Year 3 Spotlight

Writing – Sea Life Melbourne Excursion

This term, Year 3 students will be planning, researching, drafting and publishing an information report on a chosen marine animal. In preparation for this, we have been analysing different non-fiction texts to identify the different features of information reports such as a glossary, fun facts, titles, sub headings, photos, diagrams, maps and more. We also went on an exciting excursion to the aquarium to gather information on marine animals. 

Here’s what some students had to say:

“My highlight was the tunnel through the shark tank, and my favourite animal was the leopard shark. A cool fact I learnt was that the only way to tell a male and female penguin apart is that the penguin needs to have a blood test.” ~ Tom, 3B

“We saw a tank that could hold 22 million litres of water. There were so many cool animals in the tank like big buff turtles, potato cods, stingrays and sharks. Then we went upstairs to see a crocodile called Pinjarra. Pinjarra is 5.5m long!”  ~ Milo, 3B

“Everyone liked Chips (he was the biggest fish in the tank), especially his name. There was also a sawfish. It’s called a sawfish because its nose looks like a chainsaw. It was like sitting in front of a big TV, except it’s real life! I loved petting the starfish, but I definitely loved the jellyfish the most.” ~ Lucy, 3B

“The stingray swam past as we were watching, its vast body gliding through the water like a paper aeroplane, soaring graciously through the sky, and the majestic ray swam past. First we saw the jellyfish with their delicate tentacles swimming around their waterfilled enclosures. Next we saw the sharks, stingrays and fish. My favourite fish was Chips.”  ~ Elke, 3B

“It was amazing. There was even a saltwater crocodile! He was 65 years old! His name was Pinjarra, but my class thinks his name should be Chunky because he was chunky. At the aquarium there was a tunnel and when you looked up you could see the animal’s tummies.” ~ Evie, 3B

We had a fantastic and informative time at the aquarium, and we are very eager to get started on our information reports soon!

Maths

For the first half of this term, Year 3 is learning about multiplication and division. This means learning a variety of strategies, including arrays, skip counting and repeated addition, to solve multiplication problems that they don’t recall automatically. Students will also be exploring fact families to gain understanding of the connection between multiplication and division facts. For example, they know that because 2 X 10 = 20, 20 divided by 10 is 2!

In class, students have been making flash cards for their 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 10s multiplication facts, so that they can practice answering with increased speed and recall. They have also been playing games like Double Up and Land Grab. We have included the Land Grab instructions so that you can play at home if you want!

Inquiry

This term’s Inquiry unit is all about being a good historian and exploring Australian history. This involves exploring good research skills, understanding the different sources of information, identifying types of artifacts and learning about differences in culture and over time. This will be explored through a First Nations lens, comparing and contrasting the perspectives, ways of life, experiences and cultures of Indigenous and European people throughout history. 

At the end of the term, students will be using their new found skills as historians to find reliable sources of information and research a celebration, folktale or Dreamtime story to present as a stop motion-film. 

Literacy Blocks

In Term 3, classes will continue to read Wylah, The Koorie Warrior (book 1 or 2) as their class novel. Wylah the Koorie Warrior is an illustrated chapter book; a fantasy adventure set 40,000 years ago on the lands of the Peek Whurrong in south-west Victoria. Wylah must connect to her matriarchal ancestral knowledge and powers in order to find the strength to fight for her Peek Whurrong people, who have been captured. The story is set among Warrnambool's natural landmarks, like the Hopkins River and Moyjil (Point Ritchie), where geographically-specific megafauna roam. This ties in beautifully with our Inquiry unit and provides a whole class mentor text with which students can improve their reading comprehension skills. 

Students are continuing to engage in daily Literacy Blocks, exploring a vast range of mentor texts, participating in fluency partner reading, explicitly learning phonics, punctuation and grammar skills, and expanding their word journals with weekly vocabulary words. This term, we are focussing on improving the use of capital letters at the start of sentences and for proper nouns, and boundary punctuation in our writing. This will be targeted through the use of explicit teaching, and monitored through weekly Rocket Writes and dictation. 

Later this term, students will showcase their fluency skills when participating in Reader’s Theatre. Students will have time to learn and rehearse a short script, which will be performed to the class in small groups. 

~ Year 3 Teachers (Millie, Sophie & Emilia) and Students