News from Yr 3/4

Welcome to a new year in Year 3 and 4. I like to begin the year by having the students think about rules and why we have them. It is important that all students feel safe and supported in the classroom. 

Having the students create a list of rules together makes them feel included and encourages them to think about what we can do in the classroom to feel safe and comfortable. 

Student voice is a big part of making sure every child feels like they are heard. The students worked together to create a collection of rules that they believed were the most important. These are the rules they came up with:

Be Trustworthy; Have Fun; Try Your Best; Use Your Manners; Never Give Up; Be Responsible; Stay Safe.

The students took these rules and created posters to show what these rules might look like.

Chinese New Year is a traditional holiday which is very important to China. This year is the Year of the Tiger. We believe that it is important that children learn and celebrate a range of cultures and Chinese New Year is a perfect example of a tradition that we can introduce to the children.

 Teaching diversity is a good way of building positive identities and helps children to be proud of their culture and understand the value of a rich and varied world.

To celebrate Chinese New Year, the children learned that the tiger is a symbol for bravery, courage and is considered trustworthy. As a group, the students have been working collaboratively on a piece of art. They each take part in colouring in a piece of art which then comes together to create a single piece. Each child contributes a piece to the unique and diverse artwork.

Before each Maths lesson, the students warm up by playing a Maths game. One game that I taught the children is called ‘Corners.’ This game teaches children about probability and chance. 

Around the room are the four symbols of a deck of cards: heart; diamond; spade; and club. In my hand I hold sixteen cards - four of each suit. The children need to make their way to one of the corners of the room marked with one of those symbols. Then, I pick up the card from my deck of sixteen. The children who are at that symbol will be knocked out. We continue playing until one student is left or if there are no cards left in the deck. The card is not returned to the deck, so the children need to think about how many of each symbol are still in the deck. The students love the game because everyone has an equal chance of winning. It also gets the children thinking about the likelihood of which symbol might show up next. 

Kind regards

Mr Tom Brophy

MLC Classroom Teacher