Year Three
Dear Year 3 Families,
As we continue our journey through Term 2, we are excited to share the fantastic learning experiences taking place in our classrooms. Below, you will find updates on the key subject areas and ways to support your child’s learning at home.
Reading
Children have been building on the skills of highlighting important information and summarising key findings from texts. Highlighting involves identifying the most important facts, details, or ideas within a passage, while summarising means condensing that information into clear, concise statements. These skills help students develop a deeper understanding of texts by focusing on what really matters and expressing it in their own words.
Students have been practicing this by engaging in whole-class and independent tasks, including reading passages and identifying the main ideas and supporting details, as well as analysing photographs to pick out essential information and summarise what they observe. Highlighting and summarising enhance comprehension by helping readers organise information and remember the most important points.
At home, you can support your child’s ability to highlight and summarise by asking them to tell you the main idea of a story or passage they read, or to point out three important details and explain why they chose them. Questions such as, “What is this part mostly about?” or “Can you tell me that in your own words?” encourage these skills and deepen understanding.
Writing
Students are expanding beyond simple descriptions and are now exploring various types of informational texts, such as magazine articles, travel pamphlets, and posters. Classes are following the gradual release of responsibility model to develop their informational writing skills. Students have been writing informational texts based on different systems, including emergency services, schools, hospitals, and more. This unit helps students strengthen their ability to present clear information, use factual language, and organise their writing effectively.
Mathematics
Students have been exploring different addition and subtraction methods. Now that NAPLAN has concluded, we have reintroduced the Launch, Explore, Discuss (LED) model. This approach encourages students to engage deeply with mathematical concepts through hands-on problem-solving and collaboration. They are practicing strategies such as the jump strategy, open number lines, and compensation. We look forward to seeing their problem-solving skills, teamwork, and metacognitive thinking continue to develop through this process.
Inquiry
We have enjoyed observing the different styles of engagement throughout this unit, as some students have chosen to explore different systems around the world, such as hospitals, emergency services, water systems, schools, and more. They have created a variety of visual posters based on their findings from research. It has been wonderful to see their curiosity and enthusiasm in learning about the world around them.
Thank you for your continued support in your child’s learning journey. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like more information about our classroom activities.
End of Term 2 – Important Dates
Term 2 will conclude on Friday, 4 July, with an early finish at 2:30pm for all students from Prep to Year 9. We will then take a two-week break, and we hope all our families enjoy a safe, restful, and enjoyable break.
On behalf of all the Year 3 staff at Saltwater College, we thank you for your continued support this term and look forward to welcoming students back for Term 3 on Monday, 21 July 2025. Please note that Term 3 is a 9-week term and will finish on Friday, 19 September 2025.
Swimming
This week our Year 3 students had an amazing time at swimming school! The children showed fantastic courage and determination as they practiced their water safety skills and swimming techniques at the pools. It was wonderful to see students supporting each other, celebrating small victories, and pushing through their comfort zones - whether they were perfecting their freestyle stroke or gaining confidence to put their face in the water. The swimming instructors were impressed with our students' listening skills, positive attitudes, and willingness to give everything a go.
Reminders
Students are expected to bring their satchel to school EVERY DAY.
Snack and lunch times are 20 minutes long. Please encourage your child to eat their snack/lunch within a 20 minute period, as this will help them to follow school routine.
Please remember to pack a spare change of clothes for your child. Sometimes, little children can have toileting accidents and spills at school.
Lastly, a reminder about bringing in headphones if you have not already done so. We will be using them with iPads.
Warm regards,
Year Three Teaching Team