Grade 3

Grade 3 @ Mano

English

In Grade 3, English is taught through a structured English Block, designed to build strong foundations in reading, writing and spelling, while supporting students to become confident and capable communicators.

 First Hour: Foundations of Literacy
The first hour of the day focuses on the building blocks of reading and spelling. Students engage in Phonology, Morphology and Etymology, exploring sounds in words, word parts and where words come from, handwriting/keyboarding, daily reviews of letters and sounds, reinforcing previously taught skills and Building Fluency and Making Meaning, where students practise accurate, fluent reading and begin to deepen their understanding of texts

 Second Hour: English
The second hour brings together Comprehension, Vocabulary and Writing. Lessons typically begin with a whole-class focus before students work in small groups or independently to practise skills and work towards individual learning goals. Students develop reading comprehension strategies to understand, interpret and respond to texts, build a rich and varied vocabulary and engage in explicit writing instruction, with dedicated time to plan, draft, edit and publish writing

Numeracy

Our Grade 3 Students participate in Numeracy sessions each day that are centred around the strands of Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability.  Students participate in daily ‘Maths Minute’ skill review which allows for students to practice and refine skills that have been learnt previously. Students engage in regular learning goals, game based and small group focused sessions which are targeted to individual point of need.

Inquiry

Each term we have a different Inquiry focus that revolves around a ‘Big Question’. Students work through the areas of Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluation during their investigations. Skills are introduced and reinforced throughout the unit eg. brainstorming, listing, labelling diagrams, reading information or interpreting data, and designing presentations using different methods. At the end of every term students are involved in authentic action tasks which allows them to dive deeper into the topic and choose how they will demonstrate their learning. 

Social & Emotional Learning

Student wellbeing is an integral part of each day. Grade 3 students will engage in dedicated sessions to support their wellbeing and to provide a range of strategies to promote healthy and positive lifestyles. These lessons link to our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) program and school values, Respect, Responsibility and Safety.

Library

Each class is given a 30 minute session each week in our Library. These sessions allow us to continue to promote and foster a love of reading to our students. While in the Library, students have the opportunity to borrow books as well as explore what the Library has to offer.

Bike Education Program

Manifold Heights Primary School aims to improve safety for our students in Grades 3 – 6 by promoting bicycle education in our school. Bike Ed is delivered by our trained teachers and is designed to help children develop the skills they need to ride safely and independently on roads and paths.  It consists of a mix of practical activities conducted off-road (in the school grounds) and on-road (on local roads) together with classroom activities.

Grade 3 & 4 Swimming Program

Our Grade 3 and 4 students take part in a 5-day intensive Swimming Program at the beginning of Term 4. This program follows on from our Prep – 2 Swimming Program and allows the students to continue to develop and refine the skills learnt in previous years.  Students are placed in groups according to their current swimming level to ensure they are learning the correct skills, techniques and water safety strategies for their ability.

Excursions

We link our excursions to our Inquiry learning where possible. In previous years we have gone on local community walks to connect with learning, when investigating the Media Arts our Grade 3s and 4s went to ACMI, we have also been to the Queenscliff Marine Discovery Centre when focusing on Biological sciences.