Year Three News
Written by the Year Three Team
Dear Year Three families,
On behalf of all the Year Three teaching staff, we want to thank and congratulate all families for being so resilient during what has been a difficult term. The attitudes of students have been incredible, and all families deserve credit for how hard everyone has been working. As this is the last week of Term Three, we will be having a celebration on Friday to reward students for how hard they have worked.
Reading
In Reading, students began learning a new complex comprehension strategy called ‘Synthesising’. Synthesising is the concept of changing your opinion after viewing a text. Students were engaged in reading activities that asked them to discuss their initial reaction to a text, then reflect on how they felt about it after completing their reading. This allowed students to use previous comprehension skills of inferring, predicting and questioning to synthesise new thoughts on texts. Moving forward, we encourage all students to have discussions with their parents about the books they are reading. Comprehension is such an important skill for any reader. Finally, we want to congratulate all the students who finished the Premier’s Reading Challenge and encourage those that haven’t yet, to read and record as many books as you can. The reading challenge finishes on the last day of Term Three.
Writing
This week saw Year Three students begin their new unit of writing on Procedural texts. During WebEx sessions, students shared their prior knowledge of these texts, which they were able to use to spend time identifying and discussing the various elements that make up a procedural text. Students have been able to understand the importance of these texts and how the steps undertaken need to be in sequential order. Students also got a chance to do their favourite writing task, creating writing seeds. These seeds will give students ideas and this week, students began writing their own procedural text using guidance from their classroom teacher. Students are encouraged to record down any recipes or instructions they come across at home and write a procedural text for them!
Mathematics
In Mathematics, the Year Three students have started to unpack their new unit of learning on Measurement. This unit will connect student learning in Writing and Inquiry. Students have begun exploring methods of measurement and discussing the importance of using measurement and applying these skills to real-life situations. This week, students have been introduced to formal and informal methods of measurement with a focus on length. Students walked around their houses or classroom and measured items using rulers or tape measures. They began to use the words such as centimetres and metres to identify how long something is. This week we will begin to look at perimeter and how we can solve problems involving length.
Inquiry
The Year Three cohort have successfully launched into our new Unit of inquiry, ‘How the World Works’ focusing on the Central Idea, ‘Forces effect the movement of objects’. To provoke student thinking, the Year Threes participated in an experiment, testing the movement of objects on different surfaces and noting down their observations. Students then went on to list their wonderings and unpack our Central Idea. Moving forward, students will look at defining forces, and the different things that impact objects movement including Gravity and Friction. Next term, they will get a chance to investigate simple machines and how they make our lives easier!
The teachers were so proud of the students work for their provocation day! Take a look at this video of the best moments from the provocation.
We wish all Year Threes and their families a happy and safe holiday and are looking forward to what Term Four will bring!
Kind Regards,
Year Three teaching team
Matt Symmons, Charlotte Harper, Sidra Fatima, James Peterson and Susan de Lange