Mathematics
We are looking at different strategies for addition and subtraction. This week we have focused on using column algorithms with regrouping. The students have been measuring their heights and comparing these with others in the class. We have worked out if all the girls or all the boys are tallest. Ask your child which it is for their class! To tie this into our science inquiry some students have also been researching and comparing their height to the largest land animal, or dinosaur or sea creature.
Bringing school to home: Before we have been measuring we have also been estimating. Encourage your child to find objects around your house that are as close to 30cm as possible (without actually measuring) They say that our thumb nails are approximately 1cm.
Science
We had a wonderful trip to Ocean Park to finish our unit on living things. The students collected information about the animals at Ocean Park, like what they need to eat for nutrients and how they respond to their environments. They finished their final piece of work for the unit on Seesaw. Be sure to check it out! This week, we are starting our new unit, Earth and Space science. Students will be describing their initial thoughts on how day and night occurs.
Bringing learning home: Ask your child to explain to you how they believe day and night occurs. See how their thinking changes over the next few weeks!
Reading
We are learning about the concept of perspective and looking at ideas from different points of view. For example, we have been looking at positives and negatives of animals being used for entertainment. They are using a variety of sources of information (infographics, persuasive texts, information books and their own prior knowledge or experience) to summarise the different information and then draw their own conclusions.
Bringing learning home: Discuss different ideas from both perspectives eg if on a bus. What are the benefits of having public transport? What are the negatives? Repeat for different things as you experience them eg eating out, having pets, travelling using planes, rain storms etc.
Kathryn Troy (Head of Year 3), Thomas Mclean, Megan O’Connor and Simone Maclay