First Fleet Sails

This activity involved me creating one of my best ever classroom displays and boy am I proud of the end product.

My grade 3 and 4 class are currently working through a History unit which focuses on the Age of Exploration, the discovery of Australia and then local exploration and history. Yeah, a lot to cover in only 11 weeks!

We've spent a bit of time looking at Australia's First Fleet. Why they came? What were the conditions like for prisoners before, during and after transportation? and of course the ships.

In this activity, students were paired up and given one of the 11 ships of the First Fleet to research. They all had a great time and had a lot of fun converting the length of ships from feet into meters. They then had to present their findings on two sails which would then be placed on their ship.

The students are so proud of their 3D ships, a creative twist on the 2D displays they normally see.

What do you think?