The Rosary

The Rosary and Our Stained Glass Windows

The Month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary. The purpose of the Rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events or mysteries in the history of our salvation, and to thank and praise God for them.The Rosary is not only a mental prayer, but also a vocal prayer in which we meditate on the virtues of the Life, Death, Passion and Glory of Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary.

Year 3 have been praying one decade of the rosary every day during the month of October. In class we use an app called iRosary this is a great way for the children to follow along with the prayers and to access visuals on each of the mysteries. It also displays an animated set of rosary beads. 

On Thursdays we prayed the rosary in the Marian Chapel. In the Marian Chapel there is a beautiful stained glass window of Mary. The children thought it would be a great idea if we could replicate our own stained glass window. They look fantastic!!! Come check them out in our classroom. 

Challenge :

Can you list the 20 different mysteries we prayed during the rosary? 

OR

Write a short procedure on how to make a stained glass window

Children's Blog

In class we have been saying the rosary and we remember the different mysteries. Our prayer space people James and Clare have been leading us with the rosary on the iRosary app. This is great for us the follow and see pictures. On Thursdays we go up to the Marian Chapel and say the rosary in front of the stained glass window of Mary. Last week we got to make our own awesome stained glass windows of Mary. They turned out really well and we had a lot of fun!!!! Mrs Bel even wanted some in her office. Check out these photos:

Harry Potter and Silent Writing

Harry Potter

During our read aloud sessions in Term 3 and the beginning of Term 4 Year 3 read the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The children and the teachers we very engrossed in the book and could not wait for 11.30 to come each day. The students have written a book review in their blog.

Student blog review:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is written by J.K. Rowling. Year 3 had the pleasure of reading Harry Potter last term. In the story Harry Potter and his friend Ron and Hermione defeat a troll and play the biggest chess game in Hogwarts. They also defeat Voldemort and win the house cup. It was amazing!

This book would be great for any age whether you are 6 or 100.

Silent Writing

This term Year 3 participate in 10 minutes of silent writing after lunch. This is an opportunity for the children to write for enjoyment and to practice strategies they have learnt in our guided writing lessons and during literacy groups. The students have been very engaged and many of them have produced fantastic blurbs for stories they are going to write about.

CHALLENGE

If you have a blurb or a piece of writing you would like to share, write it in the comment section.

Student Blog 

Lately for 10 minutes after lunch we have been doing silent writing. It is a time when we can calm our bodies and improve our writing. Each afternoon we set ourselves a goal such as punctuation or handwriting. Silent writing is basically free writing but silently. You can write anything in any text type. Some text types include narrative, procedure, poems and many more. It is a fun activity because we can free our minds and follow our imagination. We LOVE silent writing!!!!

MATHS MENTAL STRATEGIES

What are mental strategies? 

In Year 3 we have been working on our mental strategies with addition and subtraction. 

Good mental calculation is characterised by having many strategies. Sometimes, particular numbers suit particular strategies. Sometimes strategy selection is guided by personal preferences, or special number combinations that a student happens to spot. Mental strategies are not carried out like written algorithms. Instead, students need to choose them and adjust them to suit the calculation. 

Having an understanding of mental strategies and estimation is very important for everyday life. Mental strategies and estimation are also important as a learning device because they allow students to practise and discuss fundamental number properties and build number sense. 

CHALLENGE

Post in the comment section or upload photos of your maths task set in your homework this week. What mental strategies did you use to help you find the answer? 

Children's Blog

In class we have been improving our mental strategies for addition and subtraction problems. Mental strategies can also help us with multiplication and division. We use mental strategies so that we can figure out the answer quicker. Then it is easier to do math!!!! It also helps us improve our maths. There are lots of different strategies we can use: 

• Skip and jump counting
• Chunking
• Empty number line
• Compensation

Here are some photos of us using our mental strategies and posters that help us.

Welcome Back to Term 4 

Welcome back to Term 4 everyone!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful break with your family and friends. 

I had an amazing time in New Zealand kayakiing and snowboarding. Mrs Standing has been resting up well at home and she says a BIG hello to everyone. 

Challenge:

Post below in the comment section what you got up to in the holidays. 

Next week our student blog will begin again during literacy group time.

Have a wonderful week :) 

Miss Veling 

Holiday Challenge

Switch on Your Learning During the Holiday Period

Keep your mind active and your creative juices flowing these holidays by participating in our Holiday challenge.

Literacy Challenge

  Next term we are studying poetry looking specifically at 'Waltzing Matilda'. It was written by Banjo Patterson, a famous Australian author and poet. Maybe you could find some examples of some of his works and add them to our comments section. When we come back to school bring the pieces with you!

Did you know a Haiku poem is a Japanese poem about nature. 

It is made up of three lines and is all about syllables.

For example:
Title: Fish
Line 1: Deep beneath the sea. (Five syllables and states where it is)
Line 2: Live some lively coloured fish (seven syllables and states 'what it is' or 'what it is doing')
Line 3: Swimming peacefully (five syllables states 'when or what is being felt' or 'what is happening)

Try to write your own Haiku about your adventures with nature. We would love to see some in our comment section.

Numeracy Challenge

Adding with Money
The next time you go shopping use your mental strategies to add up items in the shopping trolley. You will need to round first. Can you add dollars and cents. Use the docket to check your answer.

Multiplication facts
Write chants to help you recall the multiplication facts we have covered during the year. Challenge yourself with the 6,7,8,9 multiplication facts.

Number Hunt
Look at the number plates on the cars that go by can you find one that adds up to twenty.   

Community Walk
Have a walk around your local community. What do you see? Make a list or take some photos bring them along to share with the class next term.

Sock Puppet
Be creative and design and make your own sock puppet. We will be using them in class next term so please be creative and invent a puppet friend that will help your learning. We can't wait to see them next term.  

Sports In Schools

Keeping Active and Improving Our Skills

During Term Three all children from Kindy to Year Six participate in 'Sports in School' every Monday. During the lessons the children participate in fun filled activities where they can develop their skills but also learn how to work cooperatively with other people. At the end of each session the teachers reinforce positive living advice by highlighting important messages about being active, healthy eating and having a positive outlook to life.

Children's Blog

Sports in Schools are a group of teachers that go around to different schools during school weeks. Sports in Schools is not only fun but also helps our health. It also gives us the opportunity to participate in some good exercise. The company of 'Sports in Schools' in our school show us lots of fun, cool ways to enjoy doing sport. The after lesson activity talks  about safety and we also receive fun sheets with great activities that help us learn about safety issues.

At the end of each physical session the teachers hand out an activity sheet full of activities.

Target games help improve our throwing accuracy.

Working together as a team helps build communication skills.

Throwing and catching with grip balls is fun.

Resistance training is another challenging activity.

Challenge Activity:

Keep a healthy living diary. Record your physical activity for a week. Try to increase the amount of physical activity you participate in throughout the week. Share it with your class.

 

Paragraphs

The Paragraph Hamburger

In Year Three we have introduce the 'Paragraph Hamburger' to help the children organise their writing into paragraphs. The 'Hamburger Paragraph' is a visual aide that allows the children to understand the key components needed in a paragraph. As the children write a topic sentence, detail sentences and a closing sentence they form different pieces of a hamburger.
The children in the top writing group are creating videos explaining how to use the structure to help write excellent paragraphs. These will be added to our blog as they are completed.
Blow are the children's reflections on the Hamburger structure.

Children's Blog:

Paragraphs are groups of sentences that tell the reader information about the text.
At school we have been learning about topic sentences, supporting sentences and concluding sentences.
In class we have been using hamburgers to help us organise our paragraphs. The topic sentence is a sentence that tells the reader the main idea of the paragraph. The topic sentence is the top bun. 
The supporting sentences are like the lettuce, tomato, cheese and meat. You should always write the most important information last so it is the meaty part of the paragraph. The bottom bun is the concluding sentence , it is similar to the topic sentence. When you write a concluding sentence you can use the same words you used in the topic sentence.
The first detail is the 'lettuce'. The lettuce comes straight after the topic sentence but is not the most important information. It should be full of good 'lettucy' detail. The second sentence is not the most important sentence, it needs to be full of 'juicy' details. The third sentence is still not the most important sentence. It should be full of good 'cheesy' detail. The last supporting sentence should be the most important piece of detail. It should be full of good 'meaty' detail. Each sentence should have a different sentence starter.

The Hamburger structure can help you write paragraphs correctly.

Can you find the topic sentence in the paragraph from "Harry Potter".

We used the hamburger to write a paragraph about a platypus. 

Year Three Challenge

Write a paragraph using the 'Hamburger Structure'. Label the different sections. Check your spelling and punctuation. Bring your published piece into class and we will added it to our "Absolutely Amazing Authors" board.