Mathematics - Time

According to "NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum" by the end of Stage 2 the children will " read and record time in hours and minutes, convert between units of time, and solve simple problems involving the duration of time."
Over the next few weeks the children will investigate rich tasks organised to help develop their understanding of time. below you can find a blog about the task with a few photos.

In the classroom we have been learning about 'Time" like 2.14 and 10.12. We have discussed what an analog clock is and how to record on a digital clock. Today we also found out that AM means 'Ante Meridiem' and PM means 'Post Meridiem'. They are Latin words.
Most of us drew a clock with time on it. James showed us an easy way to draw an analog clock so the numbers are correctly positioned around it. Thanks James!

We have been discussing how we can use our five timestables when telling the time.

We are recording in digital time as well as analog time.

Mrs Standring talked to us about when to use AM and PM.

During number busting we busted the number 60 because there is 60 minutes in one hour and 60 seconds in one minute.

Cross Country Training

Physical Education is a very important part in everyone's life. It is essential that we participate in physical activity at a young age so as we get older we understand the positive affect it has on our bodies.
During the last few weeks the children have been training for our up coming Cross Country.

The children completed a post about their preparation.

Today Year 3 had sport and Peter came fourth in cross country practice.. For cross country practice we ran around the basketball court four times. After running we were exhausted. We were exhausted because we had to do a beep test.
First you line up and when the beep goes off we have to run to the other side before it beeps again. The time between the beeps gets shorter and shorts each time so you have to run faster. The aim is to improve your level. It is a good way to become fitter.

Peter received the sport's ward for coming fourth. Well done Peter!

Addition and Subtraction

During a numeracy block we always start with a warm up activity. This is a very important part of preparing the children to the concepts of place value, counting, addition and subtraction or multiplication and division. During the last few weeks the children have been concentrating on improving their mental strategies in the strand of Number focusing on addition and subtraction.
One of the activities we have been playing over the last few weeks is '100 or Bust'. The children have organised a blog this week on this game and have also recorded a video showing how to play the game.

Year 3 played 100 or bust.
You will need 10 bundles of 10. First you gather a group of people. We recommend 2 to 5 players. We had 10 bundles of 10. We rolled a dice and took that number away and said a number sentence. For example 100- 6 = 94. We repeat the first two steps until we have none left. We rotate in a clockwise direction. The person who takes the last object is the winner. You do not need to use paddle pop sticks you can use: buttons, lego pieces, pasta or straws.
By Thomas V, Daniel, Cassie, Elodie and Isobel C    PS Thank you

Dreamtime Stories

Imaginative Texts
 In accordance with the NSW English Syllabus the children in Stage 2 'plan, compose and review a range of texts that are more demanding in terms of topic, audience and language' (NSW Syllabus - Writing and Representing 1)
During the beginning of Term 1 the children were given the opportunity to investigate 'Dreamtime' stories during writing and reading lessons. With the help and guidance of Mrs Brett, Mrs Bayley , Miss Veling and Mrs Standring the children constructed a variety of 'Dreamtime' stories. The teachers used class time to model to the children how to plan the beginning, middle and ending of a narrative. They then talked to the children about visualising and adding pictures to it.

Finally the children were given the opportunity to plan their own 'Dreamtime' story.The children enjoyed planning, drafting and publishing their imaginative texts and focused on structure and sentences.
Enjoy reading their blog!
Dreamtime Stories
From Week 3 to Week 7, Year Three have been working on Dreamtime stories. They have written some themselves. Year Three are so proud of their 'Dreamtime stories. Some of the titles include: 'We're the Dreamtime Outback', ' How the Wolf got Its Fur', How the Platypus Got A Drink', 'How Snakes Got Very Long'. One of our favorites was 'How The Crows Became Black' written by Claudia. We have included a part of it below. Well Done Claudia!

In the dreamtime a cockatoo named Coco owned a dry grasshouse all the way on the coast of Australia. On hot summer night Coco set a party in her house. She invited two white crows, called Goona .......

Maybe you would like to read the rest of Claudia's story. They will be hanging up in our space until the end of term.

Lent a Time For Giving

St Patrick's Day

Throughout the year St Paul the Apostle students support many different charities. It is important for all children to understand the need for us to share or wealth with people of our world who are worse off than ourselves. We have many outreach programs running in our school and our wonderful Mini Vinnies Team work tirelessly to raise awareness of the many organisations that need our help.
One such organisation is CARITAS Australia. This amazing organisation raises awareness of social justice issues and equal rights for all people. During the period of Lent we encourage children to donate to this cause by adding small donations to the project compassion box, found on our prayer space.
Another way our the students support this cause was by wearing green and donating a gold coin. Throughout the week a St Patrick's colouring-in competition will also be on sale every recess and lunch for fifty cents. There are some great prizes for the winning entries. 
This week the children have organised a blog about St Patrick's day event. May God Bless you and we hope you enjoy the blog.
On Monday March 17 our school celebrated St Patrick's Day. We wore green clothing and brought in a gold coin donation, which went to CARITAS Australia. Some people entered a colouring in competition. Good luck for all the people who entered.
In class we also earned enough Do-good -dots to have an art afternoon. We stuck to the theme of St Patrick's Day and painted a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Mrs Bell, Mrs Misek and Mrs Lambert all had a touch of the Irish on St Patrick's Day.

First we designed and cut out a pot.

Then we added colour for our rainbows.

Lastly we added glitter paint for the gold.

Catholic Schools Week

More Than A Great Education

Catholic Schools Week is  currently being celebrated at our school. The main aim of Catholic Schools Week is to raise awareness of the wonderful opportunities that Catholic Schools provide and to celebrate our achievements. In particular it is a great way to showcase to our school and the wider community the wonderful work of our students.

This year's theme is 'More Than A Great Education'. Over the week we have a wide variety of activities organised and it is hoped you will be able to join us for some of them. We kicked off our celebrations on Friday night at the Sunset disco. Although it was hampered by the weather many of our community members braved the storm and joined in a night of dancing and eating pizza.
On Monday the staff and students participated in 'Get Up and Move', where they danced the day away to the hit song 'HAPPY'. Even Mr Greg Whitby (Executive Director of School Catholic Education Parramatta Diocese) and Mrs Marian Bell joined the dancing when he visited the Year Three classrooms in the afternoon.
Tuesday saw the parents and teachers share their favourite picture book. Wednesday we are showcasing our students talents in gymnastics. Parents are invited to attend their child's gymnastics lessons. Thursday the focus shifts to the Creative Arts with Mrs Leona Nash presenting a performance based on the 'Gingerbread Man'. The performance involves students from Kindy to Year Two, however everyone is invited to attend the performance. Our celebrations conclude on Friday with a whole school mass, open classrooms, picnic recess and finally our grade's assembly item.
The children will be writing blogs all week and we hope to publish them throughout the week.
You will find our first one below.

On 10/3/2014 the whole school danced to HAPPY because it was Catholic Schools Week. We danced every thirty minutes to 'Happy' We loved dancing to Happy and the teachers loved it too.
In the morning some teachers danced on the stage, while others danced around the classes. In the afternoon we were visited by Mr Whitby, he told us a very funny story. He was wearing happy socks and even danced with us when they played the 'Happy' song.

The boys showed us some hip hop moves.

Even Mrs Bell joined in the fun.

What a great way to join exercise and laughter.

dancing with our friends.

We all enjoyed dancing together.

Mr Whitby came to our classroom and read us a very funny book. He took his shoes off and we saw his funny stripy socks. He even danced with us. We were very lucky in Year 3 because we had some parents come in and read to us too. Mrs Ricketts read us her favourite book so did Miss Veling. Mrs Standring read us one on the apple tv. Thank you to all the parents who shared their favourite books with us.

We split into small groups and listened to some parents read their favourite stories.

Mrs Standring's book was an ebook. We watched it on the apple tv.

Mrs Ricketts shared an old favourite - Rapunzel.

Miss Veling loved sharing her favourite story with us too.

Mr Whitby shared some great dance moves.

Check out his funny socks.

Dr Seuss is a great author .

We thought Mr Whitby's story was very funny.

On Wednesday the parents came and watched us during our gymnastics lessons. Emily showed us a new game where we had to pass a hoola hoop to each other without letting go of our hands. The parents were impressed by our skills. Some of the children can do handstands, while others can do some amazing forward rolls. We like the trampoline the best.

We had a lot of fun trying to move the hoola hoop from one person to the next.

It was all about team work.

We showed the parents how to make T, I motorbikes and Y.

The parents were impressed by our moves.

Even some grandparents came to watch us.

Religion

Sharing our Faith
 Currently in Year Three we are studying 'Jesus Shares His Gifts'. The children are developing their understanding of the importance of sharing our gifts so to serve others. Whilst investigating the unit the children have been encouraged to think about the consequences of our actions when we decide to share or not to share our gifts. This is a good lead up to the children preparing for Reconciliation later in the year as it helps them understand that every choice we make has either a positive or negative consequence, not only for ourselves but for the people around us.
During this unit the children were introduced to the scripture story 'Jesus Calms the Storm' from Luke's gospel. After discussing and exploring the scripture the children were given the opportunity to retell the story and share it with Year One. It was a great way to allow the children to share their gift of storytelling with younger students. Lucy, Alexander, Rozanne and George wrote a blog about it. You can find it below.

Today, in Religion, we are making some puppets for 'Jesus calms the storm'. We found the story in Luke Chapter 8 verse 22-25. The puppets were made by making little people and gluing them to a paddle pop stick. We are moving the puppets when we retell the story to Year One.

Sharing with Year One.

We used our puppets to retell the story.

Luke 8:22-15 -Jesus Calms the Storm

We enjoyed sharing with small groups of Year One children.