English

In Term 4 students will continue to borrow from the library, read at school and at home every night to improve their comprehension and fluency. Reading is also encouraged to help learn new things, find new interest areas and improve spelling and writing. Students will continue to practice their speaking and listening skills at school through a variety of tasks, including Talking Topics, sharing work and class discussions.

Our English focus this term is on similarities and differences and will focus on building cultural understanding alongside literacy skills. Students will read a variety of texts and are encouraged to form opinions, make predictions and justify their thinking through a variety of written, spoken and reflective tasks. They will work through the Writing Process to independently plan, draft, edit, refine and publish their own texts.

In Term 4, students will examine the concepts of ‘perspective and context’ and ‘theme’ through ‘Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes’ and ‘Malala’s Magic Pencil’, analysing how perspective shapes the setting. They will apply this understanding to create their own factual and historical accounts. Later, through the text ‘Our Dreaming’ by Kirli Saunders and various digital texts, students explore the purpose and structure of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural narratives.

Mathematics

During Term 4, students will be consolidating their maths skills and continuing to improve their mental maths ability through a variety of class tasks and games. They will also be encouraged to share their reasoning with peers, fostering collaborative discussions that deepen their understanding and enhance their problem-solving skills.

In the Number and Algebra strand, students will explore partitioning fractions to understand fractional relationships. They will examine multiplicative relations, practicing multiplication and division, and learn to represent numbers using place value. Students will also investigate how numbers combine through addition and subtraction.

In the Measurement and Space strand, they will focus on geometric concepts such as position, length, angles, area, symmetry, volume, and capacity, using hands-on activities to measure and compare shapes. Additionally, they will learn to read analog clocks to explore non-spatial measures like time.

In the Statistics and Probability strand, students will collect, organise, and interpret data through group projects. They will also investigate chance, discussing probabilities related to events that are likely, unlikely, certain, or impossible.

Science

During this term, the students will investigate different heat sources and how heat moves from one object to another. Through hands-on activities, students will investigate the difference in conductivity of materials. They will classify heat sources into the type of energy used to produce the heat. Students will explore how materials can slow down heat flow (insulating properties) and use their everyday experience of warming themselves, or use stimulus material about animals trying to keep warm, to generate inquiry questions about heat conduction. Science investigation skills will continue to be developed to conduct fair tests and gather evidence to support their claims.

Geography

In Term 4, the students will shift their focus to Australia from a geographical perspective, building on their understanding of its geographical features and position in the world. Students will study Australia’s closest neighbours and learn about countries in Oceania and Southeast Asia. They will focus on identifying similarities and differences between their own lives and those of people in these neighbouring regions.

Visual Arts

This term, Year 3 students are participating in the unit ‘Portraits, Patterns, and Perspective: Learning from Great Artists,’ where they are exploring a variety of drawing and painting techniques inspired by famous artists. The term began with observational drawings of succulent plants, focusing on using larger shapes, the grid method and framing techniques. Students will then study Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ to create their own expressive landscape paintings using acrylics while learning to incorporate foreground, midground and background composition. Next, students will work on self-portraits, drawing faces in proportion and adding floral or gemstone designs inspired by Frida Kahlo. Through these projects, students are developing their confidence in self-expression, understanding of artistic techniques, and appreciation of different art styles.

Religious and Values Education

In Term 4 RVE, we will build upon the student’s understanding of who Jesus is and consider what it looks like to pray to God, thank God and honour God. The students learn the value of meeting together in Christian community and will be looking at the Apostle Paul and Silas from the New Testament and how they were joyful despite experiencing great trials. We will conclude the term with a focus on Jesus, the King of Christmas.

Music

In Term 3, students continued working through their structured theory program and further developed their skills for playing recorder. In small groups and with a backing track, students performed a range of simple melodies.

From Week 3 onwards, students will begin preparing for the annual event; our Primary Christmas concert on Monday 9 December. Students will learn two Christmas songs to sing, dance and perform for an audience (parents, friends, school community).

Information Technology

This term, Year 3 students are building on their digital literacy skills through a variety of creative projects. They are working in pairs to create and publish digital stories using Google Slides, where they write simple narratives and illustrate them using Chrome Canvas. Students are also learning about online safety by identifying warning signs, knowing when to seek help from a trusted adult and understanding how to respond to issues appropriately. Later in the term, they will explore digital design by creating posters in Canva, focusing on layout, text formatting and image placement. These activities help students enhance their digital proficiency while promoting safe and respectful online behaviour.

PDHPE

Term 4 PDHPE looks to develop Year 3 students’ competence and confidence in a broad range of hand invasion and striking games with a focus on Basketball, Lacrosse, Cricket and T-Ball. They will be learning important fundamental movement skills such as ball handling, dribbling, throwing, catching, running, striking and fielding including strategic tactics such as attacking and defending, whilst developing spatial awareness and working in a team. Physical activity in the form of games plays a vital role in promoting the physical, social and emotional growth and development of individuals. Students will be relating positively with others in the context of game situations and learn new skills, while at the same time experience feelings of success and enjoyment through improved confidence and competence. The importance of sun protection and safety in our skills and games as well as having a positive mindset to build our resilience within our learning and experiences in PDHPE will be a focal theme throughout the term.

Italian

In Year 3 Italian for Term 4, we will focus on the key theme: Cultural topic: I monumenti (Monuments of Italy and Australia). We will explore this through a fun, interactive, and hands-on approach using music, conversations, picture storybooks, and drama with a strong focus on verbal communication and pronunciation.

Pastoral Care

Students continue to explore concepts of resilience, self-esteem, bullying and positive thinking. They will continue to read and explore the world of Doug Dragster to learn about positive thinking and making sure they are in control of their wheels – their emotions, body, thinking and actions.

Homework

Students will continue to complete set weekly homework tasks due on a Friday. The first two weeks of this term, homework looks a little different with the shorter week and camp too. Please read the note in homework books for further information. Thereafter, spelling words go home on Mondays and tested throughout our SoundWaves Spelling program, we ask that these words be practised throughout the week. Talking Topics are delivered fortnightly, and an overview of topics can be found in the student homework book, which was shared with students on the first day of this term. Students are working on building their speaking and listening skills and are encouraged to prepare and practise delivering their presentations. Nightly reading is required to continue to improve and build reading skills.

MAG Primary Newsletter Year 3

Honour and Excellence

Term 4 2024 · 14 Oct 2024

In this issue