Year 3D News

Welcome

Welcome to 2025! The students have had an excellent start to the school year, and we’re all excited for a fantastic year ahead with our incredible students!

Each day begins with morning prayer and meditation, creating a calm and focused atmosphere that supports effective learning in the classroom. Punctuality is key, as arriving on time helps students develop strong organisational skills and fosters a sense of connection with their peers.

Reminders

• Label all drink bottles, lunch boxes, hats and uniforms
• Hats must be worn in Term 1 and Term 4 for outdoor play
• Ensure your child has brain food (e.g fruit, vegetables, yoghurt etc)
• No nuts please
• Students to bring their diary to school daily

• Ensure you are receiving our school weekly newsletter and are connected to our class dojo

   

English 

Reading   

Our literacy instruction helps students develop strong reading and comprehension skills. Using a variety of texts, we teach strategies like predicting, questioning, summarizing, and making inferences to deepen understanding. Students also learn to make connections, analyse an author’s purpose, and explore how language shapes meaning. We focus on decoding, fluency, and vocabulary to build reading confidence. By engaging with different text types, students become independent, thoughtful readers.

Writing   

Writing instruction is delivered explicitly, with a clear step-by-step approach. Beginning with sentence construction, students’ progress to creating recounts, narratives, and persuasive texts. Along the way, they also master key grammar and punctuation rules as they develop their writing skills.

Spelling   

Students participate in a structured spelling program four mornings each week. This program explicitly teaches phonics, spelling patterns, and word structure, including morphology (prefixes, suffixes, and base words) and spelling rules. Lessons are designed to build decoding and encoding skills, helping students understand how sounds, letters, and meaning work together.

Speaking & Listening 

Throughout the year, students engage in a variety of formal and informal oral language activities, helping them strengthen their speaking and listening skills in a supportive environment.

Mathematics

In Term 1, students will be provided with many opportunities to explore the following topics, using a range of relevant and open-ended learning experiences:

• Number & Algebra: Counting & Place Value
• Number & Algebra: Addition & Subtraction
• Measurement & Geometry: Time
• Number & Algebra: Multiplication and Division

Topic

Creating a Safe and Supportive Learning Environment

This unit focuses on Personal and Social Capability and Health and Physical Education:

• Respect differences: Appreciate everyone’s ideas and feelings.
• Build positive relationships: Be kind, trust others, and work together.
• Support each other: Help others and make them feel welcome.
• Understand the impact of actions: Make good choices because your actions affect others.
• Solve conflicts calmly: Resolve disagreements by listening, talking, or asking for help.
• Create a positive classroom: Work together to make the classroom a safe and happy space.

Topic: Australia & Beyond

This unit covers History and Geography:

• How people help their community: Learn how people work together to help others.
• Life for First Nations people before Europeans: Understand life before European settlers.
• Geography of Australia and nearby countries: Learn about Australia’s natural features and explore nearby countries like Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
• Important events and people in Australia’s history: Learn about events and people who shaped Australia.

Religion

Our school focus in Religious Education for Term 1 is as follows:

Church and Community

Students will endeavour to explain connections between family, local parish, the Archdiocese and the papacy. They will interpret key figures from the Church history through their contribution to the development and growth of the Church. They will also reflect on a sense of belonging to Church and/or school community and plan ways to contribute.

Lent and Easter

Students will endeavour to analyse, compare, and interpret scriptural texts of Lent and Holy Week. They will view and interpret different images related to Holy Week, and reflect on the relevance and importance of understanding and acknowledging these significant events in our faith. 

Personal & Social Capability

(Wellbeing)

Students will engage in weekly social and emotional (SEL) sessions aimed at fostering a supportive environment for discussing social issues and practicing peer negotiation and conflict resolution skills.

To facilitate communication and encourage positive behaviour, students are linked to Class Dojo. Points can be earned individually or collectively for displaying positive academic and social behaviours.

At the end of each week, Class Dojo will be utilized to communicate upcoming events. Parents are encouraged to ensure they are connected to receive these updates. Please be aware that the private message function on Dojo is no longer in use.

Homework

Students will be provided with simplified homework weekly, distributed every Monday and assessed on Fridays.

The homework assignments consist of:

• Daily 20-minute reading sessions, documented in the school diary, to be reviewed on Fridays.
• English and Mathematics exercises selected from the Targeting Homework Book.

Teacher Contact Details

Classroom Teacher: Donnella DeVisser

Email: donnella.devisser@sjmalvern.catholic.edu.au

St Joseph’s School Office: 9597 6300

IMPORTANT DATES

Term 1 Reconciliation – Year 3

Commitment Mass – Sunday 16th February at 10.30am

Family Information Night – Tuesday 11th February at 6pm

Retreat Day – Wednesday 26th March at 9.30am – 1pm

Sacrament – Thursday 27th March at 4.30pm – 5.30pm

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Class Sport

Physical Education

Art

Performing Arts

Italian

STEM

Social and Emotional Learning 

(Wellbeing)

Malvern Library

2.15pm – 3.15pm