Year 3
English
Reading
This term in reading the Grade 3 students have been learning how to summarise fiction and nonfiction texts. The Grade 3’s have worked hard to incorporate note taking and paraphrasing skills to support them in being able to give and record summaries about texts we have read. During this unit students have also been building on the skills in determining important information, inferring, and identifying and understanding text structures and features of both fiction and non-fiction genres.
Writing
Students began this term learning about Persuasive writing. The Grade 3’s have learnt about the structure of a persuasive text and constructed their own, including persuasive letters. When writing persuasive texts, the students have included a variety of language features such as high modality words and emotive language to persuade the reader.
During this unit the students have enjoyed debating different topics to practise their opinions and reasoning. Towards the end of the term the students have been learning how to write their own poetry. The unit has focused on free verse, Haiku and Cinquain poems as well as poetic devices such as onomatopoeia, metaphors, similes and alliteration.
Mathematics
This term in Maths we have been focusing on a variety of topics. The term began with a short topic on angles.
The students thoroughly enjoyed exploring acute, obtuse and right angles around the classroom. During our length unit the Grade 3’s started to explore measuring lengths with formal units of centimetres and metres. Whilst learning about addition and subtraction the students have been using a range of strategies to solve problems such as counting on, the jump strategy, bridging to 10, and doubles and near doubles. Students have begun to identify the connection between addition and subtraction by learning about fact families. To finish off the term, the Grade 3’s will be measuring mass. They will begin using formal units of grams and kilograms.
Science
This term Grade 3 had the opportunity to investigate the planet Earth in relation to the solar system. Students compared the relative sizes of the the Sun, planets and their moons and how their movements relate to commonly used timescales such as nights, days and years. Additionally, students learnt that opaque objects placed in-between rays of light cause shadows and students experimented using torches on how shadows can change position and size. After a successful term 2, it’s time for a well-deserved break. Enjoy the holidays!
LOTE - Chinese
Congratulations Grade 3 learners by finishing your term 2 Chinese learning so successfully. In this term, we started with reviewing what we have learnt in term 1. Then we learned how to pronounce different family members in Chinese, including both nuclear family members and extended family members.
Meanwhile, we learnt how to introduce family members by using their own photos or by their drawings. Another thing we learnt in family member topics is how to say ‘I love you xxxx (e.g. dad, mum)’ in Chinese. After this, we learnt how to pronounce different 2D shapes in Chinese, such as oval, square, rhombus and so on. Here are the photos about the activities we did during our learning time.
Art
Term two has been all about colour theory, and we have had a great term getting messy in the art room!
We started the semester using warm and cool colours. The students used the colour wheel; mixing and separating to understand how and why colours work together. The students built on their warm and cool learnings and re-created an Autumn design. They experimented with paint, using q-tips: creating dots and lines, to make a bright and beautiful autumn leaves design. In this case ‘warm colours’, played a vital role in their design particularly to create a sense of time and mood.
The students have now started working with crayon and paint, this time to replicate a painting of one of the great artists, Vincent Van Gogh, and re-creating his famous ‘sunflowers’. Creating the sunflowers will build on their knowledge of using Monochromatic colours using hues and tones of yellow.
This semester the students have worked with mediums, such as acrylic paint, water colour, glue, chalk and pastel, and will learn new techniques and methods.
It has been a fun time in the art room this Term with the grade 3 and 4 students.
P.E.
During term 2 the grade 3 students have focused on the sport of basketball and being able to apply the skills required for basketball in a games-based approach. This is where students were asked to apply the skills into game situations. Students during this unit of work participated in small-sided games of 3 v 3 basketball and applied all the relevant skills linked to the sport of basketball. Students were able to use some prior learning to help them with this and achieve successful outcomes. At the end of this unit on basketball, all grade 3 students have had the opportunity to show their ability to bounce, pass, and shoot a basketball and were all able to play small-sided games. Next during term 2 students in grade 3 worked on the fundamental skill of running as it applies to athletics. Students are now able to use correct running form, conduct a relay running race and partake in a hurdles athletic event. The last part of the term saw students be introduced to shot-put and discus throwing, how to correctly throw each of them with correct technique. This term was heaps of fun and all students enjoyed themselves throughout. I had a great time teaching the grade 3 students and can’t wait to continue our learning next term. Congratulations grade 3 on a great term!