Grade 3/4 News

FLUENCY FEVER: WHAT 3/4B HAVE BEEN UP TO!

If your child has come home sounding like a dramatic actor, or a fast-talking radio host, don’t worry, it just means we have been reading… and reading… and reading some more!

Over the past few weeks, Grade 3/4B focus has been on reading fluency, which has three magical ingredients:

Accuracy (getting the words right),

Rate (not too fast, not too slow, very Goldilocks), and

Prosody (a fancy word for “reading like you mean it” instead of sounding like a bored robot).

When reading is fluent, students can actually enjoy stories, remember what’s happening, and make sense of all those twists and turns authors love to throw in.

Fluency frees up students’ brains so they can focus on the fun stuff, making connections, predicting what will happen next, and asking the important literary questions of life, such as “WHY did the author do that?!”

Cloze Passages: The Unsung Heroes of Fluent Reading

Enter the cloze passage, the reading activity that looks suspiciously like a story with holes in it. Students use context clues, grammar knowledge, and vocabulary to figure out which words belong in the blanks. (It’s a bit like solving a mystery, but without needing a magnifying glass.)

Here’s why Grade 3/4B love them:

• Context Clues in Action: To fill the gaps, students must actually understand what they are reading, no guess-and-hope strategies allowed!
• Vocabulary Muscles Working Hard: Students consider verb tense, part of speech, and word meaning. It’s grammar disguised as fun (please don’t tell them).
• Built-In Repetition: Students read the passage, complete the cloze, then re-read it smoothly to check if it makes sense. This repeated reading is one of the top ways to boost fluency, think of it as reading strength training.

Why It Matters

Fluency isn’t about reading at lightning speed (though some students do enjoy the challenge). It’s about reading effortlessly, so the brain has space to think, imagine, and truly understand.

By using cloze passages, it is helping students build the automatic skills they need to move from learning to read to confidently reading to learn. And along the way, we are building expressive, thoughtful readers, some of whom may even have a future in theatre, judging by the dramatic prosody I have been hearing!

3/4B Concert Countdown: We Are Ready to Dance!

Grade 3/4B has been working very hard perfecting our dance steps, timing, and occasional jazz hands for this year’s school concert. The excitement in our classroom is almost louder than the music, almost!

Our budding superstars cannot wait to hit the stage and present their dancing extravaganza. Earlier this term, I sent home a message outlining what students will need to wear. If you can’t find it, please let me know, I’m more than happy to send it again.

I hope you are just as excited as I am, because before we know it, our hardworking Grade 3/4B class will be up on stage performing their hearts out. Trust me, they are ready, and it’s going to be fabulous!

3/4A

Costume Message

It's that time of the year again! Lights, camera, action — it's concert time! This year, our class theme is Pop, and we’ve added an exciting army flare to match our high-energy songs. We’ll be performing to “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins and “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen.

Now for the news you’ve all been waiting for — costumes!

For our performance, students will be wearing an army-inspired pop outfit. Please see the details below:

Costume Requirements:

• Army-green or camouflage T-shirt (plain or simple pattern is fine)
• Black bottoms (shorts, leggings, or joggers)
• Black sneakers
• Optional accessories: dog tag necklace, army-style headband, or camouflage face paint (a small streak only, if allowed)
• Hair: Neat and off the face

Please make sure costumes are comfortable to dance in and labeled with your child’s name.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me. We can’t wait to see our pop-army stars shine on stage!

Word Detectives at Work!

This semester, our class has been on a mission—a word mission! We’ve been using a super engaging 4-step vocabulary routine that has turned our whole class into excited, curious word detectives.

Instead of just memorising definitions, students get to break words apart, explore what each piece means, and uncover the story behind the word. It’s like solving a mini mystery every time we open our vocabulary books!

The routine also gives everyone a chance to show off their best handwriting as they practise new words slowly and carefully. Students have loved creating word families, spotting patterns, and discovering how different words connect. Once they learn the story or pattern behind a word, remembering it becomes so much easier—almost like the word sticks all by itself!

Our budding word detectives are now confidently investigating meanings, making connections, and sharing their discoveries with the class. Their enthusiasm has been incredible to watch.

We’re so proud of how they’re growing as readers, writers, and brave little language explorers. Here’s to many more word adventures ahead!