Year Three
Dear parents/carers,
It is truly heartwarming to see how well our Year Three students have settled into their classroom routines, consistently demonstrating our school values in everything they do. We have also been working hard on our NAPLAN preparation, building student confidence and strengthening their skills.
Reading
Over the past two weeks, Year Three students have been focusing on a comprehension strategy called QAR: Question-Answer Relationships. This has been the centrepiece of our reading lessons, and we've seen some wonderful thinking from Year 3 students along the way.
Students explored a range of texts, including a short narrative, a persuasive article, and some NAPLAN-style practise passages. For each text, they worked through questions independently using QAR strategies.
One activity students really engaged with was Wrong Answer Analysis, where students looked at a multiple-choice question and discussed why each incorrect option was tempting, and what kind of thinking led students there. This helped enormously with building careful, evidence-based reasoning.
Writing
In writing, Year Three students made an exciting shift, moving from narrative into persuasive writing.
Students read examples of both side by side and talked about how the language, structure, and purpose shift depending on what the writer is trying to achieve.
From there, Year 3s explored the key features of persuasive writing, including how it is typically structured with a clear position statement, a series of arguments supported by evidence, and a strong conclusion that reinforces the writer's point of view.
The part students found most interesting was exploring persuasive devices, the specific techniques writers use to bring a reader around to their way of thinking. Students examined several of these in action, including rhetorical questions, emotive language, facts and statistics, repetition, 'Rule of Three' and strong modal verbs.
Numeracy
In numeracy, Year Three students moved into measurement. We covered key areas of measurement: mass, length, and capacity. Our focus was on three connected skills: estimating, measuring accurately, and using the correct metric units.
Accurate measurement was our starting point, with students using rulers, tape measures, and measuring jugs to measure real objects. We talked a lot about reading carefully and recording measurements correctly, including always writing the unit alongside the number. That led naturally into metric units and conversion.
Year Three students also touched on probability and statistics and time. Students looked at the language of chance: impossible, unlikely, likely, certain, read some simple data displays, and practised interpreting information from graphs and tables.
Students practised reading time on both analogue and digital clocks, making sure students are confident with o'clock, half past, quarter past, and quarter to, as well as reading times to the nearest minute. From there, learners moved into duration, calculating how long something takes, or working out a finish time when given a start time and a duration.
Lastly, our students also explored calendars, reading dates, understanding the number of days in each month, calculating how many days or weeks between two dates, and working with concepts like 'three weeks before'.
Learning to Learn
Students have been developing our classroom essential agreement, goals, reflecting on the behaviours, values, and responsibilities that help everyone learn effectively. We are also exploring important topics to keep us healthy and safe, including personal wellbeing, hygiene, and safety routines.
In addition, students have been introduced to our inquiry-based lessons, focusing on the concept “Beliefs influence our identity.” Through discussions, activities, and reflection, students are exploring how their own beliefs, as well as the beliefs of others, shape the way they see themselves and the world around them.
At home, you can support your child by encouraging conversations about values, beliefs, and experiences, and asking how these influence their choices, friendships, and daily life.
Important Reminders
Students are required to wear wide-brim hats during recess and lunch in Term One.
Please ensure students bring a full water bottle each day.
iPads should be brought to school fully charged.
NAPLAN dates: 11–23 March
Warm regards,
Year 3 Team