Year 3 Reading Magazine - Example test - Koalas - Classroom pets - SPUD - Stories

Sep 30, 2026

Year 3 Reading Magazine Example test materials for Australian Curriculum reading practice. Includes factual passage about koalas’ habitat, movement, diet, and daily habits, followed by a classroom discussion script on choosing an animal pet and ethical concerns. Provides game instructions for SPUD, covering setup, aim, and numbered rules with play mechanics and win conditions. Also contains short literary selections, including a fable about “Necessity” and stories introducing Angus and an encounter by the river.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Choosing a classroom pet

How to play SPUD

What you need

Rules of the game

The best teacher

Young adventurer

Down by the river

Year 3 Reading Magazine Example test © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. Koalas are found only in Australia. They spend a lot of time up in the trees but will come down to the ground to move to a new tree. Koalas can run when they are on the ground. They can swim too but they don’t usually go into the water. Koalas eat leaves from some gum trees. The young leaves are the best for them to eat. Koalas do not move very much and they spend most of the day asleep. 2 Choosing a classroom pet The students in Class 4F are talking about what kind of animal to get as a classroom pet. Pia: I think we should get a rabbit. They’re cute and cuddly and easy to look after. Adrian: Lots of classrooms already have rabbits. Let’s get something more exciting. Pia: Like what? Adrian: I don’t know. Like a lizard. Keri: I can get a blue-tongue lizard from my garden. Tom: Can we do that? Mr Finch: No. We would have to get a special permit to keep a blue-tongue lizard, or any native animal. Nadim: What about a cockatoo? We could teach it to talk. Tom: My dad says it’s cruel to keep birds in cages. Nadim: We’d feed it and play with it. We wouldn’t be cruel to it. Pia: He means it’s cruel when birds aren’t free and can’t fly around. Adrian: Maybe it’s cruel to keep any animal in the classroom. We can look after it during the day but it will get lonely at night. Mr Finch: We’ll talk about this again tomorrow. Tonight, I’d like you to tell your parents what we’ve been talking about. 3 How to play SPUD | What you need | Setting up a playing area | Aim of the game | | --- | --- | --- | | • five or more players
• a soft rubber ball
• a clear space outside | Choose trees, fences, footpaths or buildings to mark the edges of a playing area. | To be the last player in the game. (You are out as soon as you spell the word SPUD.) | Rules of the game 1. Pick a player to start with the ball. The player with the ball is called It. 2. It stands in the middle of the playing area with the ball. All the other players gather around. 3. It tosses the ball into the air, and calls another player’s name. This player is now It and has to get the ball. Everyone else runs away. 4. It yells‘SPUD!’as soon as It gets the ball. Everyone else has to freeze. 5. Then It takes three giant steps towards another player, and throws the ball at that player’s feet. The other player must not move, even if there’s a chance of being hitby the ball. 6. If It hits the other player, or if that player moves, then the player gets a letter (S first), and becomes It. If It misses, then It gets a letter and stays It. 7. The first letter for a player who is hit is S, the second letter is P, and so on. Any player who has spelled S-P-U-D is out. The winner is the last player in the game. 4 The best teacher Once upon a time, there was a man with a ﬁne house, healthy animals and fertile land. He was also blessed with a handsome, loving son. But the man was worried about his son, because the boy had grown up knowing only good times and good fortune. “What will happen when something goes wrong for him?”wondered his father.“How will he know what to do?” So one day, the man asked the boy to go into the forest and collect wood. To help him carry the wood home, the man gave the boy an old cart and two horses. As he was leaving, the man said to his son,“If the cart breaks down while you are in the forest, don’t worry. Necessity will teach you what to do.” The boy collected as much wood as he could load onto the cart. But when he turned to come home, the cart broke under the weight of the wood.“I hope that Father’s friend lives nearby,” thought the boy, and he started crying out,“Necessity! NE-CESS-ITY! Where are you?” The boy called and called, but no one came, so he decided to ﬁx the cart himself. When he arrived home he said to his father,“You said Necessity would teach me to ﬁx the cart, but I could

FAQs

What are the main rules for playing SPUD?

Players start by forming around the area while the It player holds the ball. After It throws and calls a name, the called player becomes It, throws after three giant steps, and the other players freeze. Hit or movement earns letters until someone spells S-P-U-D.

Why can’t the class keep a blue-tongue lizard or native animals without a permit?

Mr Finch explains that keeping a blue-tongue lizard, or any native animal, requires a special permit, so the classroom cannot simply get one.

What lesson does “Necessity” teach in The best teacher story?

When the cart breaks in the forest, the boy must fix it himself. The father’s reflection shows the message that necessity truly is the best teacher.

Sep 30, 2026

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