Grade 3/4 Overview Term 1

We would like to welcome all of the students and families to the Grade 3/4 Department in 2020. First of all, we would like to show an appreciation to all of the students for their positive start to the year. You will find that classes are busy establishing routines and revisiting the Tribes Agreements which allows them to build positive working relationships with their peers.

As you know, we are continuing to run single grades this year, apart from 3/4DW. However, the majority of the topics we are focusing on will remain the same. For that reason, our newsletter articles will remain combined. Nonetheless, there will be some periods of time where the focus of each grade level will differ - one such example of this will be during NAPLAN testing. When this is the case, we will let you know where the differences will occur. 

In Integrated Studies, students will be learning about our local government and democracy. Students will be distinguishing between rules and laws, investigating the role of the local council in our community and how to make decisions democratically. 

In writing, the students will continue their focus on the 6+1 Traits of Writing and how writers use these to create effective and engaging pieces of writing. Students will start the year by focusing on two traits: organisation and conventions. They will strengthen their understanding of these traits before applying them in both narrative and persuasive writing pieces. In reading, there will be a clear focus on developing specific strategies to strengthen comprehension skills. The students will work independently and in groups accessing a range of fiction and non-fiction texts.

In Numeracy, students will study units of work on a wide range of areas:

Number & Place Value 

Data

Time

Measurement

Grade 4s will also take part in the Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years to improve their multiplicative thinking.

To complement and reinforce classroom learning at home, students in the 3/4 department will complete maths and reading homework each week, beginning in week 4. Homework for Grade 3 and 4 will consist of:

15 minutes (Grade 3) and 20 minutes (Grade 4) of reading, 5 nights a week

A reading log

1 reading reflection (Grade 3s will begin reading reflections in Term 2)

Assigned Mathletics tasks based on current classroom learning

Reading logs, reading reflections and Mathletics tasks are completed online. If there are any issues with this, please see your child's teacher. 

The 3/4 team

Dan, Monica, Carolyn, Libby, Medha, Jane, Eliza, Gabby and Amber