Term 2, 2024
Curriculum News - Year 3

Unit of Inquiry

Where we are in place and time

Cultures change over time

Lines of inquiry:

The importance of country and place to Aboriginal peoples
Stories, artefacts and histories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture
Impact of settlement on the Aboriginal community

Literacy

Reading

During our guided reading sessions, students will continue to work on strategies to further develop their comprehension, accuracy, fluency and to expand vocabulary.

The students will learn how to find key ideas in a text and summarise what they have read. They will work on building their reading stamina, where they are required to read uninterrupted for an extended period of time. The students will also learn about aboriginal culture through reading aboriginal dreaming stories.

Writing

During our writing sessions this term we will continue to focus on a variety of writing genres including Information Reports and Narratives. We will also learn new skills aligned with the Traits of Writing. The traits are: Ideas, Organisation, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Voice, Conventions and Presentation.

During our unit ‘Where we are in place and time’, the students will look at aboriginal dreaming stories and create their own stories that they will publish and share with the younger classes.

They will also learn the structure of an information report for their Oral Presentation on a Notable Indigenous Australian. The students will learn about academic honesty by referencing websites they use in their research and summarising information in their own words. The students will continue to develop their writing stamina where they are required to write uninterrupted for an extended period of time on a topic of their choice.

During our handwriting sessions, letter formation will be the focus enabling the students to join their letters in readiness for their Joining Licences in Term 4.

SMART Spelling

The students will continue weekly SMART spelling, with a different focus each week. They will choose 8 words on a Monday to learn throughout the week. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the students will complete a variety of spelling activities incorporating their spelling words. On Friday, the students complete a spelling test and a dictation exercise.

Speaking & Listening

This term the children will be practising their Speaking and Listening skills – they will use skills developed during our ‘How We Express Ourselves’ unit of inquiry to prepare and present a PowerPoint about a Notable Indigenous Australian. The students will also work in groups to create a dreaming story and present these to the younger classes.

Numeracy

The Year 3 Maths sessions begin with warm up games that develop Number Sense and where relevant a number talk to share what the students know about a topic.

Number

This term the focus will be on subtraction, division and learning the multiplication tables. Students will learn to recognise the relationships between dollars and cents and represent money values in different ways.

Algebra

Students will focus on multiplication and learning the multiplication tables. They will learn to recall and demonstrate proficiency with multiplication facts for 3, 4, 5 and 10 and extend and apply these facts to develop the related division facts. The students will be introduced to the “Times Table Challenge” where they can work at their own pace to learn their tables.

Measurement

This term students will learn about time and area. Activities will include telling the time to the minute on a digital and analogue clock, calculating elapsed time and reading calendars. The students will also learn to calculate the area of simple shapes.

Inclusive Approaches

Resilience project

This term the students will be learning to recognise the important role of emotions and how to identify them in others. They will also continue to practise gratitude and mindfulness.

Whole-school Focus on PYP Learner Profile

May: reflective

June: communicator

Personal note- This term we look forward to ……

Cross Country – Thursday 2 May
Indigenous incursion - Tuesday 14 May