Year 3 Spotlight

Writing

This term in Writing, Grade 3s are exploring the wonderful world of poetry! So far, students have had a go at writing “I Am” poems, Shape Poems and a Haiku. We have also been learning lots about figurative language, and have started incorporating things like similes, metaphors, alliteration, onomatopoeia and personification in our poetry writing. 

Take a look at some of our beautiful published work:

Inquiry

This term our Inquiry unit is centred around Design and Technology. We have been learning all about engineering, technology, and the 6 simple machines. Did you know that technology is defined as anything made by a human to solve a problem or make life easier? Yep! That means, even the spoons we use for our morning cereal are technology! 

We have used time during our daily literacy block to read a range of mentor texts about simple machines, and learnt some interesting new vocabulary such as: force, mechanical  advantage, engineer and transparent. Recently, we had a go at designing a solution to a problem using at least two simple machines in our design. Here are some examples of our fantastic work:

To support this learning, this week we had an incursion for Hands on Science all about design and technology! This incursion had students explore different engineering solutions in building and construction. They discussed materials, shapes used in construction (arches, columns, squares), simple machines, the importance of strong foundations and support, and how to experiment with different designs for the strongest and safest building designs. This involved building a tower using cups and popsicle sticks, seeing who’s tower would be the tallest and still survive a simulated earthquake. 

Students then looked at a range of bridge designs and played around with different arches and supports to see what bridge would hold the most weight. Finally, students explored the lever to design and build a catapult using a wooden spoon. They had fun experimenting with positioning the fulcrum and load differently to see what would allow for maximum launch power!

• “We learnt about how strong the foundations of buildings have to be. Using popsicles sticks made our towers stronger and having a square shaped foundation.” ~ Eska, 3A

• “I learnt that buildings have to have a very strong foundation to stay up. The best bit was building the towers.” ~ Luca F, 3D

• “The best part was making the catapult!” ~ Alex, 3D

• “I really liked making the towers with the little cups. The bridge with the arch was stronger than the others.” ~ Ira, 3B

Numeracy

This term in Maths, our Year 3 students have been exploring fractions in fun and practical ways. 

They have learned how to identify and represent fractions using shapes, objects and number lines. Students have been sharing and dividing objects equally to better understand halves, thirds, quarters, fifths and tenths. They enjoyed making their own fraction wall and discovered that some fractions are equivalent. They are currently practising comparing the size of unit and non-unit using the < and > symbols. Students have become more confident in representing unit fractions and their multiples in different ways and combining fractions with the same denominator to form a whole. 

It has been wonderful to see the students' confidence and curiosity grow as they explore fractions in so many different ways.

RRRR & Wellbeing

RRRR this term is all about exploring gender norms and stereotypes, and positive gender relations. This really just means breaking down expectations that restrict our learners as individuals. Students have explored the many factors that help shape their identity and the ways in which we are all unique, with our own talents, preferences, goals and values regardless of gender identity. 

Students spent time being 'fairytale detectives' to identify common themes and stereotypes in traditional stories in regards to how different characters are portrayed and described depending on their age, gender identity and whether they were the villain or hero in the story. Students noticed that most characters in these stories fell into very rigid roles that didn’t allow for any real personality to show (the prince was strong and the princess was beautiful but we didn’t actually get to learn about their identity). 

This week, students used different scenarios to explore gender pressures and what someone could do to ‘speak back’ to this kind of peer pressure.

In the coming weeks we will be exploring rights and responsibilities, gender-based violence, consent and seeking help when in tricky situations. These topics may seem scary at first glance, but they are all taught through an age-appropriate context and are all really important in ensuring students feel safe and empowered to be themselves. Later in the term students can also participate in the Talking the Talk program, more details to come soon. 

Year 3 Teachers (Millie, Jack, James, Sophie & Jess) and Students