Year 3/4 News

News from the 3/4 area……

On Tuesday the Year 3/4 students were visited by a geologist who helped us learn more about earthquakes for our Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry……

I learnt that tectonic plates bump and slide into each other. This causes the forces that make the earth rumble and crack. I enjoyed the brick experiment where we had to pull a brick and measure how far it had moved. I could see it dragged and made forces like an earthquake. 

By  Levi

I enjoyed making the mini earthquakes with the brick and recording how long it takes. I also liked the marshmallow and spaghetti building contest. We had to build a tall, stable building that could survive an earthquake. We had to shake the tray to move the building. 

                                                            By Neve

I liked making the earthquake-proof buildings using spaghetti and marshmallows. It was challenging to do because we were changing our ideas all the time. 

by Christopher N

It was nice to work as a team to make the towers. It was hard because the marshmallows and spaghetti kept breaking. This showed me that when an earthquake comes the ground will shake so buildings could fall. We have to make sure buildings are strong and built in safe areas. 

By Sophie

I learnt that earthquakes are made by waves of forces from the rocks rubbing together. Earthquakes are natural processes ( they are not just happening because the sky is angry- which is what I used to think when I was very little!) We struggled making the marshmallow houses and not being able to eat them! It showed me that if you are going to live somewhere that has a lot of earthquakes you need to build a strong house. 

By Ash