Discovering Africa!

We spent much time last term learning about the animal world.At the beginning they learn about mammals ,herbivores and carnivores,with animal baskets and matching cards.We then move on to Fish,Birds, Amphibians and Reptiles and finally all the invertebrates.Children have no problem now been able to classify animals and put them in their correct phylum(family) .I feel this helps them to make sense of the world and allows them to see that everything has a place and a purpose.They just love this work which  leads to great conversation and arouses their sense of wonder.  After introducing them to planet earth and the continent globe,we decided to explore Africa! We looked at the people and their homes and then the basket of African animals ! Each child picked an animal and with the help of Mums and Dads have produced some wonderful projects.Ella was first in with a lovely cheetah project and we learned that he is the fastest mammal on earth.Moss also did a beautiful cheetah project with a picture of his paw print !Lana Maye  told us all about the chimp and we were thrilled to hear that he is our nearest relative.Both Rian and Joseph did gorilla projects and as well as learning that he is in danger of extinction we learned   that they crawl at 2 months and walk at 9 months!!Anna s giraffe project was a work of art and even I didn’t know that they weigh as much as a truck.!!Harry B also did the giraffe and he told us that they sleep standing up and for only 2 hours at a time!Today Umi brought in her ostrich project.  Her daddy did beautiful hand drawings and taught us that they build  communal nests and they weigh as much as 2 adults!!Lara also did the ostrich and from her we discovered that they are flightless and biggest bird.Cara was very excited about her elephant project because her mummy and daddy lived in Africa  and were photographed with the elephant!Ciaran s Mummy did a lovely map of Africa for his project and amongst the many facts he shared we learned that zebras live in groups called harems! Ceola had beautiful drawings for her zebra project and told us that every year they travel from Tanzania to Kenya,18,000 miles! What amazing animals they are. Saibh s  lion project has beautiful pictures and is so colorful.The children are so proud when they present their projects and we really do learn so much. They are proudly displayed on our Africa beam and are always been discussed and admired by the children.Thank you parents!

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