Grade 3

Literacy

This fortnight in Literacy, students have been developing their vocabulary knowledge through reading and writing activities. We have been locating new Tier 2 vocabulary words in texts, discussing their meanings, and using these words in our own writing. Students have also been working on editing and improving their book reports by revising paragraphs, using the 5 W’s (who, what, when, where and why), choosing different sentence types, and applying their knowledge of punctuation and vocabulary to make their writing clearer and more engaging.

In Reading and Writing, students have explored poetry by identifying the parts of a poem, determining the main idea, and using information from other sources to deepen their understanding. They have learned how to expand sentences using adverbial phrases and clauses, and how to use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions to create more detailed and interesting writing. Students have also planned and written their own poems, using rhyming words and drawing inspiration from mentor texts to create imaginative and expressive pieces of writing.

Numeracy

This fortnight in Mathematics, students have been developing their understanding of three-digit addition and subtraction. Using concrete materials, they explored different ways to add and subtract three-digit numbers and learned how inverse operations can be used to check the accuracy of their answers. Students also practised subtracting a constant amount from two-digit numbers, helping them build fluency and confidence with number patterns and mental computation strategies.

Students have also been investigating estimation and partitioning strategies to support problem-solving. They learned to choose between standard and non-standard partitioning methods when calculating, estimate the quantity of objects in collections, and use estimation to check whether their answers are reasonable. Through a rich problem-solving task, students selected and explained their own strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems, demonstrating flexibility and confidence in their mathematical thinking.

Social and emotional learning 

This fortnight in Personal and Social Learning, students have been exploring ways to make new friends and build positive relationships. Through class discussions, role-play activities, and collaborative games, students practised introducing themselves, starting conversations, and showing kindness to others. 

They learned the importance of listening, sharing, and including others in play to help develop strong and respectful friendships within our classroom community.

Students have also been learning about stress and wellbeing. We discussed what stress is, how it can make us feel, and the different ways it can affect our bodies. Students identified physical and emotional signs of stress and shared examples of situations that may cause them to feel stressed. These conversations have helped students develop greater self-awareness and understanding of strategies that can support their wellbeing.