

Numeracy

In maths, our focus has been on place value. Understanding place value helps students building strong foundations for learning their future maths concepts. Students have been working on learning to recognise the value of digits in larger numbers (  Four and five digit numbers), read, write and ordering numbers, breaking numbers into expanded forms and applying place value knowledge to support mental maths strategies. Students have also practised renaming two and three digit numbers in multiple ways by using different strategies.

SEL/INQUIRY

In SEL, students have been learning about emotional triggers and the concept of the 'Feelings Volcano.' Students explored what emotional triggers are and how certain situations can cause strong feelings. They have learnt about how emotions can build up over time like pressure inside a volcano and  the signs that show when we might be starting to feel frustrated, upset or overwhelmed. Students have learnt various strategies to help calm down before the emotions erupt such as deep breathing, taking a break, talking to a trusted adult etc. Students have explored ways to identify their personal and cultural strengths and how to use their strengths in different situations.

In Inquiry, students have been exploring the ideas of inclusion and stereotyping. Students discussed what it means to include others and make everyone feel valued. Students learnt how stereotypes can lead to unfair assumptions about people and  reflected on ways we can respect differences and celebrate diversity. Students shared their  ideas about how we can create a more inclusive classroom and school community by creating ' Inclusion in the classroom' posters.

Wellbeing & Classroom Routines 

We have been practising routines that support independence and responsibility, including:

• Organising learning materials
• Transitioning calmly between activities
• Taking ownership of classroom roles
• Building resilience when learning feels challenging

These consistent expectations help students develop self-regulation and positive learning habits.

Reminders

• Students are encouraged to read for 15–20 minutes each evening/night.
• Please ensure homework folders are returned each week on Friday.
• Library books are to be borrowed and returned during library sessions assigned to each class. (3/4A- Monday 3/4B- Tuesday 3/4 C-Thursday 3/4D-Friday) 
• As we are in Term 1, students should bring their school hats each day.
• School starts at 8.35 am and finishes at 3pm, students are encouraged to be at school at 8.35 am to be able to participate in their morning circle activities.
• If your child is not attending the school due to being sick or any other reason , please notify the office on the phone or via compass on the day of absence.

Dates to remember

Harmony Day- 27th of March (whole school celebration )

Swimming Program- 30th March to 2nd of April

Books in Homes- 2nd of April ( Students will  dress up as their favourite animal)

Last day of term 1- 2nd April,  school finishes  at 2.30 pm

Term 1 Holidays- 3rd of April to 19th of April

Term 2 commences- 20th April 2026

Classroom Awards & Celebrations

We celebrate students who are demonstrating our school values and showing positive learning habits at assembly on Friday afternoons at 2:30pm.  Please join us in to celebrate this together.

Whole School Assembly- 2nd of April

We would like to wish you all a happy, safe and relaxing term break. We will see you in Term 2.

Thank you

3/4 Team