This term the Year 3/4 students are being encouraged to accept more personal responsibility for their learning. In English, this means looking at their writing carefully and being open to using classroom tools such as dictionaries and thesauruses to make their writing more sophisticated. It also means working with their peers to learn how to give and accept constructive feedback in order to make their writing more appealing to the reader. Year 3/4 students will also be given the opportunity to work with students in other classrooms who share their interests and can help them to write their ideas in more detail.

While most students in Year 3/4 are independent readers, we will be continuing to challenge them to read a variety of genres in order to build their fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. It is important for them to read quality literature that is demanding in terms of its language, in order for them to face the challenges of the reading they will do in other areas of the curriculum, such as Science and Technology and History.

Our history unit this term has us examining documents and ideas about First Contact, which refers to the arrival of Europeans and their first contact with the Australian Aboriginal people. The students have already begun to critically analyse some diary entries written by Captain Cook in order to begin to understand the two very different perspectives of these two groups of people as they made contact with one another.

Our RE unit this term focuses on leadership and action. The students will be looking at leaders and the choices they make. How do the words and actions of leaders demonstrate their characteristics? Do some leaders say one thing but do another? If they truly believe in something, what do leaders do about it? These questions will also be used to reflect on Jesus’ words and actions as a leader.

In Mathematics, the students have been looking at division and how it relates to multiplication. They have been testing numbers, and finding and proving divisibility rules, for all numbers, including numbers in the millions. The next Maths unit will focus on financial literacy. The students will gain a better understanding of the decimal system and how it informs our money system. They will solve problems using money amounts and will learn to represent decimals using concrete materials, diagrams and number lines.

Sensei Ken is teaching the students the Japanese names for parts of the body. We are also having fun learning familiar songs such as ‘Head and shoulders, knees and toes’ in Japanese.

In all areas of the curriculum, students in Year 3/4 are being challenged to think critically, work cooperatively in groups of all sizes, organise the necessary materials and use class time appropriately in order to complete tasks in an efficient and effective manner.