Year 3

For Bee Kinder Day, all of Year 3 designed and made Bee Hotels for our gardens. We worked in small groups with our friends and planned using design drawings of our Bee Hotels. We made them out of small sticks, husk, bamboo and a terracotta pot. After we all finished making our hotels, we got to taste some honey, it was delicious! We all felt very happy because of the kindness we shared with the bees to keep them safe.

Chelsea Duan, 3W

Annabelle Zhou, Wenhui Zheng and Jennifer Xu, 3W

On 30 June, Bee Kinder Day was held. Year 3 made Bee Hotels which will be placed in our Kindness Garden. The Bee Hotels were made of bamboo, coconut husk and a terracotta pot. The Bee Hotels will be used as safe homes for our Pymble native bees. Year 3 wants to use them to encourage the Pymble native bees to live in our Kindness Garden. Xanthe Munroe, 3W

Esther Li, Aaliyah Khanche and Haneesha Lidder, 3W

Mirabelle Lee, Xanthe Munroe and Yuan Hui Chen, 3W

“I really enjoyed poetry because I got to start off with the easy stuff and then challenge myself and use more verbs and adjectives.”

Ruby Thomas, 3L

“The best thing about poetry was learning about the different types of poetry and how we got to put it into a Word document and create our ‘Poetry Anthology’.” Lauren Chen, 3L

“I wasn’t great at poetry, but I feel much more confident now. I really loved making shape and acrostic poems.”

Olivia Chan, 3C

I run along the never-ending trees, Each one burnt and black. The billowing smoke is chasing me, Like we were playing chase. Billowing smoke has pushed me down, Like a blanket over my head. The trees all howled in agony But I just keep running. A repellent taste filled my mouth, Full of death and fear. Crackling wood like firecrackers, Boomed in the air non-stop. The wind ran past me, panicking I run faster now.

My feet beat the burning ground, Like I was a drummer beating drums. Fire was catching up on me, I could feel the heat.

Suddenly, someone picked me up. All the heat evaporated. Giant cars screamed. I’m safe now, but the fire rages on.

This poem was inspired by the recent bushfires and is from the perspective of our native wildlife.

Isabella Dong, 3C

Alligator waiting for prey Licking salty sea water Lying on smooth rocks Inside out alligator will always be around Gazing eyes spying Always hunting for prey Teaching other alligators to hunt prey Our alligator is always watching Reaching for humans Lauren Chen, 3L

Pure White Out for hunting Longing for some fish Anywhere he goes prey runs away Rapidly sliding down icebergs Blair the bear Eager for some friends Always cute Rotating in routine Madeleine Birrell, 3W

Eden Ni and Athena Wu, 3D

Year 3 was lucky enough to be able to explore the beautiful school grounds, led by the very knowledgeable Pymble gardeners. We learned to understand the relationship between the environment and our native animals.

We documented our walk in a digital journal which asked us to take photos of native flora and fauna and show how they interacted with one another. We saw animals such as kookaburras, magpies and spiders use the environment for shelter, safety, food and water. The information we learned on this tour helped us to plan and design our own rehabilitation enclosures for Australia’s native animals affected in the bushfires.

Rebecca Zhou, 3C and Selina Jiang, 3W

Year 3 conducted a Problem Based Learning (PBL) task into the plight of our indigenous animals affected by the bushfires. Their task was to create an enclosure that would be home to these injured animals and a place for them to recover. We were very fortunate to have our first virtual excursion with Taronga Zoo. Zookeeper Georgia took the girls on a tour of the echidna, koala, kangaroo and rainforest enclosures to allow them to see firsthand what is required to make an enclosure viable for an animal. The girls came away with many tips and ideas on how to design and build their animal homes.

Mrs Nerissa Davey (Junior School Teacher)

Ruby Stoodley-Williamson, 3L

Molly Liu, 3D and Gloria Yang, 3W

In the final week of Term 3, we met a retired astronaut from NASA and her name was Joan Higginbotham. We talked virtually with her on Microsoft Teams and Joan answered all of our questions about space and her journey to space. She also shared with us how they travelled to space with and without incidents.

Joan explained her life working with NASA and being an astronaut. Her space exploration video was amazing. Joan was inspirational because she never gave up when she found things were very difficult to cope with. We were so lucky to have had Astronaut Joan speak with us! Selina Jiang, 3W

This term we met Joan Higginbotham on Microsoft Teams. Joan is a retired NASA astronaut and when we met her, we got to learn about what roles you do when you’re an astronaut. We all thought it would be fun to be an astronaut and were inspired by the amazing experiences Joan had participated in. One of the things we thought was great about Joan was that she didn’t give up when she didn’t succeed. Joan showed us some cool videos and photos of her working hard in space. All of Year 3 thought Astronaut Joan was a brave woman. Zoe Alphandary, 3W

Victoria Xu, 3L, Gabrielle Chan, 3W and Iris Tang, 3L

Ava Welton, 3W Ariel Tuita, 3W and Chloe Qian, 3L

Year 3 designed and built enclosures for Australian animals in our special inquiry lessons. We worked in Problem Based Learning groups. What was our problem? Australian animals have almost become extinct due to the massive bushfires that started in late 2019. It was also known as the Black Summer.

All our groups used a smart planning scaffold called the Design Thinking Process. We went through the process a few times, making modifications based on feedback from teachers and peers. Finally, we were ready to build! We used recycled materials and natural plants, stones and sand found around our school. We just loved this unit, even though we never got to make the enclosures for real animals. We learned so much about our chosen animal and how to follow the process from design to build. Charlotte Sadler, Oriana Fenton and Jolie Li, 3D