Grade 3
Literacy
This term, our Grade Three students have been diving into the incredible story of The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. This heartwarming novel follows Ivan, a gentle gorilla who lives in a shopping mall and spends his days painting and watching the world go by. Through Ivan’s eyes, we’ve discovered a powerful story about friendship, freedom, and hope.
As we’ve read each chapter, students have been busy becoming reading detectives! They’ve been making predictions about what might happen next, inferring how characters feel based on clues in the text, and answering questions using the 5 W’s — Who, What, Where, When, and Why — to deepen their understanding.
Students have discussed how Ivan’s thoughts and actions show his caring nature, especially when he promises to help his friend Ruby the elephant. They’ve also shared ideas about how the author wants readers to think about the treatment of animals and what it means to be truly free.
Next, students will be comparing the novel to the movie version of The One and Only Ivan, exploring how the story is brought to life on screen. We can’t wait to see what new insights they discover!
In writing lessons, students have been strengthening their sentences by using conjunctions such as because, so, but, and although. They’ve created detailed compound and complex sentences to express their ideas about the novel — for example, “Ivan feels trapped because he knows the mall is not his real home,” or “Ruby trusts Ivan, but she still misses her family.” This work has helped students build confidence in expressing their thoughts clearly and creatively.
Numeracy
It’s been a fantastic few weeks of learning in our classroom! Students have been diving deep into Maths concepts and developing their reading and writing skills through exciting lessons and discussions. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to:
In Maths, we have been exploring the world of multiplication and division in fun and hands-on ways. Students have been using materials to model problems, build their understanding, and explain their thinking to others.
Here’s what we’ve been learning:
- Representing multiplication and division in different ways (arrays, equal groups, bus-stop symbols and bar models)
- Solving two-digit multiplication and division problems with and without regrouping
- Learning how to choose the correct operation (multiplication or division) when solving worded problems
- Creating our own worded problems from equations
Taking on a rich task that challenged us to apply what we’ve learned in real-life situations
Students are becoming more confident mathematicians who can explain how and why their selected strategies work using correct mathematics vocabulary.
