Year 3 Specialist News - Term 3

Visual Arts

The Term 3 Unit of Inquiry is called 'Inventions through Art and Kinetic Sculpture', which integrates with the Transdisciplinary Theme- 'How the world works'. 

The Unit focuses on the imaginative world of invention depicted in Art and Kinetic Sculpture. An exploration of art through the ages that addressed invention and movement inspired by the artists Leonardo Da Vinci, Marcel Duchamp, Theo Jansen, M.C Esher, Jean Tinguely and Rueben Margolin.  

Students Create

• Illustrations and watercolours inspired by the kinetic sculptures of Tinguley.  This involved developing design, showing motion using line and pattern. 
• Printmaking depicting a robot design- Students explored scale, shape, negative and positive space. 
• Construction of a robot. Focus on originality of form and the use of balanced colour to further highlight the sculpture. 
• Illustration of a head profile incorporating the imaginative world of an inventor’s inside workings of the brain. They applied affective use of colour pencil using tone and form. 

Language (Japanese)  

Term Focus & Topics 

Endangered animals of Japan. 

PYP Unit of Inquiry

'Sharing the planet'.  

Survival of a species is dependent on its environmental conditions.

Concepts: responsibility, causation   

Lines of Inquiry  

• Species in danger of becoming extinct.  
• Factors affecting the survival of some species.    

 The Students Will Be Able To      

• Explain what endangered animals that Japan has and tell where they live in Japan.    
• Tell why the animals are in danger and tell what Japanese people do to protect them.    
• Say and spell the names of the endangered animals in Japanese.  
• Make a poster (a drawing and spelling) of a Japanese endangered animal.  
• Sing an animal song in Japanese (GENKOTSU YAMA NO TANUKI SAN; a racoon dog song).  
• Listen to an old story of Japan (a racoon and a tea kettle) and tell what happens in the story.   

Physical Education 

The Term 3 unit we are focusing on is 'Where we are in place and time'. 

Focus

Athletics- Distance and Sprint runs, Hurdling, Long Jump, High Jump, Discus and Shot Put. Use these skills to participate in the House Athletics competition.  

Students will look at different Invasion games – Soccer and Rugby and some striking games to clarify how all sports involve different types of techniques of play and rules. How these games have developed over time and how we can adapt the game to suit needs of different skill levels. 

Concepts: connection – connecting different skills taught and how they can be implemented into invasion games. How can we change a game to work for a particular skill taught? 

Learner Profile Attributes: Risk taker – Having a positive approach to unfamiliar situations and games.  

Music 

The focus this term will be on students showing responsibility as they work together in teams and on displaying a caring and openminded attitude, as they observe other class members taking risks in improvisation and seeing them incorporate original ideas into their performances. 

Students Will

• Use their imaginations and creativity to explore various music elements, using bucket drums and other found sounds. 
• Experiment with and explore different musical possibilities through listening, singing and playing. 
• Take risks as they present performances to their peers. 
• Recognise various forms in music (or the patterns within songs) and decide on one to use in their own composition. 
• View a live performance called ‘Two Wheeled Time Machine’. Students will reflect on their learning and experience and incorporate their ideas into their class compositions.  
• Develop skills in improvisation over and within a known song. 
• Form a connection and understanding of remote communities, as they work towards a whole school performance, to raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. 
• View several video clips which combine inventions with music. 
• Sing songs connected to their Unit of Inquiry 

 Library

The children are timetabled weekly, to borrow books from the Library with their classroom teachers. During these borrowing sessions, they will gain a better understanding of Library locations and the borrowing/returning procedures. 

The focus will be on reading for enjoyment, interest and information. The children will have the opportunity to consolidate their literacy skills and further their development in literature appreciation. 

The Library program also supports and extends the units of inquiry being studied in each year level and provides classrooms with resources to enrich the units offering varied forms of information.