What a busy term we have had so far!!

Well, you might have noticed we have been a bit quiet on our blog this term, we apologise if you have missed our amazing posts. However, we have been having such a busy term, that we keep running out of time to post about all of the incredible learning we are doing in the Realm of Rodda.

We have been away to Camp Birrigai where we had an incredible time. We got to build camp fires and make our own damper. We got to have a go on the giant swing or possum glider high ropes swings. We were put into families and had to claim our land and trade with the shop to be able to pitch a tent and buy supplies - some of us even got sent to gaol!! We learnt how to pitch a tent with just a tarp and some rope and sticks, we even got sent back to school in the 1820s. We had an excellent time and the year 3 students are already wanting to go back again next year!

Even though we came back from camp exhausted, we got straight into our rehearsals for the end of year concert. We danced and sang to a mash up from different Disney movies. Our performance was named, 'A Night at the Movies'. We had to learn lots of songs and learn our dances and actions really quickly so that we could show all of our families and friends at the end of year concert last Thursday night. Some of the songs we learnt included; 

• I'll Make a Man Out of You from Mulan
• Bear Necessities from The Jungle Book
• Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins and
• On My Way from Brother Bear

Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You

Beauty and the Beast - Be Our Guest

While we have had a busy term, we still have lots more fun and learning to do over the next two weeks. We also have our water fun day in week 10, which we are very excited about.

What has been your favourite activity or event this term?

Year 3/4 Assembly

On Friday last week, the Realm of Rodda hosted our final assembly for this year. We had a focus on the Japanese Fun Day that Garr Sensai put together for us in week 2 this term. We shared a Japanese story that we learnt about and lots of amazing photos of us having fun. Then we shared a song about the days of the week that we have learnt in Japanese. The video of the song is below and we would love everyone to practice learning it with us.

What was your favorite part of the assembly? 

What interesting information can you share with us about Japan?

Canberra Our Nation's Capital

This term we have been learning about the history of Canberra as part of our inquiry lessons. We have learnt all about the settlement of the Canberra area, how Canberra came to be selected as the Capital of Australia and how it came to be named Canberra. We have also been learning about things that have changed and stayed the same over the history of Canberra.

Take a look at some of the Foundation Stones that we made as part of our learning.

What information have you learnt about the history of Canberra? 

What do you know about the Foundation Stone? 

How are the people on top of the stone important to our history?

Connectives

This week we have been working on using connectives to join our sentences and make them more interesting. Take a look at some of the funny sentences we made to practice using the connective 'while'.

Share your sentence using our four words above, make sure you include all of the words and check your punctuation.

Welcome Back To Term 4

Welcome back to another fun and busy term in the Realm of Rodda. We hope you all had a safe and happy break and look forward to showing you all of the incredible learning we will be completing this term. We even get to head off on an overnight camp in week 7, so stay tuned for all of those important notes to come home over the next few weeks.

To start us off, Mrs.Evans has found a great poster listing some ways that you can help us at home with learning basic math skills. 

What other simple activities or games do you do, to practise math skills at home?

Science - Package It Better

On the last day of Term 3, the Realm of Rodda participated in a rich Science Day to complete the Inquiry Unit, Package It Better. 

We had to design packaging that would keep a fragile egg from breaking in the post. It had to fit through a standard postage slot, be shaken, crushed, dropped from a tall ladder and finally be submerged in water. On top of all of this our package also had to be as enviornmentally friendly as possible and use recycled materials. 

It was a massive challenge designing our packaging, purchasing recycled materials within our budgets and making and testing our package! We all had a fantastic day exploring and investigating the effectiveness and properties of different materials.

 Posted and Dropped

 Crushed

 Submerged

 Shaken

Name some of the different materials you might use when packaging something to post. What properties do the materials have that make sure your package arrives to the reciepient in one piece?

Science - Material World

We have been working hard in the Realm of Rodda and recently finished one of our Science Inquiries called Material World. We investigated the properties of different materials, such as fabric, wool, paper, cotton and plastic. We conducted experiments to test the durability,  absorbency, strength and their ability to retain heat (insulate). At the conclusion of our inquiry we designed an outfit with a range of physical properties to suit different scenarios and explained how these properties have influenced their use. 

Tomorrow we will be participating in a very exciting  challenge, to complete the Science Inquiry Package It Better. Stay tuned for some photos of our amazing creations.

Investigating Insulation

 Properties Of Different Materials

 Snap, Tear, Stretch

Leak, Soak, Repel

What are some of the materials you use around the house every day? List some of the properties of each material.

For example:

My house is built with bricks. Bricks are hard, strong and sturdy, this is important so that they can last for a long time and can withstand the weather.

The Awesome Art Show

We were so excited to show you all of our amazing art that we have been working on this year, during the Amazing Art Show on Friday and Saturday. Thank you so much to everyone that came to support Fraser Primary School students and the incredible work that we produce.

What was your favourite group of artworks from the Awesome Art Show and why?

What Makes A Great Set Of Instructions?

We have been investigating what makes a great set of instructions this week in the Realm of Rodda. We have been learning about the importance of verbs when reading and writing instructions, because they tell us what to do.

 

 

 

Above are two examples of Magic Potions. Can you find the verbs? What other verbs have you seen when reading instructions like a recipe?

 

For example: Stir, drain, pour and drizzle.

 

Grandfriends' Maths Morning

We are lucky enough to have lots of special visitors in the Realm of Rodda today. We have lots of fun activities and games to play, so that we can share some of the amazing learning we do during maths.

Choose one of the activities that you have shared today from the list above and explain what you taught your visitor about that maths activity.

Remember to include your first name only and have an adult check it first, so your post should look like this: 

I made some symmetrical shapes using the Geoboards on the ipads with Mrs. Evans. I taught Mrs. Evans that for a shape to be symmetrical one side has to be a mirror image of the other.

Mrs. Van

Tie-Dye T-Shirts

We have been super busy getting ready for this years Awesome Art Show. With the help of Merriel and a YouTube video we have been trying our hands at Tie-Dyeing our shirts using a swirl pattern. We have had so much fun that we thought you might like to take a look at the video we watched and some photos of us in action, so you can try it at home too!

What fun art activities have you tried at home before?

What Makes a Great Explanation?

The Realm of Rodda have just finished learning about explanations. Explanations tell us why or how.  We began by examining and explaining 'The Water Cycle'. Next, we explained 'How Tadpoles Change Into Frogs'. We then investigated 'How Popcorn Kernels Pop', which was a very tasty explanation! Finally, we explained 'How We Sneeze'. 

Can you explain the Water Cycle?

Summarising

We have been learning how to summarise in the Realm of Rodda. First we made an anchor chart about summarising and then we used myths, legends and fables to put what we have learnt into practice. Some of the texts that we have summarised include; The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Tiddalick, How The Cassowary Became A Flightless Bird and Kupe and th Giant Wheke (Octopus). 

Share a summary of something that you have read today. See if you can shorten it into six or less events.

Do you want to build a snow man?

We are having such an exciting day in the Realm of Rodda today! We have had lots of fun enjoying all of the Year 5/6 market day stalls and it has just started to snow! 

Can you research and explain what conditions are required for it to snow?

Year 4 Maths- Symmetry

Just when you thought we could not possibly fit any more learning into our brains, we learnt about symmetry as well!!!

We learnt that something is symmetrical when one half is a mirror image of the other half and that pictures and objects can sometimes be divided by more than one line of symmetry.

Take a look at some of our amazing symmetrical patterns.

What every day items can you find that have at least one line of symmetry?