Year 3

Reading

This term in reading the students will be working on asking questions about the texts they are reading or texts that they are having read to them in class. The students will be working on asking questions to clarify, predict, make inferences (judgements) and extend their thinking as they are  reading. We will be working with students to identify the difference between ‘thick’ and ‘thin’ questions so that they can practise asking a range of different questions while reading. The students will also be determining how their questions about a text were answered (whether they needed to infer the answer from the text, use their prior knowledge or gather information from an outside source).

Writing

In writing this term the students will be working on understanding the structure of an information report. They will be learning to record their  wonderings about different topics and researching these topics based on questions of interest. The students will explore the features of an  information report, including titles, general statements, descriptions, conclusions, subheadings and diagrams with their teacher and will participate in modelled writing sessions to help them understand the structure. The students will be given time to plan their own information report and  research a topic of interest before they have a go at writing their own. The students will be following the writing process of planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing their writing. Throughout term three the grade three students will also be focusing on how to write procedural texts. They will be unpacking the structure of a procedural text with their teacher to help them understand that a procedural text is made up of a title, goal, materials/ingredients, numbered steps, subheadings, and illustrations. The students will participate in modelled sessions so that they can be exposed to how they can write their own procedural text using the correct structure. The students will then be given time to write their own procedural text on a topic of their choice.

Maths

In maths this term the students will be working on telling the time to the nearest five minutes and to the nearest minute using both digital and analogue clocks. The students will also be having a focus on ‘Data and Probability’, which will help build their understanding of how to create column and picture graphs and make statements about the data that has been collected. The students will also be conducting experiments that involve chance and will be ordering words that are linked to chance in order of probability. 

The major focus in maths this term will be ‘Multiplication and Division. The students will practise using different representations of a problem to help them recall multiplication facts, for example, creating an array, writing a number sentence or using materials. Throughout this unit the students will be building their understanding of the multiplication facts for 2,3,4,5 and 10 and their related division facts. At the end of term three, the students will also be completing a unit on ‘Location and Transformation’ where they will experience making and interpreting grid maps. The students will also be identifying the lines of symmetry in shapes and natural objects and showing and describing slides and turns.

 Inquiry 

In Term 3, our Grade 3 learners will be exploring a topic called, ‘Roam If You Want To’. The key understanding for this unit is: ‘European settlement had a major and lasting impact on the lives of the Indigenous people of Australia.’

Students will work on their research skills as they inquire into why the great explorations occurred and why Europeans settled in Australia. They will have access to a selection of websites and videos from which they can search for the answers to their questions and take notes. Students will also build and deepen their understandings of the nature and consequence of contact between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and early traders, explorers and settlers. Our Grade 3 students will explore how life was for the Indigenous Australians before European settlement and compare this to how life changed when the Europeans established a penal colony in Botany Bay. Students will then synthesise their notes and findings to create a final assessment piece that shows the causes and effects of European settlement on an Australian area.

Art

Term 3 will start with the 3/4 students finishing off their colour theory unit. Their beautiful ‘Cityscapes’ incorporating warm and cool colours, will soon be displayed with bold and bright colours throughout the school. The students will then be learning to design using lines. Lines play an important part in Art and design and they create a foundation for drawing. The grade 3/4 students have been involved in choosing some of the activities for this term, some of which include; Zen tangle drawing, Anime drawing, Aboriginal Art, Still life design and Graffiti Art. The students will be exposed to a variety of different practical skills to help them incorporate lines in their artwork, to help create maximum design effect. The students will also be focusing on enhancing their work's meaning to an audience through display. An added benefit to learning practical drawing, is that it helps to improve fine motor skills in children, which supports other areas of the curriculum. In addition to our line unit, the students will incorporate pattern and shape to their designs this term. I look forward to broadening horizons with a fun and creative art program for all to enjoy. 

LOTE

Welcome back to another exciting term! In term 3, students in years three and four will learn to use the sentence structure to express simple likes and dislikes. They will use Chinese to write a dialogue: “which country do you want to go to?” “I want to go to …”. The students will use

 Chinese to say and write “today’s weather”.  They will also learn to create basic questions, for example: Where do you like to go? Do you like summer? Do you like rainy days? etc.

PE

Welcome back grades 3 students to another exciting term of Physical Education! Throughout term 3 we will be learning about Australian Rules Football and how to use our skills in order to develop some game sense scenarios and drills to be able to understand how AFL players move the ball to other players on their team. We will be learning about Rugby and how to pass and begin to understand the offside rule when playing rugby, we will touch base again with our hockey as we did a lot of our two handed strikes in term 1 and finally we

 will be finishing with Gymnastics where we will be able to try out our own gymnastics routines as a class. This term we will be pushing to conduct more fair play and team sports to get students ready for their upper primary years.

Science 

Welcome back grade 3’s to a fun filled Semester 2 in STEM. This term, the grade 3’s will continue to focus on developing their problem solving, critical and creative thinking. The start of Term 3 sees the students investigating the engineering design process as they plan, create and test their straw roller-coaster designs.  

The second half of term 3 will see the students focussing on Physical Science, including three types of energy that produce heat - electrical, kinetic, and chemical. Students will identify primary and secondary heat sources in the 

classroom and at home and also investigate the conductivity of different materials.Term 3 in STEM will be full of hands-on, fun and creative learning activities – it’s going to be a real roller-coaster of a term!  

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