Year 3 News

This term our Inquiry focus has been on endangered animals. Students have learnt about the conservation status levels of animals, the causes of animal endangerment and have developed their knowledge of a chosen endangered species.

“I Speak for the Animals” Project

Following research and oral presentations, students utilised their knowledge for their “I Speak for the Animals” project. They wrote and illustrated short factual narrative stories suitable for a junior school audience. In order to share their stories, they used Microsoft Flip to create a ‘read-aloud’ video and created posters advertising their story, and included a QR code on their poster for easy access to their story.

The students are very proud of not only their wonderful stories but also their ever-increasing IT skills. Please see some examples of their stories.

Healesville Sanctuary Excursion

To round out the inquiry unit, the Year Threes visited Healesville Sanctuary on Friday 4th November. It was an action-packed day roaming the sanctuary to see as many animals as we could. One of the highlights was the Spirits of the Sky bird show, where BNPS even had a performer, Cooper, invited to the arena to be part of the show.

The students participated in a STEM session with Bec, a zookeeper, who explained the challenges facing zookeepers in protecting endangered species such as the Leadbeater’s possum and Orange-bellied parrots, from extinction.

Bec was amazed by the ingenuity of our students coming up with ideas for nesting boxes to keep the Orange bellied Parrots at night. Some of these included: installing face recognition technology on nesting boxes so that only parrots could enter; putting cucumber on top of nesting boxes to keep cats away, and using solar powered sensors that only permitted nesting box doors to open during the day when predators are sleeping.

Bec was very impressed with the students’ prior knowledge of Zoo Victoria’s local animal legends.

Please see Savvy’s wonderful recount article about the day.

Savvy's Healesville Sanctuary newsletter article.pdf

RACV Safety Squad Incursion

On Thursday 10th November Nicki form RACV Safety Squad visited Year 3 for an incursion about safety when riding a bike.

The goal of the incursion was for students to learn that it is important to assess individual situations for safety

Nicky’s message to the kids:

Everyone MUST wear a helmet no matter their age.
Do the two-finger test above your eyebrow and each side of your ears to ensure your helmet fits properly.
Check straps regularly as they stretch.
When riding your bike, wear bright colours so that you can be seen.
Wear closed shoes when you are riding, and tuck long laces into your shoes so they don’t get caught in the bike chain.

The students also discussed hazards and distractions when riding and the importance of being aware of dangers such as cars reversing out of driveways.