22/7/2016
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to Term 3 ready for a great term full of new and exciting challenges. Please view your
child’s digital portfolio and return the goal setting sheet if you have not already done so.
Literacy:
In Literacy we are continuing to focus on further developing your child’s comprehension skills and
strategies in Reading. We are continuing to follow the CAFÉ Reading approach. CAFÉ is an acronym for
Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expand Vocabulary. We will pay particular attention to comprehension
skills such as cause and effect, comparing and contrasting. In Writing, we will continue exploring how to
use language effectively to write for a purpose, such as to present information through reports related to the
RE/Inquiry unit. We will work on extending student’s vocabulary to broaden their use of descriptive words
and phrases, as well as using visual imagery to write in a variety of genres. We will continue a varied
spelling program, providing a range of different spelling activities to cater for the different types of spellers.
Mathematics:
In Maths we will continue to investigate multiplication facts (times tables) and relate the common facts such
as x2, x3, x5 and x10, x11. We will also focus on various multiplication computation strategies and the
relationship between multiplication and division. We will continue to revise addition and subtraction and the
efficient strategies used when calculating equations. While investigating the 4 operations, the children will
relate these processes to everyday problem solving situations, including the use of money. We will also
cover the measurement and geometry concepts of location and angles.
Inquiry /Religious Education:
Our Inquiry unit ‘Creation Caretakers - Feathers, Fur and Flora’ is about Life, driven by the question, ‘What
are my responsibilities as a steward of creation?’ We will be exploring our responsibilities as citizens of the
planet and how we can play our part to take care of our immediate environment. We also will explore the
relationship between animals and their habitat needs and their wellbeing. To help develop a greater
understanding of this, we will be going on an excursion to the Melbourne Zoo in week 5, to focus on animal
enclosures and their habitats.
Once again our Inquiry will be integrated with Religious Education. We will learn about the Catholic Social
Teachings with a strong focus on ‘Stewardship of Creation’. As the Year 4s will be celebrating the
Sacrament of Eucharist for the first time, we will explore the change that Eucharist can bring to us, the
communal and celebratory nature of the Eucharist. We will learn how stories are used in the Bible to teach
God’s message, e.g. Luke 22: 13–20 The Institution of the Lord’s Supper and the Creation stories of
Genesis. We will learn that we are created in God’s image, with free will, yet with the responsibility to be
caretakers of God’s creation.
Homework:
The homework format has changed to a grid but the content has remained mainly the same. The assigned
tasks will be over a two week period. At this stage, we still would like them to submit their homework books
every week. The students must bring their homework book to school on Friday so we can monitor their
progress.
Please continue to read through your child’s homework with them. Check and sign your child’s homework
each week and encourage them to take pride in their work. Students will continue to paste a hard copy of
their homework in their books, and a copy will be available to view in your child’s Google Classroom.
Please ask your child to share their Google password with you as students will be sharing their work on
their site more regularly throughout the semester. Remember that your child should be reading every night
for at least 15 minutes.
Physical Education: Kristina Van Oesterum
Alongside the Rio Olympics, students will experience a variety of world sports within the topic, Jogos
Olimpicos (Spanish for Olympic Games). Games may include Badminton, Basketball, Fencing, Football,
Handball, Hockey, Rugby Sevens, Table Tennis, Tennis and Volleyball. This unit focuses on broadening
students’ understanding and experiences and will include skill activities required to play these sports, as well
as modified games and officiating.
Students will recognise individual strengths and limitations and they identify characteristics that make them
unique. They will compare different sports in the Olympics, the skills involved in them, and how to improve
some of their own fundamental movement skills, such as catching, striking and overarm throwing.
This unit focuses on broadening students’ understanding and experiences and learning how to participate
with the Olympic values: respect, excellence and friendship and the paralympic values: determination,
courage, equality and inspiration.
Performing Arts: Serena Jordan-Monroe
The Performing Arts provides students with an opportunity to explore music, dance and drama through
hands-on experiences in a variety of contexts. These contexts include both individual and group responses,
which build students’ confidence, social skills and body awareness. Students learn about musical
instruments and notation as required, learn to sing safely, express themselves dramatically, undertake
dance routines and respond to different media. This allows students to be creative and learn valuable skills
which are transferable to all areas of the school curriculum, such as problem-solving and teamwork.
This Term, the Year 3 students will continue to rehearse their song and dance routine for the school
concert, the “Pirate Cantata.” Their songs are: Farewell to the Treasure (3S) and The Ship That Never
Returned (3T). The school concert will take place on Monday 12th September at Kilbreda College,
Mentone. It is an amazing opportunity for students to showcase their learning and perform to a live
audience.
Library: Helena Graham
During term 3 the main focus for students will be to engage in activities to prepare for and experience the
Children’s Book Council of Australia Book Week. The emphasis will be on literature appreciation with
students exploring the short listed books in the Early Childhood, Picture Story and Non - fiction categories.
Students will learn about and discuss these features of the books: language and vocabulary, story
development, illustrations, layout and design, which combine to create an exceptional book. Students will
compare elements from these books to form opinions and justify opinions these with examples. They will
have the opportunity to respond creatively in either written or pictorial form.
Art: Kelley Dellazzeri
During Term 3, students in level 3 and 4 will revisit the routines of the art studio and behaviours of a good
artist. They will learn about the life and key features of the artist Salvador Dali and how dreams can be
interpreted into artworks and the Art of the Surrealists. Through this investigation students will develop
knowledge and art language related to the different elements of art including shape, line and colour. In this
unit students will make personal connections with works of art that express thoughts and feelings by
looking at the way, The Surrealists expressed reality through dreams. Each lesson encourages students to
make personal connections with their emotions and through this they will manipulate materials to create
their own Dali inspired artwork. Students will develop art-appropriate language to discuss their own and
others art work. They will reflect on their own work in self- assessment and identify areas of strength and
weakness so they can continue to developing their skills.
Japanese: Yumiko Aiki
The focus topic for year 3 students in term 3 will be “School”. Students will learn to recognise, read and
write the symbols for each year level at school, as well as the names of some of the school facilities, such as
“classroom”, “library” and “school office”, in hiragana, katakana and kanji. At the end of the term, students
will participate in group presentations about our school, based on their learning.
Students will be assessed on their Japanese skills over the course of the term.
Early in the term students will celebrate Tanabata, Japan’s annual Start Festival”, by decorating and writing
their names and wishes on colourful strips of paper called “tanzaku”. These strips will then be used to
decorate the classroom, before being taken home to show their parents.
Students will be age appropriately assessed on their Japanese skills over the course of the term.
Warm Regards,
Gene Trutsch and Vince Spano