Yr3 Curriculum Update – 21/09/18
Working together to achieve success for every child
Welcome to our 3rd edition!
In each update, the Year 3 Team will bring you snapshots of what your children in Year Three have been up to every 2 weeks. You will see a variety of learning experiences exemplifying learning which is fun, exciting, challenging, innovative and/or creative…and whatever they are, we know that your child has worked really hard to get there and should you have the chance, you may want to share this newsletter with your child to find out the juicy details and discuss the great learning they have been doing!
Transdisciplinary Learning – It’s all connected!
How we express ourselves : ‘Artists can use scientific principles to create’
The students have been finding out what it is like to be a scientist!
From their previous inquiry of identifying lights around the schools, the students have been sorting and classifying this information to come to their own conclusions that lights can be either artificial (made by man) or natural (made by the earth).
This has led the students to inquire into the question:
How does light travel?
The students followed the scientific inquiry cycle, made hypothesis’ and carried out an experiment in the Dance studio to answer this question! Using their observational skills, testing their hypothesis’, asking and answering questions, the students found out that light travels in a straight line!
The experiment: Students used paper with holes poked through the middle and a torch to test their hypothesis of how light travels.
Students working collaboratively on the experiment and using their observational and communication skills to inquire into how light travels (in a straight line!)
Literacy
In literacy the students have been exploring their writing stamina and nonfiction text features.
The students have been exploring topics that they can write about and the purpose behind their pieces of writing. By using the process of writing, students have been brainstorming their ideas, writing and reflecting on their writing goals with their peers.
In addition, they have been exploring the features of a nonfiction text and have found out that nonfiction texts can have tables, maps, photographs, captions, fact boxes, contents, and headings (just to name a few!) etc.
Students choosing their own nonfiction books for guided reading and recording and discussing what features they found within their chosen text with the group.
Maths
In maths, the students have started to explore Place Value and have used different tools in the classroom to help support them with this concept We found out that the Base 10, numicon, tens frames and number charts all have a pattern of 10 which shows that this is a very special number in mathematics, as it helps us to skip count and is the rule for when numbers change from a one, to a ten to a hundred!
The math equipment (picture above) students have been exploring in their own classrooms to support them with place value.
The math equipment (picture above) students have been exploring in their own classrooms to support them with place value.
Students have continued to explore this concept by playing the trading game where students use the Base 10 system to race to 20, 200 or 2000!
The rule of the game is to use a dice to get to an end number (i.e. 2000), where they must exchange the ones when it gets to 10 to a 10 piece, then exchange the tens when it gets to 100 and then exchange a 100 pieces when the number gets to a 1000! It sounds complicated but it is really fun and supports students in seeing the value of each digit in a number and why we regroup them!
The rule of the game is to use a dice to get to an end number (i.e. 2000), where they must exchange the ones when it gets to 10 to a 10 piece, then exchange the tens when it gets to 100 and then exchange a 100 pieces when the number gets to a 1000! It sounds complicated but it is really fun and supports students in seeing the value of each digit in a number and why we regroup them!
At home you might like to…
- Set up the same light experiment and try it with your child!
- Talk about the library books your students are choosing: are they fiction or nonfiction? How do you know?
- Ask your child to teach you the place value trading game
CHINESE
In the Chinese classrooms, we continue to focus on the concept of wellbeing and providing different learning opportunities for children to explore their own interests and promote agentic learning.
Here is a glimpse of some of our classrooms:
Reminders
A few key reminders for students and parents:
- Please remind your child to pack his/her hat for school each day, as children who do not bring their hat will not be allowed to take part in snack or lunch play.
- There are extreme peanut allergies in Year 3, so please make sure your child does not bring nuts to school or eat peanut butter or nutella for breakfast before he/she heads to school.
- Please remind your child to pack his/her own cutlery as we do not provide extra sets of cutlery at school.
We Need your help!
If you have any old or unused magazines or newspapers, we would love to get our hands on them for some creative art lessons!
Library news
Like previous years, we will be working with Scholastic Asia to offer students the opportunity to order books from their catalogues. All book order forms from students are handed in to the library where we will centrally collect them and send to Scholastic. There will be a box by the front door where the book orders can be handed in.
Please note the deadlines and book delivery times below. We will not process orders after the order deadline.
| Sep | Jan | Mar | |
| Flyer to classrooms | 12/9/2018 | 14/1/2019 | 6/3/2019 |
| School order deadline | 19/9/2018 | 21/1/2019 | 13/3/2019 |
| Book delivery time | 19/10/2018 | 20/2/2019 | 12/4/2019 |
Key dates for the Diary
Monday 24 September -Staff Continuous Professional Development Day- No school
Tuesday 25 September- Mid Autumn Festival – No school
Wednesday 3rd October -Parent Workshop: Your Child and Technology
