Classroom News
Grade 3 & 4
Term 1, Week 10
Blackburn Primary School
Dear Year 3 and 4 Families,
We have had a wonderful term of learning! We have been so impressed with the settled and calm way in which our Year 3/4 students have begun and finished the term.
Literacy
In Reading, we have been focusing on sorting sticky notes from 'IPICK' books onto charts so that students are able to create a Reader's Response. Our focus has been on non-fiction texts, where we have explored and compared different topics, as well as picture storybooks, which have provided wonderful opportunities to examine themes and characters in depth. To ensure targeted and explicit instruction, we continue to incorporate conferencing and mini-lessons that strengthen our ‘Big 6’ reading skills. This balance of independent reading, thoughtful discussion, and structured support is helping us grow into confident and engaged readers!
In Writing, we have each completed a writing survey and negotiated a suitable goal to improve our work. As a class, we have focused on both narrative and persuasive writing, examining the structure and key elements of each. For narratives, we explored the importance of an engaging orientation, a well-structured complication, and a satisfying resolution. More recently, we have shifted our focus to persuasive writing, learning to structure arguments with clear introductions, logical body paragraphs, and strong conclusions. We have also been busy working hard on fantastic writing pieces to add to our ‘Writer’s Gifts’—the quality of work is truly amazing!
Numeracy
In Maths, we started the year by setting up our routines and expectations to help us work confidently and stay on track. A big focus has been on developing a growth mindset, where we learn to take risks, embrace challenges, and believe in our ability to improve. The topics that we have covered this term are:
- different addition and subtraction strategies
- multiplication thinking
- problem solving
- data and graphs
Inquiry
For Inquiry, we have been learning about how our local council operates. We participated in a hands-on incursion where we role-played being different members of the local council and experienced the voting process firsthand. We finished this wonderful unit off by sharing our findings and projects at our special Year 3/4 Expo!
We hope you all have a wonderful Easter break and return ready for another busy Term 2!
Kind regards,
The Year 3 & 4 Teachers