News from Three/Four

Swimming

Our Grade 3/4 students have had a fantastic week participating in our school swimming program! We are officially halfway through, with one more exciting week of swimming to go. It has been wonderful to watch the children’s progress over the past few days. There has been growth in both their aquatic skills and their confidence in the water. We are also seeing a great deal of responsibility on display as students manage their belongings, follow instructions and look out for one another both in their swimming lessons and to and from the pool. 

Daily swimming is a big workout, and with the addition of Orienteering today and the Disco tonight, many of our students will be feeling weary! We encourage families to make the most of a restful weekend so students can recharge. Developing physical stamina and resilience is a key part of the swimming program, and sticking with it through fatigue helps students build lifelong grit. Supporting your child to keep showing up—even when they feel a little tired—is a fantastic way to help them build perseverance. We can't wait to see everyone refreshed and ready to dive back in on Monday morning!

Novel Study ~ Storm Boy

Grade 3/4 students are captivated by our class novel, Storm Boy! We’ve reached the pivotal point where Storm Boy and Hide-Away Tom care for three rescued pelican chicks after their nest is destroyed.

We are using Colin Thiele's rich story to deepen our literacy skills—expanding our vocabulary with words like trickle and destruction, identifying and discussing literary devices like alliteration and similes, and practising crafting our own detailed sentences. Ask your child about Mr Percival and what’s happening in the story so far!

Maths

Last week, the Grade 3/4s explored Location. They have been reading maps, using grid references (like A4 or C6), and using directional language to pinpoint specific places and describe movements and routes. Students enjoyed using LEGO to make a bird's-eye view of the classroom. Another highlight was using grid references to play Battleships! A few students mentioned they have the board game version at home—feel free to dig it out and challenge them to a game over the weekend to practise their skills! 

This week, we began our decimal unit. We began by refreshing our knowledge of the place value system for whole numbers (7 134 is 7 thousands, 1 hundred, 3 tens and 4 ones) and practised multiplying whole numbers by 10, 100, 1000 or multiples of these (eg. 40 or 400). Following on from this, students explored visual representations of tenths, such as using grids or decimats.