‘Belonging’ in Year 3
Year 3’s are on a journey to find out the answer.
Year Three’s new Term 1a curriculum is built around the concept of ‘Belonging‘ and the driving question of ‘What Does it Mean to Belong?‘ This theme aligns with our school values and is incredibly relevant to our diverse cohort of students.
The children explored this concept through two core texts: Krit Dreams of Dragon Fruit, the story of a young boy who moves with his family from Chiang Mai to Chicago, and Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx, about a girl who overcomes her fears to rescue her father from an Ancient Egyptian god and, in the process, discovers her sense of belonging in her family of explorers and adventurers.
Year 3 students learn about the geography of Thailand and the history of Ancient Egypt, are taught how to write effective sentences using precise adverbs and nouns, create ebooks and learn how to design and make their own costumes. At the same time, they are given the opportunity to explore the idea of rights and responsibilities, to share the people and places that are special to them, to evaluate the challenges and opportunities of moving to a new country, to inquire about belonging in the context of an historic civilisation; and to voice their opinions on how we can foster a culture of belonging in school.
The ultimate aim is for the students to understand that belonging is a feeling that is personal to us, that it is perfectly okay to feel like you belong in more than one place, and that we all have a shared responsibility to make Year 3 a place where everyone feels that they belong.
