Curriculum Matters 1

Mathematics

This semester, students will be engaging in a variety of  investigations focusing on measurement, in particular capacity, volume and mass. Through problems relating to measurement, students will continue to develop their understaning of  place value, and fractions and decimals. They will be looking for patterns in collected data and will solve problems involving money. 

They will continue to learn and be encouraged to use efficient strategies when making calculations. These are called the Secret Code Strategies. Doubling, halving and chunking are three of the strategies that students in Year 3 and 4  need to understand and use proficiently. 

It is also essential that students practice multiplication facts at every opportunity as knowing these facts with fluency and automaticity is required in mathematics.

Year 3 students are expected to know 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 multiplication facts out of order and without skip counting through them.

Year 4 students are expected to know all facts - 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 up to the tenth multiple and apply these facts to support their multiplication and division calculations.

English

The writing program this semester will include persuasive and narrative text types. The students will learn how to use persuasive and emotive language to construct persuasive texts. They will learn how to form an opinion and put forward a well constructed argument with evidence to support and develop their own point of view.

The students will focus on the conventions of writing (punctuation, paragraphing and sentence structure).

Following the CARS assessment (Comprehensive Assessment of Reading Strategies), students will attend workshops three times a week learning the comprehension skills they need to develop. The 12 skills are described as being either a Here, Hidden or Head strategy, depending upon how information is gathered by the reader to comprehend. All classes in Torrens are reading The BFG for a class novel. Students will be responding to the literature in a variety of ways. 

Students will continue to develop understanding of the four spelling knowledges (morphemic, visual, phonological and etymological) through Word Study workshops three times a week.

They will discover new spelling rules and generalisations which they are then expected to use when writing. Activities will focus on syllabification, long and short vowel sounds, suffixes and prefixes, homonyms and plurals.

To develop speaking and listening skills, students will be involved in a variety of formal and more spontaneous activities throughout the semester. This will include sceduled oral presentations and active listening opportunities.