Welcome to Term Two!
Welcome Back to Term 2!
We are excited to continue supporting your children as they build their skills, confidence, and curiosity in Year 3. During term one students all successfully completed writing their persuasive pieces. We can't wait to share these with you when portfolios come home.
Grade 3s also participated in their first ever NAPLAN. Well done to all students for doing their personal best and being a learner. We also successfully completed the Kangourou sans Frontières at the end of term, one of the largest maths competitions in the world, enjoyed incursions and an excursion to Darebin Parklands early in the term.
This Term
This term is full of engaging learning opportunities, and we look forward to exploring new topics, developing deeper understanding, and strengthening routines in our classrooms. There are lots of exciting experiences ahead, including an excursion with more details to be shared soon. A typical day in Year 3 begins with a literacy block and numeracy in the morning, followed by lessons such as writing, Civics and Citizenship, SWPBS, or specialist classes in the afternoon. Any changes to this schedule for special events will be communicated to families.
Literacy
Writing
This term, students will focus on developing their narrative writing skills. They will learn how to plan, draft, revise and publish their own stories while exploring the key elements that make narratives engaging. Students will practise creating interesting story openings, developing characters and settings, and building plots with tension and resolution. They will also work on using more descriptive language to make their writing clearer and more engaging.
We will also be continuing our focus on coordinating conjunctions; words that help us join ideas together to make our writing clearer and more interesting. Students will be learning to use the conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (remembered with the acronym FANBOYS).
In class, we will practise:
- Joining sentences using conjunctions.
- Choosing the correct conjunction to match meaning (e.g., adding, contrasting, or giving a reason).
- Using commas correctly when combining ideas. For example, I wanted to play outside, but it was raining.
You can support your child at home by:
- Encouraging them to combine short sentences when writing.
- Asking your child to explain their choice of conjunction.
- Spotting conjunctions together while reading.
We’re excited to see students build more detailed and connected sentences in their writing!
Reading
Our reading program will support learning in History through the novel, Wylah the Koorie Warrior. This text will help students build historical and cultural vocabulary while strengthening comprehension skills such as predicting, questioning and summarising.
Families can support learning at home by:
- Reading together each day and discussing characters and events in the story.
- Encouraging your child to write stories, diary entries or imaginative narratives can also help build confidence in writing.
- Supporting correct punctuation, grammar and neat, joined handwriting will further strengthen their literacy skills.
Numeracy
This term, students will continue developing their understanding of number, measurement, data and problem solving.
A key focus will be building fluency with addition and subtraction strategies, including 'Build to 10', 'Jump and Hop', and 'Split and Compensation'. Students will apply these strategies when solving word problems and will practise organising their thinking using vertical calculations.
Students will also explore simple algebraic thinking, including balancing equations and recognising number patterns. In data and statistics, they will collect, organise and display data using tables, charts and graphs, and interpret this information to answer questions.
In measurement and geometry, students will measure and compare lengths using metric units, recognise angles in everyday contexts, and investigate the features of 2D and 3D shapes, including symmetry.
Families can support learning at home by:
- Practising addition and subtraction facts through games.
- Solving everyday maths problems together.
- Measuring objects around the home.
- Spotting shapes and angles in the environment.
Civics and Citizenship
In Civics and Citizenship, students will explore the importance of rules, laws and decision-making in communities. They will develop an understanding of rights and responsibilities and learn how they can contribute positively as active and respectful members of their school and wider community. Students will also explore multiculturalism in the community and complete a research project on a chosen culture.
Respectful Relationships and Wellbeing
This term, students will continue developing their social and emotional skills through our Respectful Relationships program. They will learn strategies for managing emotions and challenges through positive coping, and will explore positive gender relations, focusing on respect, empathy and equality.
Students will also learn about bullying prevention, including recognising bullying, understanding its impact, and practising strategies to respond to and prevent it as part of our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support program.
Through discussions and collaborative activities, students will continue to build resilience, emotional awareness and positive relationship skills.
Specialist Subjects
Performing Arts
To compliment the circus skills students will be learning in preparation for the Year 3 & 4 concert, students will explore drama and expressive movements. They will contribute to choreographing opening and closing songs for the performance, as well as review the skills they will be learning in their circus sessions.
Physical Education
Students will explore some movement skills that are used in track and field. They will begin to learn how to safely and correctly throw a shot put and a discus as well as safely use a scissor kick in high jump and step over a hurdle.
Science
Students are continuing with their work on living things, looking at food chains and the roles of producers, consumers and decomposers.
Visual Arts
Students will continue to explore the combination of complementary colours, adding print and pattern-making to develop their work. They will be channelling Albert Namatjira’s obsession with Australian gum trees, as they head outside to sketch their own.
We are looking forward to a wonderful term!
Millie, Jack, James, Sophie, Jess & the Specialist teachers