Level Threes have embraced our Integrated topic of Immigration with a lot of enthusiasm. Part of our celebration has been for students to give oral presentations on a chosen country. We have been treated to some wonderful posters and powerpoints, talks and displays.

Well, we are right into Term 4 now and there is so much going on!
As well as getting to know the chooks in the lovely new sustainability area, Level Threes have enjoyed fun on the Maths Day and Weird Hair Day.
Maths Day gave us an opportunity to work with others on a series of activities such as making farm animals with different combinations of legs and creating the longest piece we could, from carefully tearing a piece of paper. We thank Mr Walsh and all the parents and teachers who contributed to make this day a success and remind us that Maths is fun!
Weird Hair Day gave us the opportunity to break out the spray and bobby pins and there were some wacky looks indeed!  Thanks to the Grade 6 students for organizing this fun and frivolity! 

We have made a great start to Term 4 in Level 3! Our Integrated topic, this term, is Immigration. As part of this, we are thinking about our family trees. It has been an enriching experience so far to think about all the different types of family backgrounds we have and to share our stories. We also had some fantastic results to celebrate, through our entrants in the ICAS competition. It is yet another way that our students are able to share their learning and we are very proud. Our Numeracy topic to start the term is fractions. Students are seen her exploring this through a range of materials.    

Last week, the students of Level Three arrived at school looking very smart in their Italian flag colors of Red, green and white. Having studied Italian language and culture in class in grade 3 and grade 4, our Italian day, organized by teacher Sonia Gough, was a day of celebrations.

The children enjoyed a incursion which was an entertaining show in Italian about a fictional Italian Restaurant, and for lunch they had  pizza and gelati organized by Sonia with the Parent’s group.

Level Three are excited about learning to swim with their classmates at Aquarina Pool. Their enthusiasm is contagious as parents and teachers alike share their achievements. They will be swimming every day for two weeks. Thanks to Miss Ginn for organizing such a fantastic program.

The children in Level Three celebrated the release of the TVPS Recipe book with a magnificent few days of cooking to culminate in a soup luncheon. There were six varieties of nutritious and delicious soups for the children to choose from and lots of crusty bread to go with it. Many students tried several flavours but most were partial to the variety that their class had made.

Mr Renshaw and the Level Three teachers were treated to a fabulous lunch.

The children were keen to share the recipes for their fabulous soups with other Level Three students and their families. With proof then of their budding master chef status, they quickly bought up copies of the TVPS Recipe book to get cooking.

The children in Grade 3 / 4 G are enjoying learning the traditional skill of knitting. It is a craft that requires some instruction and to consolidate their learning on an indivual basis, they have passed their knowledge to the next student.  Everyone in the grade, including visitors to the class, are contributing to the long winter scarf that is snaking through the classroom. The students have experienced a variety of picture story books describing the various problems that characters have overcome through the creative use of knitting, from creating a big top for a circus, to creating insulation for a cold house in winter. They have become excited about thinking about problems and solutions using imagination, initiative and innovation.  With the other Level Three students, 3/4 are going to Science Works to view other aspects of human ingenuity, celebrating the art and science of inventing.

Who can believe the end of Term 2 has come around all ready!  Level Three have had a wonderful, exciting and very busy Term 2!  We have loved doing different science experiments as part of our Integrated Topic “Science – A Matter of Change.”  A special favourite was mixing bi-carb soda with vinegar! 
We are also all currently practicing songs for the School Production, “Time Warp Mania” which will take place in Term 4.  Level Three are responsible for representing songs from the 1980s!
A great term all round and we can’t wait to get back into it in Term 3!

Lisa Weston, Level 3 teacher at Templestowe Valley Primary School, has initiated awareness of Epilepsy in our community by taking on the Epilepsy Foundations’ Trivia Challenge.

The students in Level Three and Four competed in teams in the first round of the competition. The Level Three students had a special day, with informative videos about the condition, the Trivia Challenge, and a special morning tea.

Four teams, two from each level, have made it through to the next round of the competition. This next round is done on-line. We wish the Level Three teams: ‘The Brain Washers’ and ‘The Crazy Comedians’, and the Level Four teams: ‘Trivia Troopers’ and ‘The Valley Gummy Bears’, the best of luck.

Further to the Challenge, is fund-raising and Lisa and her grade organized a ‘silver coin trail for epilepsy’. Students from every grade brought silver coins to school to make a line that stretched  104 metres across the lower oval. $493.35 was raised.

The students of Level 3 are excited about the School Production that will be performed in Term 4 2009, November the 9th.  The production will be called ‘Time Warp Mania’. They are beginning to develop their class performance by learning their  songs and thinking about dance moves.

The School Production Co-ordinator,  Lauren McCormack, and her talented team have written the musical and will manage all aspects of the production.

This week the Level Three students took part in the Epilepsy Trivia Challenge.  By participating in the challenge we were raising money and our awareness of Epilepsy.  The students came to school dressed in outfits that represented their team names.  To start the morning we all watched an informative video which taught us about how we could help someone with Epilepsy and the different types of Epilepsy that exist.  The students then had a set amount of time to work in their teams to answer a variety of trivia questions.  After the challenge was complete we all celebrated with a special yummy morning tea.  Thanks to Miss Weston for her hard work and organisation.

The Level Three students are encouraged to participate in speaking and listening challenges throughout the day.

As they listen, they are assisted to build skills in audience participation, listening attentively and giving positive feedback to the speaker.

As they prepare an oral presentation, they are thinking of their audience and researching their topic, creating  and gathering items that might support their talk. Whilst they are presenting their talk they are varying their tone and volume so that their voice is appropriate for the group. They learn to smile and make eye-contact with their audience.

For Term 2, Level Three presented “A Person I Admire”. They used a variety of methods, in line with, or extending their learning styles, including posters, photos, speech cards, interesting items, and Power Point presentations,

Throughout Term 2, the Level Three students will be participating in a variety of exciting science experiments as part of our Integrated Unit Topic.
Last week grade 3/4M did an experiment that looked at the difference between Physical and Chemical changes in matter.
We explored what a physical change was by looking at the difference between a solid ice-block and melted water.

We explored chemical changes by comparing the difference between raw and hard-boiled eggs. We also explored chemical changes by adding a spoonful of bi-carb soda to a glass of vinegar.  The bi-carb soda made the vinegar fizz and overflow from the glasses making a huge mess!  It was great fun and we can’t wait to do lots more experiments throughout the term!

Level Three children at Templestowe Valley Primary School are encouraged to eat  healthy foods at home and school.  The Canteen has undergone many changes to promote healthy food choices for our children. Teachers and students are endeavouring to make all classrooms reflect this ideal.

With the start of a new term, Level Three is enjoying some new learning areas. Our Integrated topic for the term is Chemical Science so we are looking forward to doing lots of experiments!
“A major goal of science education is to develop citizens who are capable of engaging in informed debate about science and its applications… Science education provides opportunities for students to develop the skills and understanding appropriate to service and good citizenship.” VELS

As a follow up activity to our unit on measurement we did finger knitting and measured three things with it. This is a picture with us holding our finger knitting.

It was 9am and we were at the Yarra Valley Country club.
I sat next to Jayden on the bus. We said our goodbyes and one hour and ten minutes later we went through the gates of Camp Oasis.
The first thing we did was to eat our morning tea on the oval and then we played some games.
After that we went into the Mess hall and coloured our placemats and then we unpacked in our cabins.
After that we had lunch at the camp fire. Then we had our first activity, the ropes course and we also went to the Eco Centre and then we had our showers. We had a room inspection.
We then had dinner with ice-cream for dessert and then we wrote up our diaries. This was followed by games in the games hall then it was supper and bed.
In the morning we had a room inspection followed by breakfast. Just after that we did the Initiatives course followed by candle making.
After morning tea we went on the enviro walk with a man called John .
After that we had archery.
We then went on the flying fox which was the highlight of the whole camp.
I had a shower straight after and then we had dinner and dessert. We wrote in our diaries then had Idol night ( a concert) then off to bed.
In the morning we packed and walked to Lilydale from Mt Evelyn. We had a bar-be-cue then went back to school. I loved camp.

Following our maths PD sessions Jenny Bowden conducted a measurement lesson with ¾ G and we watched her as she taught the level 3 teachers new approaches to teaching the lesson. We as teachers are constantly updating teaching practices. Last year we had PD sessions on Writing and this year our focus is Maths

On the 27th of February 2009 it was Clean Up Australia Day. Three level 3 classes walked to Bimbadeen Park and collected 3 bags of rubbish in one hour. We started at 11:30 after recess and finished at 12:30.It was fun! I hope next year we find less rubbish!

Following our numerous PD sessions on promoting good writers the children have come up with numerous points which signify a good writer They believe that a good writer
Always proof reads their work and makes up to three changes to improve their writing. They check for spelling and punctuation and they add adjectives and extra information wherever appropriate.
A good writer must plan their story thinking about a complication or major event to bring about an exciting change that will engage the reader. A good writer must have an interesting beginning to make the reader want to read on. A good writer will consider who ,what ,where and why when writing.
A good writer will check their spelling and use interesting words they find displayed around the classroom or in the dictionary.
A good writer will have a writers notebook where they jot down things they can write about.
A good writer reads their story to a friend and conferences with the friend or the teacher.
A good writer draws on personal experiences and  uses appropriate grammar for the structure of the text.
A good writer works quietly and does not move or disturb others during writing sessions.
We write for an hour each day and enjoy sharing our writing with our friends.

Level three has a focus on Civics and Citizenship this term. We have used this theme to establish our classroom and school values. All children in the 5 grades have been demonstrating these values in their classrooms and have a quiet learning environment, they show respect to teachers and fellow workmates.