Melton West Primary School

Year 3/4 News 

ENGLISH

Reading:

In our start-up Reading program, the Grade 3/4 students will focus on getting familiar with the routines and expectations for our reading lessons. We'll work on setting expectations for independent reading, choosing "Just Right" books for practice, organising and caring for our classroom libraries, and exploring and appreciating our diverse reading interests. We’ll also establish routines for reading conferences, teacher focus groups, and meaningful reading activities.

 

Throughout the rest of the term, students will engage with a variety of high-quality texts, practising skills in comprehension. This term, our main focus is on the strategy of inferencing—using clues from the text to make conclusions about implied information.

  

Writing:

To kick off the year in Writing, the Grade 3/4 students will get comfortable with the structure and routines of our writing lessons. They'll begin by setting up and personalising their Writer’s Notebooks, which will be a key tool for developing and organising ideas throughout the year. Students will also have the chance to take part in both teacher-guided and independent writing activities, using various materials from our classroom writing centres.

 

Next, students will focus on Narrative writing, with an emphasis on improving detail and using appropriate and engaging vocabulary that will appeal to an audience. They'll also learn how to plan, structure and sequence ideas, structure sentences, and revise, edit, and publish their texts.

 

 

 MATHEMATICS

The Grade 3/4 students will start the year by getting familiar with the tools and equipment they'll use during our Mathematics lessons. As part of our Mathematics Start-Up program, students will explore being a Mathematician and engage in some simple problem-solving activities to practise the routines and expectations of the classroom, while also giving them a chance to demonstrate their current knowledge to their new teachers.

 

Our first unit in Number and Algebra will focus on Patterns and Place Value, exploring numbers up to 10,000 and 100,000. In Measurement, students will explore Time by learning to describe the relationship between hours and minutes on both analogue and digital clocks, as well as reading time to the nearest minute. They'll solve problems involving the duration of time, including scenarios with "am" and "pm" and conversions between units of time.

 

Students will also study Angles, identifying them as measures of turn and comparing them to right angles, as well as using angle names to describe angles in relation to a right angle.

 

Lastly, In our Statistics unit students will engage in guided statistical investigations, working with categorical and discrete numerical data. They'll interpret their results in context and practise recording, representing, and comparing the data they’ve collected.

 

 

INQUIRY

This term, the Grade 3/4 students will be easing back into the classroom environment, helping to set up routines and expectations for behaviour. We'll kick off the term by focusing on our school-wide Learning to Learn program, making sure that positive behaviours are clearly understood and demonstrated. These expectations will be revisited regularly throughout the year. The Inquiry unit for this term will be "Let’s Get Physical," focusing on Health & Wellbeing.

 

Key Understanding: 

A balanced diet and regular exercise are essential for maintaining good health.

 

Key Questions:

  • What are the effects of different food additives (such as caffeine, red food dye, preservatives) on the body and mind?
  • How do our food choices impact both our physical health and mental well-being?

 

SCIENCE

Grade 3/4 students have an exciting start to the year in 2025 with Term 1 focusing on Biological Science. Term 1’s unit is called Planting for Bees. The curriculum focus for the unit is ‘different living things have different life cycles and depend on each other and the environment to survive’. Students will be provided with the opportunity to:

 

  • Explore the anatomy of a honey bee and their lifecycle 
  • Enjoy a honey tasting experience to explore how the nectar source creates the unique taste profile of different honeys. 
  • Learn about the cross section of a flower to develop an understanding of how bees pollinate and how pollination works. 
  • Understand the importance of the symbiotic relationship between bees, plants, and humans. 
  • Learn about the importance of honey bees for our food security. 
  • Discover what ‘bee friendly’ flowers are and how we can encourage bees into our environments.

 

LOTE – AUSLAN

Welcome to Auslan, Term 1, 2025! During Term 1 Grade 3 and 4’s will learn about: – Revision Alphabet/Greetings, Food/Breakfast, Transport, Shops, Outside the House, Vegetables, Handshapes #3, Size, Shape and Revision. 

 

The students will continue learning new signs for the above topics, through the videos, with fun stories, poems/songs and games. We will practice combining signs in ‘phrases’ to build Auslan communication. 

 

Repetition and practice improve recall and develop Auslan language skills.                               The lessons will frequently include revision of past learning as we cover the new learning. The students are encouraged to participate in activities, practising lesson content and to share their learning with their peers and the teacher.

 

Our focus is on both expressive Auslan (signing to others) and receptive Auslan (reading back/understanding others’ signing). These are important skills which coordinate in the learning of the Auslan language.

 

At this level the students are developing the understanding that Auslan is a visual language with non-voicing and practicing this as they communicate in Auslan. Their comfort level is increasing as their knowledge develops.

 

 

ART

Welcome back to Art in 2025! In Art this semester, the Year 3/4s are practising various skills and techniques to do with drawing, collage, sculpture and painting. In doing so, we are beginning to explore our big idea for the semester, ‘My artistic inner world’.

 

Through considering their uniquely personal landscapes of ideas and emotions, the students will broaden their understanding of how they might express themselves and communicate as artists, informed by the diverse ways in which artists create in the wider world. We will record our progress in visual art diaries, developing concept maps, researching artworks and working with a range of interesting art materials and mediums.

 

The Year 3/4s will examine the art practice of Yayoi Kusama, one of the world’s most celebrated living artists. Yayoi has used art as a form of connection and catharsis throughout her life, and is currently exhibiting a career retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria. Another artist that we will study in our learning is Melbourne- based Reko Rennie, who explores his Aboriginal (Kamilaroi) identity through his use of painting, stencilling, sculpture, installation and film.

 

Together, the students will collaborate on some exciting installation pieces and begin planning their own individual art projects as well. This term’s Art curriculum is decidedly ambitious and I have complete confidence that the students will soar in their discoveries and creations.

 

 

P.E.

During this term our grade 3/4 students will be using a games-based approach to Physical Education learning by participating in various sports and using the relevant skills and movements in conjunction with problem solving and strategy to achieve success. In term one, grade 3/4 students will participate in football and netball. While playing in these sports the students will continue to develop their fundamental movement skills which include throwing, catching, striking, kicking, running, jumping, and dodging. In this term we will take a deep dive into the core skills needed for each of these sports and give the students ample opportunity to demonstrate these skills in game play. Grade 3/4 students will learn to explain and follow rules for these sports and be able to apply a scoring system to make games competitive. We are always working on applying creative thinking when playing sports by using strategy and demonstrating social skills by working with others in teams. I am looking forward to working with the grade 3/4 students this year and I am positive the year ahead will be wonderful.

 

 

MUSIC

During term 1 in Music, the Grade 3/4 students will be continuing to make progress on their musical journey by participating in fun and engaging performance, listening and composing activities.  Students will learn to play basic chord progressions on the ukulele so that they can rehearse and perform songs and instrumental music, shaping elements of music to communicate ideas. Students will be identifying features of the music they listen to using more advanced terminology in their responses. As a class, our young musicians will learn and perform music of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. I am excited to meet the Grade 3/4 musicians and celebrate the gift of music.