An Introduction to our First Topic with 3G

Author： Ms.Hannah Lynch

In Year 3, we have begun working on our very first topic of the year entitled Flow.  We introduced the children to the topic by brainstorming together what we think Flow would be about and what kind of things we would be exploring and learning about during this exciting new topic.

With the parents help and involvement, we encouraged the children to make a trip to a river over the weekend and collect water and soil samples, while also enjoying the scenery and wildlife around them.

On Monday, the children arrived in with soil and water samples, but also stories and observations about what they experienced with their parents!

We brought the river to the classroom by using our senses to discuss what the children saw, heard, smelled, touched and (hopefully not) tasted.

We continued to build on this by watching a video of a water rafting trip on the Zambezi River and using our senses to imagine what this activity would be like. The children then created mind-maps and compared their river experience to what a trip to the Zambezi River would be like.

We then posed the question, what would be needed to help us find where we were going so we would not get lost if we were on a boat on the Zambezi River… and the children all suggested a map!

So we began looking at mapping skills, we explored reading the coordinates on a simple OS map, and using keys.

After the children were familiar with and comfortable with finding features on a map by reading coordinates, we had them get creative and make their own key and a map of the school to accompany it. The children had the freedom to create a map of their own imaginary school and add in features of their choice! It is safe to say we saw some very creative schools!

To use their newly acquired mapping skills, the children created their very own treasure maps, where X marked their buried treasure. They had to draw the map, create a key and write a simple set of directions to follow!

This is only the beginning, ahead of the children lies opportunity for building models of the features of a river, experimenting using their collected samples, researching major rivers of the world and exploring so much more. The children will continue working in groups so they can share stories and knowledge with one another so watch this space…