GRADE 3
GRADE 3 TERM 1 CURRICULUM NEWS 2020
GENERAL
Welcome to the 2020 school year! The Grade 3 students have all settled in nicely to their new learning spaces. The staff and students are excited to be back and there’s a really nice ‘feel’ in the air as we move into our first term together. This year the Grade 3 Team will be Mrs Tracey Hall (3TH), Mr Leigh Robinson (3LR), Mr Austin Robinson (3AR), Mr Damien Schmidt (3DS) and Mrs Catherine Dowling (3CD).
The students and staff are very keen to start using the iPads at school. In order for this to occur, we are requiring the technicians to get every individual iPad onto the school network. Once this has happened, apps from our school package will be deployed onto each device. It’s important to have your iTunes account signed in so that these apps can be deployed successfully. We do ask that all students leave their iPads at home until instructed by their teacher to bring it to school. If a student has not returned the iPad forms (received the pack in 2019), they are not allowed to bring their device to school. No iPads can be used until all student forms are returned.
Students are not to use messaging or calling functions on their iPads during school hours. We please ask that parents refrain from contacting their children in this way during the school day. If you wish to contact your child, please use Compass to contact your classroom teacher, as Compass continues to be our main form of communication. Alternatively, you can contact the office directly. New Department of Education guidelines stipulate that no mobile phones or smart watches can be used on the school premises during school hours. For further details please refer to the policy documents on Compass and the Lara Lake PS website.
In Grade 3, we seriously encourage and support the students with building independence and resilience. With this independence, students will be expected to manage their belongings, time and personal awareness. We kindly ask that you support this at home. We also ask that you discuss the importance of completing homework tasks on time and transporting the new iPad to and from school safely.
We look forward to working together to best support your child during their time in Grade 3 at Lara Lake. Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.
LITERACY
This term, we are focusing on empowering students with the knowledge and ability to select ‘Just Right’ books—books or texts that suit the individual needs of our students. They have been familiarising themselves with their own student-driven Classroom Library, and learning to utilise the features of this incredible resource. Their Reading Journals will serve as a tool to track their individual goals and daily reading, while the Reading Response section will enable students to provide evidence of how they are working towards achieving their goals. In Writing, the students will be exploring the Writer’s Workshop. Our Writer’s Notebooks will be used to collect and record exciting ‘Seed Ideas’ for a range of writing genres and they will be able to personalise the cover to reflect their interests. We are very much looking forward to supporting them in their writing this term!
NUMERACY
In Mathematics this term, the children will learn about a range of concepts, skills and strategies. They will also focus on recalling basic number facts quickly and accurately (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).
Children will understand the purpose for learning these skills and strategies and how they are linked to everyday life.
Families can support at home by encouraging your child to practise playing games involving counting and number facts, and providing opportunities for your child to access Mathletics on a regular basis. We encourage you to set up a home routine to practise quick recall of the 2, 5 and 10 times tables along with the related division fact (i.e. 2 x 5 = 10 and 10 ÷ 5 = 2).
Mathletics: www.mathletics.com.au
Hit the Button: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
INQUIRY
During Term 1, students in Grade 3 will be using their iPad and working collaboratively for our topic, ‘Living and Learning Together’. As part of this unit, students will learn about learning independently, within a classroom community and understanding that everyone operates differently. This inquiry unit is heavily structured around our ‘Play is the Way’ program. Students will participate in many discussions and games as well as engage in a team-building incursion with the goal to:
- Identify the importance of including others in activities, groups and games
- Describe the ways in which similarities and differences can affect relationships
- Explore the expression of emotions in social situations and the impact on self and others.
Students will have the opportunity to become familiar with effective research strategies involving the iPad and other resources, and experiment with ways to organise their information.