It is hard to believe we are already approaching the final two weeks of term! It has been a lovely term filled with learning, growth, new experiences and plenty of wonderful moments together. The students have continued to show enthusiasm, curiosity and a willingness to challenge themselves, and it has been wonderful to see their confidence and independence continue to grow. We are looking forward to making the most of our final two weeks together before a well-earned break!

Come along to Movie Night

R U OK? Day

On Thursday 10 September, we will recognise R U OK? Day, an important opportunity to remind students about the power of checking in with others and having meaningful conversations.

Hats

With the warmer weather returning, it’s time for hats to come back to school!

Grade 3 and 4 students are reminded to bring their school hat back to school if they haven’t already and to make sure they are wearing it during outdoor activities and break times.

Please encourage students to get into the habit of having their hat ready each day so they can enjoy their time outside. Hats on, play on! ☀️

DONUTS WITH DAD

Last Friday morning, we enjoyed a wonderful Donuts with Dad celebration for Father’s Day. It was lovely to welcome so many dads and special people into our school to share a donut and spend some quality time with their children. Our visitors then joined us in the classroom, participating in activities and enjoying a glimpse into their child’s learning and school life. Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the morning such a warm and memorable celebration!

GRADE 4 CAMP – Phillip Island 14th -17th October

Thank you to the families who have already returned their child’s Medical Information Form. If you have not yet done so, please return the completed form as soon as possible. When completing the form, please ensure that the year of your child’s most recent Tetanus vaccination is clearly recorded in the appropriate section.

ANNUAL BOOK FAIR

A big thank you to our families for your wonderful support of this year’s Book Fair. It was fantastic to see so much excitement around books and reading, and we greatly appreciate your generosity and enthusiasm. Your support helps us continue to foster a love of reading within our school community.

Literacy

Reading

We will continue exploring The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt. We will closely examine sentences from the text and use them as models to explicitly explore grammar and writing conventions, including parts of speech, sentence structure, spelling, capital letters, apostrophes and dialogue punctuation. Students will investigate how authors make deliberate language choices to add detail and meaning before applying these understandings to edit, rewrite and create their own accurate and engaging sentences. Our learning will continue to build students’ understanding of grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation, while developing their ability to reread and edit their writing for greater accuracy, clarity and meaning.

WHAT CAN YOU DO AT HOME:

Encourage your child to read regularly and notice how authors build their sentences. You might choose a sentence together and see if they can identify nouns, verbs and adjectives, or challenge them to rewrite the sentence with more detail. Practising accurate capital letters, spelling, apostrophes and punctuation in everyday writing is also a great way to reinforce the learning we are doing in our classroom.

Spelling & Grammar

In PhOrMeS lessons, students will explore how the /sh/ sound can be represented using the letter combinations ci, ti and si. We will investigate patterns in words such as special, delicious, action, station, motion, tension, mansion and expansion. Students will identify these spelling patterns and apply their understanding when reading, spelling and writing.

Students will explore how independent and dependent clauses work together to build effective sentences. They will learn to recognise when a clause can stand alone as a complete idea and when it relies on another clause to make sense. Students will use this understanding to combine and manipulate clauses to create complex sentences, strengthening both the accuracy and variety of their writing

Writing

We will continue using our mentor text, The Day the Crayons Quit, as a model for exploring how sentences are constructed. Through sentences drawn from and inspired by the text, students will investigate nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, noun groups, adverbs, adverbial phrases and conjunctions and consider how these elements add detail and meaning to writing. Students will also explore how these language features can be combined to create simple, compound and complex sentences, before applying their understanding to craft and improve their own writing.

WHAT CAN YOU DO AT HOME:

When reading together, encourage your child to notice how sentences are built. Choose a sentence and see if they can spot the nouns, verbs, adjectives or conjunctions, or challenge them to add extra detail to make the sentence more interesting. Families can also practise turning a simple sentence into a compound or complex sentence together.

Maths

Developing quick and accurate recall of times tables is an important foundation for mathematical learning. Strong multiplication facts help students solve problems more efficiently and support learning across division, fractions, decimals, measurement and more complex calculations. Regular practice builds fluency and confidence, allowing students to focus their thinking on solving the problem rather than working out basic facts. Please continue to encourage your child to practice their times tables regularly by saying them out loud, writing them down, or through quizzing.

Multiverse on Mathletics and Hit the Button (website) can be a fun interactive way to practice and strengthen number fact knowledge and work towards automaticity.

Grade 3 – Addition and subtraction

Grade 3 students will revisit addition and subtraction, strengthening their understanding of efficient mental and written strategies. Students will practise applying their knowledge of place value, number facts and mathematical thinking to solve a range of calculations and problems with increasing accuracy and confidence.

WHAT CAN YOU DO AT HOME:

Families can support this learning by practising addition and subtraction in everyday situations, such as adding the cost of items, calculating change or working out differences between numbers. Quick mental maths games and practising number facts are also great ways to build fluency, accuracy and confidence.

Grade 4 – Fractions and decimals

Students will revisit fractions and decimals, strengthening their understanding of how parts of a whole can be represented in different ways. Students will explore equivalent fractions, decimal place value, comparing and ordering fractions and decimals, while making connections between different representations. Our focus will be on developing strong number sense and confidently explaining mathematical thinking.

WHAT CAN YOU DO AT HOME:

Families can support this learning by noticing fractions and decimals in everyday life, such as sharing food into equal parts, reading prices or measuring ingredients when cooking. Encourage your child to compare amounts and explain which is larger or smaller and how they know. Simple conversations like these help build confidence and strengthen connections between fractions, decimals and real-life situations.

CBL (Challenge Based Learning)

Our Challenge Based Learning (CBL) Big Idea is Power.

Students have made a fantastic start with Swift Playgrounds, enthusiastically exploring the world of coding and computational thinking. It has been wonderful to see the joy, curiosity and excitement this new learning has brought to the classroom as students experiment, problem-solve and learn from their mistakes. They are already showing great persistence and creativity as they begin to understand how code can be used to make things happen!

If you haven’t yet downloaded Swift Playgrounds onto your child’s device, we would greatly appreciate your support in doing so. Having access to the app will allow students to continue practising and exploring their coding skills both at school and at home, building confidence as they progress through the activities. Thank you for helping us make the most of this exciting learning opportunity!

Wellbeing

SWBPS

Through our SWPBS program and token system, we continue to recognise and celebrate students who demonstrate positive work habits, respectful relationships and safe behaviours, helping to create a supportive learning environment where everyone can thrive.

Kitchen Garden 

We continue to rely on the support of our wonderful parent helpers to ensure this program is safe and successful. We also warmly welcome help from extended family such as grandparents, aunts, and uncles. If you or a family member can spare some time to support the program, the sign-up link is:

https://signup.com/go/kLsQDpy

We post our recipes on Showbie for students who would like to recreate the amazing dishes they make in our cooking classes.

Please use the Showbie code below if your child would like to access these recipes:

9JYVE

INFORMATION & REMINDERS

HOLIDAYS

If your family is planning a holiday during the school term, we kindly ask that parents communicate this directly with their child’s teacher, rather than relying on students to pass the information on. A quick email letting us know the dates your child will be away is all that is needed and helps us plan for their absence and return to learning.

Thank you for helping us stay informed and ensuring clear communication between home and school.

Reminders

-please help support your child to make sure their iPad is charged and ready to use each day

-please download the app Swift Playgrounds onto your child's device to support our CBL coding

Dates:

10th September - Are You OK Day?

12th September - Working Bee

- Movie Night

Wellbeing Hub