Classroom News
Grade 3 & 4
Term 4, Week 2
Blackburn Primary School
Welcome back to our Year 3 and 4 students and families for the final term of 2025! Term 4 is always one of the busiest and most fast-paced times of the year, filled with hands-on learning, assessments, and celebrations. Students have settled in smoothly and are showing great focus as we head towards the end of the year. We appreciate your continued support as we make the most of this busy and exciting term.
English
In Reading this term, students are exploring rich mentor texts linked with our Inquiry unit “Our Future, Our School.” Key focuses include non-fiction text features, questioning, synthesising, and summarising information. Students are continuing to develop fluency, vocabulary, and phonics knowledge, while exploring themes within a range of texts. In Writing, students are developing their skills in persuasive texts and preparing a presentation later in the term to share their ideas confidently with others. Throughout the unit, we are focusing on the 6+1 Traits of Writing to support structure, voice, and word choice.
Maths
This term, students are building on their understanding of Additive Thinking, revising addition and subtraction strategies to solve real-world problems. They will explain their reasoning, explore different methods and work towards greater efficiency. Students will also explore Probability, predicting and describing the likelihood of events using chance language. Later in the term, we will begin Generalising, where students identify patterns and relationships in numbers to form and describe simple rules, a key early algebraic skill that helps them make mathematical connections.
Inquiry
Our Inquiry unit, “Our Future, Our School,” brings together Design and Technologies and Critical and Creative Thinking. Students are learning to use the Design Thinking Process which is to Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test to solve real problems within our classroom and school environment. They will explore how we can design inclusive, sustainable spaces that meet everyone’s needs. A highlight this term will be our Scienceworks – Tinker Town Excursion, where students will engage in hands-on design challenges and test their creative ideas.
Reminders
● Encourage your child to read for at least 30 minutes each night and record this in their diary.
● Continue practising timetables at home.
● Keep checking Compass for upcoming events, permissions and reminders. Term 4 moves quickly!
Key Dates:
● Tuesday 28 October- Scienceworks – Tinker Town Excursion
● Monday 3 November – Curriculum Day (No Students)
● Tuesday 4 November – Melbourne Cup Public Holiday
● Thursday 13 November – Evening of Music
● Friday 21 November – Whole School Step-Up #1
● Friday 28 November – Whole School Step-Up #2
● Friday 5 December – Whole School Step-Up #3
● Wednesday 10 December – Meet the Teacher (Final Step-Up)
● Thursday 18 December – Last Day of School – Early Finish 1:30pm