Survival Inquiry

How do you know it’s living?

Recently the group that has been inquiring into survival spent a session out in the yard. We explored the living things in our school environment and reflected upon their threats to survival and survival strategies. Children worked in pairs to choose a place for their hula hoop and examine all of the living things within it.

A plant - ‘cause it needs water and sun.

Plants - because they have roots and roots are like the legs and the petals are like the arms but if you chop the stem, off they die.

Grass - because it grows.

Shadows - ‘cause they move

Our excursion to the zoo

On 26th July 2012, the survival movement group and terrace zoo group had an excursion to the Zoo.

What an exciting day it was! Even the forecast of rain couldn’t dampen our spirits (though the wind was fiercely cold!) 

We started by eating – that’s always a good place to begin! As we sat down in a pavilion, we heard a ferocious roar! Was it my stomach? No, it was the lions! They put on quite a show and we rushed over there as soon as we finished eating, but disappointingly, the lions were nowhere to be seen. Did you know that it’s the females that hunt for food, not the males? Their role is to protect the pride. We also looked at the African Wild Dog, which is endangered due to disease and hunting. 

Next we had our lesson with zookeeper Kat. She introduced us to a Red Tailed Black Cockatoo named Sam. His species is endangered because it needs really big old trees to live and they take a long time to grow and people keep chopping them down. 

She taught us that animals need a few things to survive: food, water (or milk for babies) and shelter. Some animals need friends to pick nits – this provides food and stops animals from being itchy!!!

Pueblan Milk Snake 

Then we met a Pueblan Milk Snake, named Jaffalito. Here are some things that the Preps said (in quotation marks):

• “Some snakes can dig holes” for shelter 
• “What’s venom?” “it’s a kind of poison stuff” 
• “We are mammals!” (after Kat said that snakes eat small mammals) 
• “The scales feel soft” 
• “It has a forked tongue” (Kat – it’s two tongues stuck together) 
• “He’s smelling the air!” (Kat – he’s actually tasting the air! He can taste you!) 
• The Pueblan Milk Snake doesn’t hiss “because then an American might find it!” (its habitat is South America) 
• “How come they’re going under that wood (bark)?” (Kat – to hide from predators. Also, snakes don’t have eyelids so they have to go somewhere dark to sleep.) 

Kat spoke about how people chop down trees for paper, thus destroying their habitat. 

Green Tree Frog

Then we met a Green Tree Frog, named Bashful. Here are some things that the Preps said about him:

• “He can camouflage”
• “He feels strong and soft”
• “A bit gooey, and his legs are gooey”
• “He can drink through his whole body” 

Kat spoke about a threat – the chemicals from our cleaning products that go down drains and into their habitat. Thus, we have a responsibility to choose cleaning products in a more conscientious manner.

After the lesson, and in between meals, we got to see lots of animals. Below are some more quotes from the children and snippets of information.

Tortoises

Under threat from feral animals

Why do they have shells?

• “They (tortoises) might see a gun and they’ll (the hunter) think it’s a rock” 
• “They need to hide” 
• “So they have shade” 

Seals 

• “Their threats are sharks” 
• “Yeah, and when they’re on the snow, their threats are people” 

Other 

• “apes are like people” 
• the rat enclosure has trees “so it can camouflage” 
• Pelicans have long, big beaks “To fit lots of water in, or fish” 

Elephants

Then we met a zoo keeper feeding the elephants. She told us that: 

• Their thick skin and the dirt/dust mean that insects can’t bite them. 
• The dirt exfoliates their skin and acts as sunscreen. 
• Doesn’t lie down – would make it too vulnerable 
• Only picks and eats the big branches, thus allowing light to enter the forest and leaving the smaller things for the smaller animals. 
• The tusks are for eating, fighting and digging – only males have them. 

In summary, some of the threats to survival that we learnt about today include:

• hunting 
• disease 
• loss of habitat, such as chopping down trees 
• feral animals 
• pollution, such as chemicals and litter 
• predators. 

Some of the strategies that animals use to survive include: 

• camouflage 
• tusks 
• shells 
• hiding 
• living in packs/with friends 
• fighting 

We are excited about continuing our inquiry into survival.

Movement and Survival

Below are some snap shots from planning documents and recorded quotes and conversations relevant to what has been happening lately in Inquiry for the ‘Natural Movement’ group working with Nerida.

23rd May

Discussing why it is interesting or important to explore the movement of the various things in the drawings that children did at the start of our inquiry. For some reason, the interest in movement evolved into a fascination with survival! Here are some key quotes from the children:

• If we didn’t have any water then we would die.
• If we didn’t have water, our land would be dry.
• If we didn’t have any sea creatures then there wouldn’t be any museums.
• Because if we didn’t have any planets we wouldn’t have a home.
• You shouldn’t actually catch dangerous animals because otherwise they’ll kill you and they weren’t always dangerous – sharks were like… great white sharks, you shouldn’t catch those things ‘cause otherwise they’ll try to kill you. And they weren’t dangerous but now they because dangerous because you’re hurting them.
• If you didn’t have water, you wouldn’t have anything to eat ‘cause living things live in water and you catch them to eat and if you don’t you’ll die.
• I drew snakes, well, some of them could be dangerous. We do know one things anyway – some things have red and that’s a warning sign – if you see a snake with red, then stay away. Only if they’re scared they’ll bite you.
• If there was no sea creatures, you could still live, it’s just you can eat meat from other animals that don’t need water, that don’t live in water; and you can catch dangerous sea creatures because they can’t breathe out of water.
• Some sea creatures have to come up out of the water to have a breath.
• If you didn’t have a sun, the earth would be… no body could live on it.

31st May

Track the movement of the sun – trace shadows with chalk.

• The shadows will get longer at the end of the day. That’s what happens at the end of the day.
• The Sun makes your shadow. The Sun gets colder and colder and the shadows get longer and longer.
• If we stand far away then it will just like change. What if it’s bigger?
• He accidentally made this arm shorter than it actually is.
• When I stretch my arms out, it looks like this one’s a little bit longer.
• Yeah, one is a little bit longer.

18^th June 

“Window” by Jeannie Baker

19^th June 

Thinking Routines to go prompt deeper thinking.

Resources: Lots of images relevant to survival, eg. animals fighting, fleeing, camouflage, drought, hunger, etc.

“See, Think, Wonder” - in pairs, find someone with the same image as you. Discuss what you can specifically see in the image, what you think is happening in the image and what you wonder.

Dog and Crab 

think

- I think the crab’s claw chopped the dog’s body off.
- And when the crab eats the dog, the crab’s going to choke.
- And I think that the crab might not survive.
- Yeah, me too.

Whale in a net

see 

- I can see blood.
- I can see blood and a net.

think
- I think that maybe a pirate stuck his sword in there and then put a net over the top.
- I think the same.
- I think that a pirate jumped off a ship with a… and pulled it over the top and threw it over him. 

wonder
- I wonder if the crew is going to run over him.
- I think the blood’s really hurting ‘cause of the water.

Duckling on dried-up lake

(Two children use magnifying glasses to examine their image.)
see
- A wing, there.
- And a crack, there.
- Yeah, crack’s in the ground.
- A canyon!


think
- Maybe it was flying but then it lost balance and fell down.
- If it was dead, something could have poisoned it, like a snake.

wonder
- I wonder if the bird is still alive.
- I wonder if it’s going to survive.

“Move and Reason” – in two groups, with all images in the middle of the circle. Which images do you think go together? Why?

• They both look like they’re fighting. 
• I think this one and these ones go together because they’re all dead.  
• I’ll put that one there because they’re all in danger.
• I think this one and this one belong together because they’re both dead.
• These two, because they’re both skeletons. (How do you think they died?) A human killed them.

Learning spaces in Bicicletta

If you haven't had the opportunity to visit Bicicletta recently and have a look around, please enjoy this virtual tour of our learning spaces... 

Entry. This doorway leads out to The Terrace.

Entry from the door near "the Pit" - take home readers and a display of our family photos.

The Science area - currently on display are a number of machines, donated by families, which are support our Inquiry project into movement.

Blocks on the light table and a comfy ottoman.

Reading area.

Reading area.

The Atelier.

View towards the dramatic play area. Lunch trolley and display of children's work in the foreground. On the wall behind, children's movement drawings are on display.

Dramatic play area.

Writing area.

A popular place for children to work on writing skills.

Electricity

Lots of children have been showing a real interest in motors and machines. To support their inquiry we have been experimenting with an electricity set, exploring the ways different configurations that make the fan move and a light turn on.

“So it’s like a little room!”

“Is it like a house?”

“I can actually feel the electric charge go through it.” (cable)

“Yeah, it’s vibrating.”

“If I put it a little bit in it still goes.”

“The battery can come out.”

“That power cord goes to there, and then that power cord goes to there.”

“I see some plug holes.”

“I’m looking for places where there’s metal.”

Inquiry Night

Dear families,


Inquiry night is this Wednesday. This is an opportunity for us to share with you the experiences that we create for the children and our documentation of our whole L.C. inquiry into movement. We would love to show you how we came up with the concept of movement and get you involved, as much as you are willing. Inquiry is a way of learning, not just a subject. It is a central part of our curriculum at BEPS and we invite you to see how we learn literacy, maths, science art and much more through this approach.  


The evening will start in 456 upstairs at 6.30. After an introduction from Nerida, we will return to our learning community to have a closer look at what we have been working on over the past few months.


We hope to see you there!

Aquarium Excursion part 2

On Friday 4th May 2012, the Bicicletta LC went to the Melbourne Aquarium...

(click on the images below to see them at full size)

The Penguins

"The penguins can slide."

"See? That one had a stream of bubbles coming off its back!"

"Look! Air bubbles up in the rock!"

“They come out of the penguin’s bottom!” (referring to the air bubbles)

“They get stuck in the dents of the rock!”

“See that one? He had air bubbles all over his back.”

“That one’s quite shiny.”

The Sea Stars and Sea Biscuits

“It felt slimy”

“It looks like a leaf”

“They feel spikey”

“They felt scaly”

“It felt like warm, soft in bed”

“It’s called a sea star because it can’t swim”

Reflection back at school: sharks, stingrays and eyes

“I saw the shark and was closed his eyes and he was sleeping walk, but shark is still sleeping because he have to swimming. And he do it slowly, slowly and swimming.”

“When sharks sleep they open their eyes and they still float on the water except they go really slow. Starfish’s eyes are on their backs.”

“I learned that sharks have eyes on their cheeks.”

“On Stingrays their eyes are on the bottom of their body and at the very end of their fins they’ve got poisonous, I don’t know what it is... stingers? And you can only touch them in certain places. And also their gills are on the bottom.”

“The stingrays’ eyes are on its head.”

“They’re both right because the stingray’s eyes are on the top and the bottom.”

“I know because I crouched down and I looked on the top and I saw nothing that looked like eyes.”

Drawing at the aquarium...

“I can’t describe how they move because they move so slowly,” referring to the small, long fish.

and adding water colour back at school.

“It’s blurry ‘cause it’s moving so fast,” referring to the blurry effect the water had on the colour in his drawing.