Year 3/4 Mainstream 

Celebrating Learning

Last week was National Reconciliation Week, and Sunday 26th was Sorry Day. NRW is a time for all Australians to learn about the history of Indigenous People, their amazing achievements and also their ability to persevere and thrive. Students from grade 3/4 spoke in front of the whole school at our special assembly. They spoke about what sorry means to them, and shared their ideas about what we can do to work towards reconciliation. 

Maths:

We have continued working on subtraction and addition and strengthening the students’ ability to use mental strategies. The main focus has been using a vertical algorithm for both addition and subtraction problems in order to organise numbers into their place value columns and keep track when solving problems with 2- and 3-digit numbers. Students are combining this use of the vertical algorithm with mental strategies like partitioning and splitting numbers into different parts, building to ten and using known facts.

Literacy:

In Writing, students are publishing their animal information reports, with a focus on making their final draft as neat, beautiful and organised as they can. 

Students have also begun a unit of poetry and are experimenting with cinquain and acrostic poems. They are learning about using poetic techniques such as:

• Alliteration (using words that start with the same sound, like “bright blue birds”.)
• Vivid describing words
• Adding humour and emotion.

In Reading, students are working in their groups on Reciprocal Reading, where they work on a particular role (Clarifier, Summariser, Predictor or Questioner). They are developing their skills in working together and sharing. Their capacity to work with peer support in their teams is fantastic to see!

In Unit Focus, students are continuing to learn about eucalypts, and they created lifecycle posters with annotations to add further detail. They have also undertaken a scientific experiment in which they are investigating the antibacterial properties of eucalyptus oil. Last week, each group used two pieces of bread - one which has been sprayed with canola oil and water, and the other with eucalyptus oil and water to test the anti-mould properties of eucalyptus oil. This week, we recorded the results and discussed the difference between the mould growth. We also talked about fairness of experiments, and the importance of a control subject. 

What’s to come in the next two weeks:

• Students will continue learning about other kinds of poetry, and then work on publishing their pieces to celebrate their learning. 
• Students will begin learning about telling the time and learning about calendars in maths.