Year 3 - Middle Unit

We hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. It’s hard to believe there are only six weeks left in the school year.

Year 3 students have now begun their final units in Reading and Writing, focusing on Science Fiction and what makes it such an enjoyable genre. Students are also continuing to build on their mathematical knowledge. They are currently learning to tell the time to the minute and will finish the year exploring Probability, a topic that links beautifully to their earlier work with fractions.

Informative Writing This term, students are learning about Instructional Writing. Their tasks may take the form of board game instructions, recipes, ‘How To’ guides, or even step-by-step instructions for assembling something tricky (like an IKEA-style flat pack). Each student has chosen a topic they feel confident teaching to their peers and will demonstrate their learning by creating their own instructional piece.

To make the experience more engaging, students have the option to turn their writing into a short ‘How To’ video,  similar to a YouTube tutorial. Some projects will be filmed at school, while others (such as those involving specific materials, cooking, or sharp tools) may need to be filmed at home under parent supervision.

To support this process, we’ve created a Google Classroom for each Year 3 class. Students can upload their videos or written pieces directly to the platform as their final project submission. This will be a valuable opportunity for them to become familiar with using Google Classroom, which they will continue to use more regularly in future years.

Inquiry To align with our Literacy unit on Science Fiction, Year 3 students have been using different digital programs to create three projects inspired by this genre. They are utilising ScratchJr, a program designed as a stepping stone to coding, TinkerCad, a 3D rendering and design tool, and Chrome Music Lab, a website that allows students to compose their own music.

Each of these projects encourages creativity and problem-solving through technology. Students will once again use Google Classroom to submit their completed projects to their teacher.

Year 3 Teachers

Nathan Spilsted (3NS), Mark Condon (3MC), Zoe Sutherland/Iain Sparrey (3SS)