Year 3

Literacy

Reading

The grade 3’s started the year by re-igniting their passion for reading after the holidays and creating their classroom libraries that are filled with just right texts and books of interest. From then on, we focused on Inferring, where students learnt and explained the literal and implied meanings from texts. Students are able to identify the key message of a text and infer characters feelings, traits and their motivations. Throughout the unit, students justified their inferences by using evidence from the text and their prior knowledge. 

Writing 

We started the year by completing a writer’s workshop to spark creativity and build a bank of seed ideas for future writing. The grade 3’s then moved onto writing Narrative Texts. We began by unpacking what sorts of things need to be included such as characters, setting, problem and solution. Students worked through the writing process of planning, drafting, editing and publishing; highlighting the control that they develop over the structure and language used. Students used a range of print and digital resources to gather information to form a comprehensive text. It has been great to read all of their creative and interesting stories. Well done grade 3! 

Numeracy

Throughout term 1, the grade 3’s covered several units. We started the year by focusing on Time, students are able to identify o’clock, half past and quarter past time. We then did 2 weeks of patterns and algebra, looking at our counting patterns.  We then moved onto Place Value where students learnt to build , record and name numbers using MAB up to 10 000. We finished off the term learning about data. Students were asked to compare and interpret data displays. The grade 3s have done a brilliant job this term.

Inquiry

The Grade 3 students have had a terrific start to Inquiry this year! 

We started the term with our Learning to Learn unit, where we worked on developing a Growth Mindset. We looked at the Power of Yet and that it is okay to make mistakes because they help us learn. The students used their knowledge of the Power of Yet to help them set their own SMART goal for Inquiry this term. We also explored character strengths with each student identifying and celebrating their own character strengths by creating a page for their class book titled, “It’s good to be me because…” 

We started our next unit, Stay Safe in Week 5. During this unit, the students investigated how they can be safe at home by creating a home fire escape plan, how they can be safe at school through roleplaying different scenarios and how they can be safe in the community. We explored road safety, water safety, being safe with medicines and other dangerous substances, and how to stay safe at shopping centres, parks, and on playgrounds. The students demonstrated a solid understanding of the strategies they can use to ensure that they stay safe in various situations. 

Well done Grade 3 students! Mrs Marshall 

The grade 3 teachers would like to congratulate you all on a fantastic start to grade 3! Have a restful break and we will see you in term 2. 

Mrs Bird, Miss Waldron, Mr Armstrong and Miss Foundalis

Science

Grade 3’s We have had a fun start to the year, examining the criteria scientists use to determine if something is living, non-living or once living such as breathing, eating, excreting etc. 

The students have also been identifying common observable features of animals to assist in classifying them including vertebrates, invertebrates, fur, feathered or have scales. They have also played the role of animal detectives, searching through leaves at school for the creatures that live there. 

As term 1 draws to a close, enjoy the holiday break and I look forward to seeing everyone in Term 2.

Art

Grade 3 and 4 The 3/4 students started the semester by decorating their art folios. They each have chosen a design that best reflects themselves, drawing on techniques to create their designs; such as bubble writing and use of primary, secondary and complementary colours. 

The 3-4 students have also been working with collage; an art technique that uses torn pieces of paper and images to paste and create a design. This ‘all about me’ project displays the interests of each student, by using; words, images and photos from magazines and newspapers to make a design.

A new area that we are currently working on with grade 3-4 is Monochromatic Art - which means shading with one colour. The students have designed a face using different pressures of the pencil to create light and dark shades of one colour. The idea is to ensure that students understand the importance of using light and dark shades in Art to create tint and shadow. 

The 3/4 students have been using a range of materials including; Posca paint pens, sharpies, pencils, textas, paper, paste and crayons. It has been a fun and creative time with the 3/4 students and we are finally back into the art room!

PE

For term 1 the grade 3 students focused on the sport of tennis and particularly on the fundamental motor skills of striking, throwing and catching. 

Through this term students became aware of hotshots’ tennis which is the interschool sport tennis program, that in grade 5/6 they will potentially get the opportunity to play, students became aware of the court dimensions and some of the rules for this form of tennis. 

For the student’s skill acquisition, they have been introduced to and have developed a forehand strike of a tennis ball and a backhand strike of a tennis ball, these are the two most common strikes during tennis, the students have worked on these strikes and can successfully show both. Students have then engaged in a rally of at least 5 shots with a partner. 

The grade 3 student group has shown great progress this term and has been a joy to teach, congratulations on a successful term 1 and looking forward to building on different skills in term 2.     

LOTE (Chinese)

In term 1, Grades 3 started with Chinese New Year. We learned how to pronounce the Year of the tiger and some best wishes that Chinese people normally spoke during Chinese New Year. 

We have learned about the culture behind Chinese New year, such as when Chinese people celebrate it, why people celebrate it and what people normally do during Chinese New Year. After this, we learned how to pronounce a bunch of fruit names in Chinese, which included the King and Queen of the fruit (Durian and Mangosteen) and some other most common fruits that you can purchase from the supermarket. 

Now we are learning about how to pronounce and write the Chinese zodiac animal. The photos below included the handcraft —paper dragons that Grade 3 students made when we were learning the Chinese zodiac animal and some of the work done by students who were using cubes to show Chinese characters when we were learning the name of the fruit.