Year 3/4 Team News

Hello Year  3/4 families,   

Firstly, we would like to congratulate our fabulous Year 3 students for their efforts during NAPLAN. We are so proud of how they conducted themselves during the past couple of weeks. 

Curriculum Focus: Weeks 9-10

Literacy: In Reading, we will be learning about making text to self, text to text, and text to world connections to help us with our comprehension of texts read. In Writing, we will continue to learn about what the key features of an information report are to assist us with our Inquiry project.

Numeracy:  Subtraction - We are learning to use a variety of subtraction strategies to subtract numbers from each other. We are learning to look at the relationship between addition and subtraction. We are learning to show our understanding of vertical subtraction

Inquiry: 

Follow up to Scienceworks excursion. 

Inquiry Project: What is more important? The Sun or the Moon? Sun v Moon. The Great Debate! In groups students will have to prove their argument. Have both sides of the argument prepared. Then, find out on the day which side they are backing.

Child wise/Respectful Relationships:   

Taming Angry Feelings: Students identify the types of events and situations that can lead to feeling strong emotions. Students practise techniques for controlling anger and reflect on how these techniques might help them to control their emotions.

3/4 Homework

Homework is an important tool for reinforcing what is being learnt at school and we provide our students each week with differentiated activities to cater to their needs, abilities, and interests.

Homework tasks include:

• Reading – Four nights per week for a minimum of 15 minutes.Students are encouraged to choose their own "just right" books and record the titles on the homework sheet. They can select books based on their individual interests or reading levels.
• Maths – Playing number games learnt in class at home to continue building number sense and fluency.Each week, students will have two games to play, which can be enjoyed with siblings, friends, or family members. The games will often include extension ideas to further challenge students.
• Spelling – Each week, students are introduced to a new spelling focus and given a list of words with varying difficulty. They are encouraged to choose seven words from the list and to select three personal words—words that they may have misspelt in their own writing.Suggested activities to help practice these words can be found in their Homework Book under the section "Ways to Learn Your Words."
• Writing – A short writing task to be completed in the Homework Book.For more confident writers, we encourage students to expand their writing into longer stories, incorporating complex ideas, paragraphs, accurate punctuation, and enhanced vocabulary.

All students will receive their homework on Monday, and it is due back at school by Friday of the same week.

Reminders:

Art Smocks

Marcia Evans, our Art teacher, would appreciate it if students brought in a named Art smock from home. There is no need to purchase a new one as an old shirt will be okay.

Sun Safety

It has been excellent to see our Grade 3/4’s bringing their hats to school and wearing them during break times. In Terms One and Four, students are required to wear their hats during all outside play. Please ensure that your child’s hat is clearly labelled with their name so that it can be easily returned to them if it is misplaced. 

They also require a drink bottle each day.

Important Dates Coming Up: 

• Coming up, on the last day of term, in 2 weeks, is the traditional Willy Primary Easter Hat Parade. We look forward to seeing the children’s creations. (There may even be a special visitor on the day!) Thank you to everyone who has already donated something to our collection for the Easter baskets. The more items donated, the more tickets you buy, the greater chance you have of winning one of the magnificent baskets while at the same time raising funds for the school.
• Scienceworks Excursion: The Grade 3/4 cohort will be visiting Scienceworks on Monday 31st March. The purpose of this excursion is to support our Unit of Inquiry ‘Spinning in Space’. Whilst there we will be visiting the planetarium and viewing the short film Tilt, and we will also be attending a workshop about the Earth, Moon and Sun at the Energy Lab. Students will be catching the train to attend this excursion. All the details are on Compass, and you are now able to consent and pay for this excursion.*We will require parent helpers on the day. If you are interested in volunteering to join us and have a WWCC and completed the Volunteer induction requirement for volunteering at WPS then please let your child's classroom teacher know.
• Open Afternoon: On Tuesday 1st April the whole school will be having open afternoon when the students will share some of the work that they have completed this term. 
• Year 3/4 Camp: Dates for your calendar: Wed 20th – Fri 22nd August

Warm regards, 

The Year 3/4 team – Rebecca Givogue & Mary Colangelo (3/4G), Katja Morris (3/4M), Grace Pante & Steven Puhar (3/4P), Alison Standish (3/4S) & Hayley Thibou (3/4T)