Grade 3 Community News

Dear Grade 3 Families, 

Welcome back for the year!

Term 1 is well underway, and students have been settling in well, adjusting to our new bell times. We have loved hearing all about the student’s holidays and all the wonderful activities students participated in. It’s amazing to see how they are consistently following our school values of Respect, Responsibility, Kindness and Growth. 

This past week, we have been working on our Learning to Learn program. During this time, we have settle students back into school and work together to set routines, protocols and classroom agreements. This year has been very exciting with the first year of our BYOD program. Students have been bringing their iPads to school and we have all been working towards using these in the classroom. 

Reading 

In reading, we have been focussing on differing reading strategies and discussing what these look like. We will then use these within our reciprocal reading groups. These strategies are: Questioning, Predicting, Connecting, Summarizing, Synthesizing, Inferring and Visualising. Next week we begin our first reading to learn unit: Wind in the Willows. 

Writing 

In writing, we have been working through the writing process and what this looks like. Students have been working on a recount piece about their holidays. Students began at planning, moved to drafting and then revising, editing and publishing.

Maths 

In maths, we have been leaning to use our mathematical knowledge within the lesson to problem solve and create a mathematical mindset.

Next week we begin our data unit, where students learn about gathering and showing information in different ways. First, they understand how to ask good questions and organize the answers. Then, they gather their data accurately and then create graphs - like picture graphs and lists to show their data. 

Vocab 

In Vocab, we are currently revising over our school values; Respect, kindness, responsibility and growth. We have been delving deeper into the meaning on these words and how they shape our actions and choices in our daily lives and why they are so important to us. 

You can have a discussion with your child at home about these words and what they mean to them. 

Reminders 

• Please make sure your children bring their hats to school as they are required to wear them outside during Term 1 and 4. 
• Please make sure that students bring their iPads fully charged to school every day as we are incorporating this through all of our learning.
• Students need to have their own pencil cases this year, we recommend them leaving them at school to save them from being left at home. Please only bring to school the items required on the book list. Any gel pens and sharpies will need to stay home. 
• Students are encouraged to be reading at home each night, they are aiming for 200 nights of reading. Don’t forget to log all reading in the reading journal. 
• Students are encouraged to bring along some cut-up fruit or vegetables in a small container, separate from a lunchbox that can be placed on top of your child’s desk.