Newsletter

Year 3/4 - Newsletter

Dear parents,

 

We've enjoyed another fantastic couple of weeks in Year 3/4 as we step into the second half of the term!

 

Thank you to Gareth Baird for attending our level assembly recently and sharing his experiences as a Volunteer in Sri Lanka with IVHQ.

 

Please contact us if you would be interested in talking to the year 3/4’s about your volunteering experience. 

 

Important Information- NAPLAN Year 3s

As you know NAPLAN will begin next week. Please take note of the following:

  • Students must have the NAP Locked Down Browser app downloaded on their iPads in order to complete NAPLAN 
  • It is important that your child has a working set of headphones. They do not have to be fancy, just work! If your child has an iPad Pro they may require wireless headphones or need a connector for any wired ones. 
  • No time restrictions are in place on your child’s device. 
  • Please ensure your child is charging their ipad and headphones each night.

What’s been happening in Year 3/4?

 

English

We are continuing our Structured Literacy unit centered around Matilda by Roald Dahl. Students are growing more confident in reading aloud, whether to the class or with a fluency partner. We have also been exploring the meanings of interesting words from the text—so don’t be surprised if your child starts using words like appalling, fond, or fascination! In writing, we have started crafting the orientation for our narratives. Exploring onomatopoeia (words that mimic sounds) has been a fun and engaging way to hook our audience!

 

Maths

Using our Launch, Explore, Summarise format, students have explored the importance of making reasonable estimates. Estimating is a valuable skill for children, helping them judge whether their answers make sense when solving math problems. It allows them to use mental maths for quicker calculations and understand when and why estimation is useful in everyday life. While accuracy is still important, learning to estimate encourages critical thinking and a deeper understanding of maths concepts. The students enjoyed our "Let’s Go Shopping" activity, where they made a school supplies shopping list, estimated the cost of each item, predicted their total spending, and then checked the actual prices.

 

Inquiry

In our Inquiry unit, ‘I Belong and I can Make a Difference’ we defined and discussed the concept of belonging to a group by categorising a list of words under the headings ‘belonging and not belonging’. Together, we read a beautiful story called: ‘The Name Jar’ and following this students incorporated their own given name into their own ‘name jar’ design. We now have a wonderful classroom display of our very own name jars.

 

Wellbeing

In our Wellbeing Lessons, we explored the different emotions we experience in various situations and focused on how these feelings can change throughout the school day.

 

Important Information

Homework

A reminder that we require 80 minutes of reading a week at home. This is to be recorded in their student diary, signed by a parent or guardian and brought to school on a Friday morning.

 

We will also set 3 Mathletics on a Friday afternoon. Although these tasks are not compulsory, they are strongly recommended.

We kindly ask that you email your class teacher, or send a note, if your child is unable to complete their homework by Friday morning.

 

Reminders:

  • Please remind your child to charge their ipad and headphones each night.
  • Term One is a ‘No Hat, No Play’ term so please ensure your child has a clearly named school hat for outside learning and play.
  • Sunscreen needs to be applied before school and students can reapply their own or our class sunscreen before going out to lunch. Please let me know if your child is allergic to our school based sunscreen.
  • Drink Bottles - please make sure your child has a drink bottle with a pop top or folding straw as our drinking taps are currently turned off. Drink bottles that you drink out of like a glass or disposable plastic often cause spillages. 
  • Check COMPASS for any school based communications.

 

What’s Coming Up!

  • Labour Day Public Holiday, Monday 10th March 
  • NAPLAN begins (Year 3), Wednesday 12th March
  • School Cross Country, Tuesday 25th March

 

Student of the Week

Look out for your class’ individual email Friday afternoon for the SoTW shoutout.

 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to touching base at our upcoming PST conferences.

 

The Level Three/Four Team.