A day in the life of a Year 3 Tintern Girl
Many great learning experiences have taken place throughout Term 1 so far for our Year 3A Learning Community. Here are some of the highlights.
We have visited the STEAM Centre. Here we explored the central nervous system; how the brain sends messages to different parts of our body through the nerves. We traced our hands onto cardboard and using wool and straw we threaded the wool to create a nerve for each of our fingers and thumb and then combined them to create one nerve pathway through to the wrist. Each strand could then control the movement of the corresponding finger or thumb and pulling all could clasp the hand or bend at the wrist. It was a great session to demonstrate the beginning stages of design and technology, in this instance building a prototype.
Our Writing sessions how been focused on the Writing Process. We established that all Writer’s have a ‘toolbox’ with items such as a pencil, paper, dictionary, concentration, ideas and inspiration amongst many others for us to use. We have learned that there are a number of steps as part of this process; Brain Dump, Plan, Draft, Edit (using CUPS), Revise (Using ARMS) and Publishing. We use the acronym CUPS, which stands for Capital Letters, Understanding, Punctuation and Spelling and ARMS, which stands for Add, Remove, Move and Substitute. This is a helpful way for the Girls to work through the editing and revising phases.
In our Maths sessions we have been learning about Time; identifying the features of both an analogue and digital clock, explaining how the minute and the hour hand move and what they represent and understanding half past, quarter past and quarter to. We created our own analogue clocks using a paper plate and split pin to make rotating hands.
As part of our Integrated Studies topic I Strive, we have explored what inspiration means to us. We wrote our ideas on a post-it note and added to an anchor chart to share our thoughts. We had a great discussion about certain people who inspire us and the qualities that they demonstrate that make them inspirational. We agreed that doing something that you loved, working hard, it not always being about winning and never giving up were some of the qualities we saw in the people that inspire us.
And something that is unique to Year 3 is our Strings Program. We are all learning either the violin, viola or cello and experiencing what it is like to learn an instrument and play as an ensemble. We are preparing for a performance later in the year – how exciting!
Ms Miranda Price
Year 3A Class Teacher
Plant Your Feet
Throughout Term 1 students in Year 4 have been exploring the unit, ‘Plant Your Feet’. The girls have been developing a growing sense of wonder and appreciation of plants as they investigate the processes of pollination and germination, the parts of a plant, a seeds life cycle, environmental conditions that plants need for growth, the plants we eat and much more.
We have been integrating our unit throughout all areas of the curriculum. In literacy, we are reading The Secret Garden. One of the tasks we completed required us to visualise what the garden looked like. We created ‘key-hole’ artworks to present what we thought was behind the door.
We have had several hands-on activities the students have really enjoyed. We spent some time walking around the campus foraging for interesting plant parts and flowers – collecting and bringing them to the STEAM centre. After that, we examined them closely under the 3D microscopes. The girls identified the different parts of a plant or flower and took photos using the microscopes.
Early next Term 2, we are heading to the Royal Botanical Gardens and undertaking a ‘Bush Foods’ program. It will be a journey through the Australian Garden and discover a variety of indigenous bush foods. Students will learn Aboriginal knowledge of agricultural systems and food-related tools. They will become familiar with native Australian flora and the purpose each plant has in Aboriginal culture. This will link our Term 1 unit, Plant Your Feet, with our Term 2 unit Exploring the First Fleet – which investigates pre and post colonisation and the impact it had on Aboriginal communities.
It has been so much fun exploring plants and examining how they reproduce in a very similar way to humans and the girls have shown fabulous depth with their understanding throughout the unit.
Will Fogarty
Year 4 Girls’ Junior School Teacher
