Year 3 News
Our Learning and Celebrations
What a wonderful start our Year 3 students have had! The first few weeks have been busy, and it has been so lovely seeing the students reconnect with friends and settle into their new classrooms so confidently.
We feel very lucky to be in our new learning spaces and have really enjoyed coming together in the common area as a whole Year 3 cohort. It has been great watching friendships grow and seeing the students begin to feel comfortable in their new routines.
Literacy
The students loved writing about their school holidays and creating posters to display in the classroom. It’s always one of our favourite activities at the start of the year - there’s something special about hearing all their stories!
We begin each day with Phonics Plus, where students use their whiteboards to show their thinking and stay actively involved in the lesson. It’s a great way to get our brains warmed up for the day ahead.
We have started reading Brindabella by Ursula Dubosarsky and are really enjoying diving into the story together. Alongside our reading, we have been learning about narrative writing. The students created their own plans using a template before beginning their stories, which has helped them organise their ideas with confidence. We’re already seeing some fantastic creativity shine through.
Numeracy
In Numeracy, our focus has been place value. We have been playing lots of hands-on games to practise understanding the value of digits in larger numbers.
A class favourite has definitely been our dice games, where students rolled dice to create 5- and 6-digit numbers and then ordered them from smallest to largest. There was plenty of careful thinking as they decided where to place each digit. We’ve also been working with number lines, particularly with 4- and 5-digit numbers, to build confidence and accuracy.
We have also been exploring addition using place value, breaking numbers apart to better understand how they work before putting them back together. This strategy has helped students build strong mental maths skills and deepen their understanding of how numbers can be flexibly represented.
Wellbeing
Year 3 students have been strengthening their sense of wellbeing by building connections with new classmates and teachers through collaborative activities and interactive games, including a popular “find someone who…” challenge. They have also explored what it means to be a risk-taker, sharing their strengths and identifying skills they are still developing to encourage a growth mindset. Creating their class Essential Agreements has further supported a respectful and supportive learning environment where everyone can thrive.
Incursions
We also participated in a Cyber Safety incursion, where students explored the idea of personal, private and public spaces online. They learned about making safe and respectful choices when using technology and how to protect their personal information. It was a valuable and engaging session that prompted lots of thoughtful discussion.
We are so proud of how quickly the Year 3 students have settled into the year. Their positive attitude and willingness to have a go has made for such a happy start. We are really looking forward to what the coming weeks will bring!
Unit of Inquiry
Transdisciplinary theme
Who We Are
Centra Idea
Positive relationships contribute to a harmonious community
Lines of Inquiry
The way we interact with each other
Different kinds of behaviours
Being tolerant of others
The need for rules
What Are We Learning Next?
Literacy
Daily Phonics Plus lessons
Level 3 VLP spelling, grammar and punctuation lessons
Continue our text study of Brindabella
Revision of how to create quality sentences using correct structure and punctuation
Paragraphing
Planning and structuring a narrative
Numeracy
Continue our focus on place value
Addition and Subtraction of 2-digit and 3-digit numbers
Properties of addition using odd and even numbers
Introduce additive strategies