Week 1 Term 3 2023

 Week 2 - What a start it has been! 

Welcome to our second half of Year Four! With nearly a fortnight now adjusting from holiday mode, it's time for our first term three blog post. After talking to the students this week, some excellent holidays were enjoyed, inclusive of overseas and interstate travel as well as road trips to soak up the North-West sunshine. Many sleepovers were had, extra bike rides were enjoyed and trips to the cinema were popular among the Year Fours.

Before we begin our Term 3 intro, could students in 4K please wear their Sports uniform next week on Thursday in addition to our usual Tues and Friday as we will begin run-offs during sport for both Year 4 classes in anticipation for the athletics carnival later this term.  

Please also note that Year 4 cohort will not be participating in the operation christmas shoebox as we will continue with the Year 4 OLC tradition of making Uthando dolls later this term as our charity focus.  If you or your child would still like to make an additional donation for Project Compassion shoebox, feel free to drop in any items to another classroom as we combine leftover materials to make additional boxes each year.  Also, if you have spare time and sewing skills you would like to offer for our Uthando dolls project, let yourself known to any Year 4 teacher, we would love your help! 

Next week on Friday is OLC Mission markets day, the Year 4 classes will be running a DIY pet rock stall and magnetic fishing game.  It would be wonderful if students in Year 4 could donate $2 towards purchasing some materials to make our pet rocks extra special! 

A Learning Snapshot...

We have hit the ground running in Mathematics, spending our first two weeks back delving into the land of decimals. We are exploring tenths and hundredths in the form of pictures and locating fractions and decimals on a number line. This will lead us into a unit on measurement next week, in which we will have an opportunity to apply our knowledge. Keep an eye out for our decimals assessment to be shared on Seesaw very soon.  

We have started our term novel study with a wonderful book by Kate Dicamillo called "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane".  It is a beautiful story set in the past about a china rabbit and its adventures.  We are loving the new interesting vocabulary, the emotions and connections we are making and historical references.  Each day we will read a new chapter independently and together and look at different literacy devices and language features such as similies, metaphors, sentence length and rhythm and new words with a vocabulary focus as well.  We are learning how to summarize the events within a chapter, rewording details into a paragraphed summary.  

In writing, we are beginning to examine a the elements of a procedural text. If you've ever wondered how a dragon can be tamed just ask the Year Fours about their model text - 'How to Train a Dragon'.  We will be following the Talk4Write teaching model this term. 

We are starting the term with double technology - both design and digital.  Design tech this term will involve a lot of fun, planning, building and testing different structures and products.  In digi tech, we are beginning the term discussing online use and sharing information online.  We have discussed that families have different rules with internet use and the consequences of sharing information without permission, using government resources to teach the importance of online safetly before moving onto programming, data and information. 

We will also be focusing on protective behaviours this term in health, including topics such as relationships, right to privacy, trust and abuse.  This will include some lessons using anatomical names for private parts.  This follows the mandated Protective Behaviours unit by CEWA that is implemented in all primary school years.  If you would like to discuss this or have any questions, please fee free to email me with any questions and I can forward you more information about this program.   

In religion, we will be completing our prayer unit, including learning about the rosary and beginning our study on the confirmation sacrament.  

Homework

Homework has commenced for the term and will be due on Fridays of weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. This means that the first fortnightly set (Week 1 and 2) is due tomorrow.Please continue with regular reading on week nights and fill out the log - including the question responses, not just the book title. The students are still asked to complete the four Maths columns across the fortnight. 

I have noticed there are some parts of the mental maths this week that would not be considered as review to the students which we haven't specifically learnt, namely the 2digit and 1 digit multiplication such which we will try to target each day until it is our unit of study in Week 4.  I will be exposing them to three different strategies to solve such as: place value split strategy, algorithm (traditional) and friendly fix (make a multiple ten then add/take extra part later).

Most other parts of the mental maths questions are Year 3 and early Year 4 review concepts such as simple addition, division, fractions of a collection, shapes and measurement conversions.  Please feel free to email me if you have any issues at all with homework.    

Some Other Reminders for Term 4

• Please continue to charge laptops every night to ensure that they come to school 100% charged.  The coloured lights on next to the plug in section of the laptop tell you if it is fully charged or needs charging, changing from an organge light to a white light.  A great method is for kids to come home, put on charge and then place in bags fully charged after dinner so they are ready to go.  It is also a great habit to encourage students to keep their laptops in their bags when they aren't being charged as they will notice the weight difference in their bags when picking them up in the morning and they won't be forgotten.  
• Library bags are required on a Monday and the students are expected to borrow each week.  We are encouraging students to try and include a variety of books each week

Character Strength of the Week: Prudence

WHAT IS PRUDENCE?

Prudence means being careful about your choices, stopping and thinking before acting. It is a strength of restraint. 

When you are prudent, you are not taking unnecessary risks, and not saying or doing things that you might later regret. 

If you are high in prudence, you are able to consider the long-term consequences of your actions. 

Prudence is a form of practical reasoning, the ability to examine the potential consequences of your actions objectively, and to control yourself based on that examination. Prudence involves far-sighted planning as well as short-term, goal-directed planning. It is often referred to as cautious wisdom, practical wisdom, and practical reasoning.

Dance

The Year Fours have concluded dance lessons for the year, as Mrs Haines takes on Junior Primary lessons for second semester. The good news is that the Year Fours can still wear Sports uniforms on Fridays.

Mr Lee's Farwell

A huge thank you to the parents that were able to attend Mr Lee's farewell last term. The Year Fours put a wonderful effort into their gift - a biography of Mr Lee's life. We wish him many happy and healthy years in retirement enjoying what retired people do best!

Important Dates for Term 3 2023 

1. Thursday 27th July - Inter school Cross Country 
2. Wednesday 9th August - World Indigenous Day 
3. Friday 18th August - OLC feast day and Mission Markets 
4. Monday 21st - Friday 25th August - Book Week
5. Monday 28th August - Pupil Free Day 
6. Friday 1st September - EA Appreciation Day 
7. Sunday 3rd September - Father's Day 
8. Wednesday 13th September - Open Classroom Night
9. Thursday 14th September - R U OK Day 
10. Friday 15th September - OLC Athletics Carnival 
11. Friday 22nd September - OLC's Got Talent and last day of school for term