FPS Newsletter

Year 3 Spotlight

3A – Our Writing

This term the Grade 3 students had a cartooning incursion for our graphic novels in writing. A real-life cartoonist, Bret Cardwell, came to visit us at school and give us tips and tricks for drawing impressive cartoons. We learnt all about using the foreground and background of our comic panels, as well as how to draw cool close up and birds eye view shots. 

 

Here’s what some students had to say about the incursion:

  • I liked how he made characters up on the spot. ~ Rex, 3A
  • I thought that it was really fun and I liked that he turned scribbles/shapes into good pictures. ~ Harry, 3A

 

This term in class we have learnt lots about the different elements and features of graphic novels such as speech bubbles, thought bubbles, captions, sound effects, symbols, and panel layout. Our graphic novels are a fun way to show our writing and drawing skills. 

 

Here are some students’ ideas on the process of writing a narrative in the format of a graphic novel:

  • It’s fun and you learn more about writing a good story. ~ Ava, 3A
  • Learning new things and drawing at the same time is fun. ~ Iliana, 3A  
  • I think it’s really fun and it teaches you how to express yourself and tell a story in a creative way. ~ Sam Wil,  3A

 

Everyone was extremely excited to find out about our writing project! We will be writing our very own graphic novels using all the tips and tricks we’ve learnt. We will only publish six pages of writing. But we may draft more. We are all currently finishing our drafts and beginning to edit our work. We are hoping to start publishing very soon! We can’t wait to show off all our hard work at the end of the term.

 

3B – Learning about Community in Inquiry

This term in Inquiry, we have been learning about community. We have explored what it means to be an active community member within our classroom, school, and wider community. Together, we worked on a classroom agreement to build our understanding of how we can positively contribute.

 

We have also started to research inspirational people, examining their values, cultural backgrounds, and how they contribute to the community.

  • I have chosen Dustin Martin because he has donated to many charities. ~ Roy, 3B
  • I am completing a project on Sam Kerr because she is an outstanding role model and supports numerous community initiatives. ~ Liam, 3B

'In My Community' Incursion

A couple of weeks ago, we had an incursion that brought all the Grade 3 students together. It was a fantastic experience! We learned a lot about community while having lots of fun. We worked in groups, which was exciting because we got to collaborate with different people. One of the highlights was the puzzle challenge, which we all enjoyed. ~ Harper and Tessa, 3B

 

3D – Mathematics Fun

Grade 3 students have been investigating graphs, measuring length, and working on addition. We have also been using the Launch, Explore and Summarise model as well to work on problem solving.

 

Measurement, by Leon and Lewis, 3D

So, you're properly wondering what your kid is doing in maths? In Grade 3 we have been doing some measurement and working on length. 

Yup measurement is what we’re doing:

1) Estimating how long objects are.

2) Challenges like trying to make 10 cm.

3) Learning to use rulers.

4) Learning that 1m is 100cm and that 1cm is 10 mm

5) Having fun in doing it.

So that’s what we’re doing.

 

Addition, by Eve P. and Sophia G, 3D

You can do addition in lots of different ways and these are some of them: compensation, jump and hop, split strategy, doubles and fact families. Let’s start with compensation. We are going to explain two.

Compensation is playing with the numbers. For example, if I have a number close to one hundred I can change the number to that to make it easier. Then I take the same away from the other side. For example, 99+14 is the same as 100+13, which is easier!

Now we will explain near doubles. We know 8+9=17 because 8+8 is 16 and it’s one more!

 

Problem Solving, by Penny and Emily, 3D

Hi, today we’re going to tell you about the problem solving we have been doing in Grade 3. We hope you enjoy our presentation! We like to do challenges, Sticky Brain Time and have Spotlights.

 

Sticky Brain Time

We get a problem together during Sticky Brain Time. It usually has lots of answers or strategies we can use. During Sticky Brain Time we try the problem ourselves. Sticky Brain time is when we have five silent minutes to think about our question and get started. It’s okay if it’s tricky, we are reminded that the five minutes helps us to have time to figure out what we can do, but it’s okay if we can’t. That’s because after that five minutes we are allowed to talk to each other and then we do spotlights. You will find out about them soon, but anyway then we can find out if we were right.

 

Spotlights

A spotlight is where we share a few people’s work and that can help others and your learning. Anyone can get a chance to have spotlights.

 

Challenges

We do challenges when we finish our work and want something harder. We can work and think harder when we have challenges! We love challenging ourselves.

We love solving problems!

And that’s it.

 

~ Year 3 Teachers (Millie, Monique, Jourdan & Brendan) and Students