From the 3/4 Classrooms 

English:

Students in Team 3/4 are continuing to examine the Term One mentor text Our World: Bardi Jaawi - Life at Ardiyooloon. The next series of lessons have allowed students to Respond to the Text by looking closely at exploring plot, character, setting and theme. Next students have been Examining the Text by looking closely at the text structure and organisation of each page in the text.

The Responding to the text lesson, allowed the students to form into groups to retell a traditional indigenous story via a reader's theatre. 

The four indigenous stories were:

• Girrgij, Giido and Ganbaliny 
• Kangaroo and the Hermit Crab
• Marrgaliny and Loolooloo
• Three Boys Who Ate Raw Lizard Eggs

In order to share the four traditional stories with the class, students were organised into groups to participate in a Reader’s Theatre. 

How this worked :

• Students were divided into four groups,  and were allocated one of the traditional stories 
• Each group read through the story and allocated parts to each group member
• Groups were given time to read through, learn their part and discuss any words that they are unsure of
• Each group presented their Reader’s Theatre to the class

In writing, students have been learning how to create engaging introductions in their narrative pieces by using a hook. A hook is a literary technique used at the beginning of a story to capture the reader’s attention and encourage them to keep reading.

Students are encouraged to use a variety of strategies to hook their readers, such as asking an interesting question, making a strong statement, using sound words (onomatopoeia), including dialogue, or vividly describing the setting.

Maths:

Grade 3/4 students have continued to work on their understanding of place value throughout the last two weeks. This week, students have been learning how to rename numbers. Renaming is the mathematical process of rearranging a number into a different form without changing its total value, often by converting between place values (e.g., hundreds, tens, ones). It involves flexible thinking, such as renaming 1 hundred as 10 tens or 100 ones, to simplify.

Students chose a number. It could consist of 3, 4, 5 or more numerals. This number was written on a number expander, that assisted the student to rename each number in different ways. Students needed to come up with a different name for this number, however, the value of the number was not allowed to change. Eg; 6492, could be written as 6 thousands and 492 ones, or , 64 Hundereds and 92 ones. 

In our Applied Space lessons, students have been learning how to describe and create pathways using grid references and directional language. They have practised using grid references and directions to describe locations and pathways on a map.

Students are also learning to find and describe the position of 2D shapes on a grid. A key focus has been using clear, precise directional language when giving instructions to a peer. Directional terms such as forward, backward, left, and right have been used.

Students will continue developing their ability to use clear and accurate grid references.

Integrated Studies:

Our exploration of community continued with students working collaboratively to design a healthy fruit and vegetable platter. As part of this learning, students explored how communities can encourage healthy eating by presenting food in creative and engaging ways.

In groups, students planned and designed a fruit and vegetable platter that would appeal to younger children and encourage them to enjoy healthy foods. They carefully considered presentation, colour, and variety in their designs.

Look at the results below! The students worked hard to create platters that were creative, nutritious, and delicious.

Open Classrooms:

All 3/4 classes had a great turn out on the Open Classrooms afternoon. Students thoroughly enjoyed sharing their new classrooms with their families. They especially enjoyed sharing our new class pets, our spiny stick insects!

Team Sport:

Students are continuing to prepare for the Whole School Athletics Carnival by practising and refining their athletics skills. This week, they have been focusing on developing their techniques in hurdles, triple jump, and relay races.

Just a reminder, if you'd like to get some extra running practise in before the big day, head on down to Fitness Club at Leigh Park each Wednesday morning from 8.15am! The whole family is invited and we'd love to see you there!

Home Learning Reminder:

Just a reminder that each week your child should be completing the following home learning tasks:

• Reading 30 minutes each night
• Spelling Looks, Say, Cover, Write, Check (Monday-Thursday)
• Maths Activity Grid (parents need to sign off on this)
• Timestables

Important Dates to remember..

Prepared by the Grade 3/4 Teachers