Exploring nature through our curiosities


 Dear Turtle Class Families,


We have been busy inquiring into nature over the past couple of weeks through many fun and engaging learning experiences! From exploring bugs, different types of animals, habitats and plants! The Turtle Class has also successfully created a Bug Hotel for creepy crawly visitors and we plan to place it in Bradbury School's 'Jungle School' area after the Easter Break, when we also plan to visit this exciting learning space on a more regular basis! 



While creating the bug hotel, the class discussed how they would like to make it more inviting for bees and butterflies to visit and noticed that there was a lack of flowers available for these insects. After some careful research on which flowers and plants bees and butterflies prefer, the class set out to plant these important flowers, with the help of the story 'Jasper's Beanstalk', written by Nick Butterworth. 


The class had lots of fun planting their own seeds and we are patiently waiting for them to begin sprouting! 

   



The Turtle Class showed a keen interest in finding out more about plants, so we inquired further into a variety of different plants that grew fruits, spikey cactus plants and carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants and venus fly traps. 


We thoroughly enjoyed reading a book that provided us with more information on where lots of our food comes from and the class had many questions about farming. 


This led us to inquire into where chocolate comes from. Many of the children demonstrated their knowledge of cocoa beans and cacao trees. One of our Turtle Class friends kindly brought in a non-fiction book all about how chocolate is made! We also watched an interesting video about chocolate production: 



After the Turtle Class had successfully filled their pom-pom jar when they demonstrated fantastic teamwork, the class voted to make yummy chocolate lollipops as a reward! 






 After listening to an African folktale called 'Anansi the Spider and the Pot of Wisdom', we decided it was important to share all of the knowledge about the world that we had gained from our inquiries and research. The K2s discussed how they would like to share their wisdom with the K1 children! This week the Turtle Class confidently shared their non-fiction books about nature with the K1 Panda Class. 









The Turtle Class also enjoyed listening to stories from around the world, where we were able to discuss the animals' different habitats in Africa and India. 





Throughout our Sharing The Planet unit of inquiry, the Turtle Class. has been learning how to collect data by using tally marks and pictograms. We have enjoyed reading the following books about patterns in nature!



Most recently we have begun to inquire further into the key concepts of Caustation and Responsibility. The Turtle Class has explored the choices we make, both positive and negative can have an impact on our planet. We plan to continue inquiring into the importance of conservation for our planet. 





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