Grade 3

What’s Happening in Term 2 – 2022

Inquiry Term 2

This term in inquiry, grade three students will be learning about the Earth, moon and sun. We will be exploring the importance of the sun and the moon and how they affect the earth. Students will expand their knowledge about day and night, the concept of a year, and the changing of the seasons. We will also be focusing on the 21CLD skills of collaboration and self-regulation. They will achieve this through independent and small group projects and investigations.

Writing Term 2

In writing, we will be building on our skills from last term and improving our craft through persuasive writing.  Students will be covering a range of topics such as ‘Should you watch a movie at home or at the cinemas?’ and ‘Outdoor play is better than indoor play’. Through whole class discussion and partner sharing, students will develop convincing reasons to persuade their readers. They will work towards planning three strong reasons with clear examples and details to support their arguments. Students will learn to write persuasive texts, which include a clear introduction with topic information and a personal opinion, three reasons with evidence to support their opinion and a conclusion. They will learn to use a range of persuasive devices with greater control to convince the reader of their opinion. Towards the end of the term we will use picture story books to develop transactional writing skills by writing letters and invitations. We will continue to work on revising and editing strategies throughout the term and an understanding of spelling strategies to improve writing pieces.

Reading Term 2

In reading, we are focusing on inferring meaning when reading. Students are taught to use text clues and their prior knowledge to infer what the author wanted them to know but didn’t tell them directly in words. We will also investigate strategies we use to learn new vocabulary in our reading. Later in the term, we will focus on the comprehension strategy of reorganisation where students need to connect multiple pieces of information across a text to answer questions. Students will work in guided reading groups using a range of fiction and nonfiction texts including class book sets, clips, picture story books, articles and BTN videos.

Maths Term 2

For number, students will use their knowledge of place value to find unknown quantities in addition and subtraction number sentences and equations. They will learn a range of mental and written strategies, like partitioning and the vertical algorithm, as well as improve their automatic recall of basic number facts. Students will deepen their understanding of the connection between addition and subtraction. The grade three students will be encouraged to explain and show their mathematical thinking when solving problems.

For applied, we are focusing on location. Students will be taught to use simple scales, legends and directions to interpret information contained in basic maps. In the second half of the term, we will move onto measurement, specifically looking at mass, volume and capacity. Students will learn to estimate, measure and compare results. They will also learn to select and accurately use the most appropriate measuring tool for their purpose. Throughout applied lessons, students are developing their capacity to solve problems and use mathematical skills in a range of contexts.