Student Voice
YEAR 3/4
Students in the Year 3/4 Area have continued to build on their understanding of the 24 Character Strengths by recognising these personal virtues in themselves and identifying them in others.
We teach students about their strengths because, according to the study of Positive Education, using Character Strengths brings out the best in us and is one of the keys to happiness, wellbeing and resilience.
Teaching students to identify and use their strengths helps them to focus on their positive qualities, to build relationships and encourages them to use their strengths during times of adversity.
Further information about Character Strengths can be found at http://www.viacharacter.org/www/.
The following quotes highlight how some of the Year 3 students use their Character Strengths:
“My top Character Strength is Love of Learning because I love maths and reading” (Mim Sharkey, 34HD).
“My top Character Strength is Social Intelligence because when someone is sad I go up to them and make them happy” (Johnny Alamaras, 34HD).
“I use my top Character Strength of Creativity when I write my stories” (Kosta Anastassiades, 34HD).
“My top Character Strength is curiosity because sometimes I wonder about codes, hacking and cool tech things” (Eleanor Scheppokat, 3C).
“My top Character Strength is kindness because I like to help people and I like to be kind, to help them if they are hurt or if they need help” (Marina Nasr, 3C).
“My top Character Strength is Love of Learning because I never give up, no matter if it’s hard. I never give up on my learning” (Min Son, 3C).
“My top Character Strength is Creativity because I like to explore and make new things that I haven’t made before” (Janny Su, 3S).
“My top Character Strength is Curiosity because I am always asking my parents questions that require them to ask Google Assistant to find out the answers” (Owen Koay, 3S).
“My top Character Strength is Perspective because when someone is feeling sad I try to give them advice and imagine what they may be thinking” (Alannah Lucas, 3S).
Students from Year 4 have been introduced to PERMA.
PERMA is an acronym for a model of health and well-being.
The students have been introduced to the five important building blocks of well-being and happiness:
- Positive emotions – feeling good
- Engagement – being completely absorbed in activities
- Relationships – being authentically connected to others
- Meaning – purposeful existence
- Achievement – a sense of accomplishment and success
Currently, we are all zoning in on the (R) Relationships.
One particular highlight was our Chinese New Year focus where we investigated how different cultures celebrate and come together.
The Year 4 students who celebrate this festival were given the opportunity to be leaders of small groups. In these small groups, they taught other students how to write Chinese Characters and pronounce and understand traditional New Year sayings.
This activity concluded with the leaders of the small groups ‘checking in’ after celebrations to share the stories, highlights and the exciting things which happened over their 15 day long festival.