Term 1 Week 11

It was really nice to welcome the children back for the second half of Term 1, and to hear about their holiday adventures.
Below are some memories of our end-of-half term celebration trip to West Coast Park on 10 October.
Thank you so much to our parents who came along. You all did a fantastic job in supporting the children, and it was much appreciated.

                                
                       
                                              

Our meta-project The World

Endangered Animals

Over the first couple of days of this week some children independently came to me to tell me things that they know about endangered animals. This is exciting, as I can see that the children are beginning to really think deeply about this issue; developing understandings of why some animals are endangered and the element of human responsibility in this. 

I showed our class some short videos featuring four endangered animals in their natural habitats;             African elephant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1e0lSoCUb8, 

blue whale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pjI2XkmoL0, 

tiger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXmqwRj0o4E and 

panda bear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mtILTIDwHQ 

They enjoyed watching the panda family playing together, the tiger caring for her cub, the elephants drinking and spraying with their trunks, and the blue whale moving majestically through the ocean.

    "Elephant horns go in pianos.'

    " Oh good...there's lots of bamboo there!"

    " Wow! Look at the tail...look!"

    "So cute baby!"

In coming weeks, I will be providing the children with opportunities to explore why these animals are important to our world, and possible consequences of their extinction. We will also begin to investigate action that is being taken, and could be taken, to try to rectify this situation.

The class are very interested in all animals - endangered and otherwise. Some children have engaged with provocations featuring  2 & 3D maps of the earth and selected animals, and were interested to see where on the maps the animals lived.

What is around the Earth?

Many children have been engaging in activities designed to represent their understandings of what is around the Earth. Ms Aspa made some moon sand (sand, cornflour and water), which was used with stones, modelling tools and circular trays to depict the shape and surface of the moon.

Some children extended their play by incorporating alien figures, enacting them landing on the moon. This prompted a discussion about whether aliens are real or not!

"Even there's some aliens in the moon."

"At the moon there's moonwalks."

"At the moon astronauts come on and they've got a dune buggy to go on it."

"If there was a typhoon in Philipines the moon would be orange on top and on the sides and yellow at the bottom."

"Aliens come out of little holes, you know."

Some children chose to paint a sun. They were encouraged to use a sweeping, circular motion to apply the paint; practicing fine motor control.

" When the sun shines the plants grow."

"When the sun and the rain goes together it makes a rainbow."

"Sunflowers grow in the night and in the sun."

"It's hot."

Before the half term break I asked all the children to verbalise and draw What I'm thinking about the world. Many responses were related to aspects of the above, with many also focusing on countries and families. To expand on this, and to prepare for our upcoming UN Day on 21 November, I would like to ask parents to send in a printed family photo which we can display in our classroom, and which the children can share with their friends and teachers. Please send the photo in via your child's blue folder. Many thanks :)

Today, we had a cast of characters in our class for dress-up day! Happy Halloween to those who celebrate.

The World - our Meta Project

Endangered Animals

Following on from many children's interest and engagement in endangered animals, we have shared more books and viewed some short videos on the subject. These have generated discussions about the actions that people could take, following on from the earlier suggestion of a child...

                                           "People should stop and do something."

Thoughts and ideas shared by the children were…

"If the hunters cut the trees down that means they'll fall and make fire and only the animals will die."

"People  kill tigers for their skins, and to make aircon for their houses."

"Pandas are endangered because people cut down the bamboo."

"We can take out all the rubbish."

"We can help the tiger by making more trees."

"Ask the hunters to stop killing the animals."

As you can see, the children's thinking is deepening as our inquiry develops further!

Last week, the class had worked collaboratively to represent the earth in 2D on a large black circle. Endangered animals were drawn and cut out by many children, and attached to this Earth. Some children were interested in finding the countries of the animals on the world map displayed in our classroom.

I shared with the children the picture book Big Bear Little Bear by David Bedford which details the family life of polar bears in their habitat. I posed the question "What might happen if the ice melts?"
A week earlier we had learned through non-fiction books that the sun is shining hotter as the earth is warming, so it was great to see the extension of children's thinking in their answers...

"The bears might drown."

"No...polar bears can swim."

"How would they get fish?"

I then set up a provocation with a slab of ice, a sun and polar bear figurines for the children to explore. Over the day we observed the ice melting, which also opened the chance for a discussion about different states of water. 

Clouds

Our inquiry into clouds has extended into an exploration of the water cycle, with children making rain using pippettes and sponges. Observations of the melting ice of the polar bear's habitat has led into discussions of the properties and states of water. The properties of water were explored in our outside area.

What is around the Earth?

The class have explored Google Earth on the iPads, and were very excited to find their school, Singapore, and in some cases their home country. I posed the question "What is around the Earth?" in response to a child's comment that it was black everywhere. Many children were interested in what surrounds the earth, with suggestions such as the sun, the moon, planets, rainbows, and shooting stars.
I look forward to continuing this inquiry with the children in coming weeks!

UWC Day

On Wednesday 3rd October, we spent a lovely day connecting with a Grade 12 class who shared presentations about their home countries with our class. The children really enjoyed learning from the older students, sharing commonalities, and seeing other UWC's plotted on a world map.

This is our last class blog before the October half-term break. I hope your child has a restful and enjoyable holiday.