Grade 3 and 4

NAPLAN completed

The Grade 3 students have done a marvellous job completing their NAPLAN over the past two weeks. We are so proud of them and it was great to see them take this in their stride as just another part of their learning. It also helps to know that students all over Australia are taking part.

While the Grade 3's were heavily involved in NAPLAN the Grade 4's have been working quietly - not disturbing the other classes on lots of maths. The focus has been: 'Finding efficient stratgies to solve mathematical problems.' It has been fantastic to see the students having a go at solving problems, sharing how they came up with a solution and trying a new strategy that might be more efficient. These efficient strategies might include using a formal algorithm, looking for ways to add numbers using a split strategy where numbers are broken into ones, tens, hundreds, thousands and then added, or it could just be looking at combinations of numbers and finding some that go together e.g. 23 + 7 = seeing 7 and 3 make 10. It has been great to really think about what we are doing and how our brains are working.

Also in our year level we have been busy persuading an audience through advertisements. There are numerous ways to persuade a reader and we have been looking at a variety of them. Students have been able to form their own opinion on a topic and provide three reasons why with supporting evidence and arguments. The last week or so students have also created advertisements to persuade their audience on a topic of their choice. Students have put in prices, percentages, experimented with colours, fonts and pictures to persuade their readers. Some students have even tried out audio to convince the audience to buy or believe their ad.

Mindfulness in 3/4

The Year 3/4 students have been enjoying practising meditation as part of The Resilience Project to understand and strengthen the values of Gratitude, Empathy, and Mindfulness. They are learning to calm their minds, focus on their breathing, and feel more relaxed and focused throughout the day.

Mindfulness, or the act of being mindful, is intentional awareness. It’s the ability to pay attention to the whole of your experience as it’s happening while differentiating what is helpful vs unhelpful for you. It allows you to respond to your situation, rather than simply react.

Camp

Some information about Camp will start coming out within the next couple of weeks. Please keep an eye out on Compass. In the meantime, here are some things to talk about and prepare with your child.

Encourage your child to pack and unpack their bag for the long weekend holiday or other events.
Organise a couple of sleepovers with relatives or friends.
You can share the OEG (Outdoor Education Group) - Camp Jungai website with your child to get an idea of the types of things there and the surroundings - https://www.oeg.edu.au/camps/camp-jungai/ - Note: We do not do all the activities on the website.

Important Dates:

Week 9

Tuesday 25th March - School Photos

Saturday 29th March - Warrandyte Festival

Week 10

Tuesday 1st April - 9am - 11:30 Grade 4 - The Great Bike Ride

Friday 4th April - THRIVE Day/Colour Run and Last Day of Term 1

Term 2

Week 1

Tuesday 22nd April - School Starts Back

Friday 25th April - ANZAC Day Public Holiday

Week 6

Monday 26th - Wednesday 28th May - Grade 3/4 Camp: Jungai

Week 8

Friday 13th June - Sunday 15th June - Seussical Production