Year Three
Dear Year 3 families,
Time has flown by, and we've passed the midpoint of Term 4! Our Year Three students have been engaged in a range of rich learning experiences across all areas of the curriculum. Here is an overview of what they have been exploring recently:
Reading:
In Reading, students have been exploring why authors write the way they do. Using Claire Saxby's books as our anchor text, we've learned to identify the author's purpose and support our thinking with evidence directly from the text. Students have become skilled at finding specific examples whether it's word choice, text structure, or literary devices to explain what the author is trying to achieve and how they accomplish it.
One of the more advanced skills we've tackled is synthesis, taking information from multiple sources and combining it to form something new. Rather than simply summarising what they've read, students have learned to connect ideas across different texts, identify patterns, and develop their own informed perspectives and arguments. This skill helps them become independent thinkers who can analyse information critically.
Writing:
In Writing, using Danny Snell's Seagull as our mentor text, students have practised the important skill of retelling. They've learned to read closely, write about what they've read and retell stories in their own words. This process helps them understand story structure, identify key details, and develop their own narrative voice.
Students have been focusing on using the correct verb tenses such as past, present, and future to make their writing clear and meaningful. They've learned that using the right tense ensures readers understandwhen events occur and makes our writing more precise and easier to follow.
Numeracy:
In Numeracy, students have been exploring the exciting world of mapping and spatial reasoning! Students have developed important skills that connect mathematics to real-world navigation and geography.
Students have learned to create maps using a top-view perspective by imagining what spaces look like from directly above. This skill helps them understand spatial relationships and develop their visualisation abilities. They've practiced drawing objects, rooms and spaces as they would appear looking down from the ceiling or sky, which is quite different from how we normally see things at eye level!
Using a zoo map as our focus, students have become skilled at reading and interpreting map keys (also called legends). They've learned to locate the key on a map, match symbols to their meanings, use the key to identify different locations such as animal enclosures, restrooms, and pathways and navigate the zoo map to find specific places.
Unit of Inquiry:
In Unit of Inquiry, students have been diving deep into the fascinating world of ecosystems this term! Students have developed a strong understanding of how living and non-living things work together in nature.
Students have learned to identify the key parts that make up an ecosystem. They now understand that ecosystems are made up of many interconnected pieces, including plants, animals, water, soil, air, sunlight and more. Each component plays an important role in keeping the ecosystem healthy and balanced.
We've explored the difference between biotic factors (living things like plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria) and abiotic factors (non-living things like sunlight, water, temperature, soil, and air). More importantly, students have learned to describe how these factors interact and depend on each other. For example, they understand how plants (biotic) need sunlight and water (abiotic) to survive, and how animals (biotic) need both plants and water to live.
Important Reminders:
Zoo Excursion Dates:
Monday, 17th November (Group A)
Thursday, 20th November (Group B)
No Hat No Play: Students are reminded to wear their bucket hats (not caps) when outside the class at recess and lunch times.
Water Bottles: As the weather starts to heat up, please ensure students are coming to school each day with a full water bottle.
Kind regards,
The Year Three Team