Learning News 3/4

Term 4 - Years 3 and 4

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone; it feels very strange to already be practising for our end-of-year performance! 

We are all extremely excited about our upcoming excursion to Dubbo, where we will visit both the Old Dubbo Gaol and the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Next week, we will spend our afternoons preparing the students so they know what to expect and what key sights we will see during our trip. The packing list note is available on Compass for your reference. 

In Writing, we have just completed a short unit on persuasive writing. This served as a fantastic revision module building on the core persuasive concepts we covered in Term 2. The students' final pieces impressed me so much! Seeing them independently apply the structural scaffolds, techniques, and persuasive devices we have taught was amazing, they produced some of the highest quality writing I have seen from them all year. 

In History, our current focus is on celebrations. We briefly explored Australian celebrations at the beginning of the term, we are now examining celebrations around the world. The students will complete a research project on a celebration of their choice and present their findings to the class towards the end of the term. 

In Science, we have started studying forces as part of our Stage 2 Physical World unit, focusing specifically on contact forces and friction. The students have been investigating how friction acts as a resistance force when two surfaces rub together, and how smooth or icy surfaces create less friction to let things slide easily. The highlight of the unit so far was watching a short educational video showing people and animals slipping on ice, which had the whole class rolling on the floor with laughter!

Of course, a major focus lately has been our end-of-year musical performance. The students have been learning to play the glockenspiel and piano to accompany our singing performance on Presentation Day. It has been a loud, but truly wonderful, experience learning to master our chosen song together.