Grade 3 News

📅 Important Dates & Reminders

🎭 Friday, August 22: Whole School Production Rehearsal

🛍️ Wednesday, August 27: Father’s Day Stall

🎭Monday 1st September - Whole School Dress Rehearsal for Production

🎭Tuesday 2nd September - Production (A-K)

🎭Wednesday 3rd September - Production (L-Z)

Learning in Action

Book Week! 

📖 Literacy

The Grade 3s have enjoyed continuing to read Charlotte’s Web in Literature sessions and to expand their vocabulary. They have focused on identifying more examples of literary devices such as polsyndeton, anaphora, repetition and onomatopoeias and strengthened their understanding of independent and dependent clauses in sentences. This included subordinating conjunctions in complex sentences e.g if, when, although, since, after, before, as, because. Students worked hard to plan and write the action paragraph of their narratives. The action paragraph shows the reader what happens next, keeping the reader interested. They needed to add language features such as adjectives, character dialogue and conjunctions to their action paragraphs to enhance their writing. 

Preview 

In the upcoming fortnight, students will continue to develop their narrative writing skills, with a focus on creating strong problems and resolutions in their stories. In Literature, students will be reading Charlotte’s Web, expanding their vocabulary, and exploring a range of literary devices found within the novel.

➗ Maths

This fortnight, students have further developed strategies to solve multiplication problems, including  the split strategy, with the support of arrays. This involved splitting the larger number of a multiplication equation to create two simpler problems (e.g. 6 x 2 = 4 x 2 + 2 x 2). Students then focused on particular times tables they are yet to master, applying strategies to solve these problems including; skip counting, doubling, arrays, the split strategy and using known facts to solve unknown facts. This was facilitated in both whole class and goal group instruction. This week marks the final week of our time-focused groups. Students have been able to extend their time-telling skills at their point of need, supporting them to tell both digital and analogue times.

Preview

Next week, students will begin their division unit in our Number lessons. It will start with making the connection between multiplication and division and understanding that they are inverse operations. Students will also focus on Shape during our applied lessons, looking at identifying the features of 3D shapes.

🗺️ Knowledge Rich Unit

This fortnight students have continued to learn about Australia and our neighbouring countries by exploring New Zealand in detail, and delving into the managed and constructed features. A managed feature is an environment created by nature, but managed by people.  Examples of managed features include parks and gardens. Whereas a constructed feature is an environment made by people such as bridges and buildings. Students then compared Australia with New Zealand, noting the similarities and differences between the features of each. This part of the unit concluded with them writing  ‘because, but, so ‘ sentences for 3 different landmarks.

Preview

To conclude this unit on Australia and our Neighbours, we will review all the elements of this topic before a written assessment. To further enrich their learning and include the use of ICT and an element of research, the Grade 3s will prepare a digital brochure. They will have the opportunity to choose one of Australia’s neighbours, describing the landmarks and culturally significant sites, including facts, maps, and pictures.

😊 Wellbeing

This fortnight, Grade 3s discussed the differences between ‘Friendship Fires’ and ‘Mean-on-Purpose’ behaviour. They revised that the main difference between the two is intent, with sometimes friends being ‘Mean-By-Accident’ when they are being too honest or trying to be funny. Students also revised the steps for putting out ‘Friendship Fires.’ They discussed why it is important to put out ‘Friendship Fires’ one-on-one, and role-played several different scenarios that could occur in a friendship, and how they could resolve these issues.

Students then had the opportunity to identify events and situations that can lead to strong emotions, and how to practise different techniques for controlling anger. They then reflected on how these techniques might help them to control their emotions. Finally, students focused on the impact that their choices can have on others, and learnt a technique for making a strong apology.

Preview

Over the next fortnight, students will be learning about ‘Rainy Day Friends’ and how to support someone who is having a bad day. They will also begin to explore the concept of identity and naming and sharing some of the different interests that make up their identity.

If you have any questions or would like to arrange a meeting with your child’s teacher, please don’t hesitate to get in touch via Compass.

Have a wonderful weekend,

The Grade 3 Team

Mrs Rosewarne, Mrs Huxley, Mrs Stokol and Miss du Vallon

Updates from around the school

Garden Working Bee – Friday 12th September

We are calling on our wonderful school community to help us freshen up the gardens at the front of the school. On Friday 12th September, from 11.30am to 3.30pm, we will be holding a garden maintenance afternoon and would love your support.

The work will include:

• Removing old plants
• Weeding garden beds
• Planting new plants to brighten up the entrance to our school

If you can spare some time, whether it’s for the whole afternoon or just an hour, your help will make a big difference. Please bring along gardening gloves, tools if you have them, and plenty of energy!

To assist with planning, we kindly ask that you confirm your attendance by emailing the school office at lysterfield.ps@education.vic.gov.au.

Together, we can make the front of our school a welcoming and beautiful space for our students, families, and community.

Green Team News

Under the guidance of Mrs Stokol and Mrs Alexander, the Green Team met for the first time this week, and what a meeting it was! Across Years 3 to 5, we had nearly 50 excited and passionate students eager to do their part for the environment.

Whether it’s helping to keep the school free of rubbish, caring for and developing the gardens, or educating our community about sustainability, there was a real buzz in the air as students shared ideas and signed up for various roles.

A new initiative launched this term is the collection of 10c containers. Thanks to the special lunch day last term, we raised $21, a fantastic start! We’re now working to collect eligible containers daily to reduce landfill waste and turn recyclables into funds that will be reinvested into future Green Team projects.

Participation in the Green Team is inclusive and open to all. It’s not too late for your child to get involved; we’d love to have them on board!

Green Team Newsletter #2

The enthusiastic Green Team members from Years 3 to 6 continue to meet with Mrs Alexander and Mrs Stokol each Wednesday lunchtime. Meetings begin with a check-in on how the yard cleaning roster is going. Students report which areas are the cleanest, which need more attention, and share ideas for improvement.

Sustainability remains a key focus. Whether it’s managing waste, maintaining garden spaces, or spreading awareness, students have shown impressive initiative and creativity.

Our 10c container collection is going strong! We've raised over $80 so far. Green Team members manage the collection bin outside the canteen on lunch order days, and also visit classrooms weekly to gather containers from specially labelled tubs. By collecting these items daily, we are preventing waste from going to landfill and turning it into cash to support our environmental efforts.

Be sure to check out the Sustainability Display in the gym over the coming weeks to see what we’ve been up to!

Did you know? You can support the Green Team by nominating Lysterfield Primary School (LPS) as your donation partner through Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme.

Download the app or visit:🔗 Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme | Learn How To Donate

It’s planting season, and what’s better than free plants? 

Help the Green Team — and Earn Free Plants!

Did you know that the Knox Environment Society (KES) offers free native plants as prizes through their Nature Discovery Passport program?

By playing an interactive game and collecting stamps at local reserves, participants can earn plant prizes, and what better way to use those plants than by donating them to our school for the Green Team to grow and maintain?

Explore one of the many beautiful reserves in Knox on the weekend, learn about your local ecology, collect stamps, and claim your prize. It’s a fun way to get outside, support the environment, and contribute to our school’s sustainability efforts.

And who says the fun is just for the kids? Families are welcome to join in too!

To learn more, visit:

🔗 Nature Discovery Passport – Knox Environment Society

🔗 Knox Environment Society Home Page

Thank you — every little bit helps!

Mrs Stokol and Mrs Alexander