Learning Across the ELC

Life on Land Inquiry

We have had a fabulous start to Term 4, with the children really engaging in our 'Life on Land' inquiry. We have been obtaining children's prior knowledge, interests and questions to be able to co-research with them and challenge their thinking. From a provocation basket with shells, nests, feathers, starfish and a shark egg in it, the Preschool Blue children were most interested in the shark egg and wanted to investigate and learn more about sharks. Preschool Gold had a broader focus of animals that live in the ocean. Both groups have engaged in conversations about living and non-living things that are found by the ocean. In group times children had discussions about how we know if something is alive. We have shared videos and books about sharks and the ocean where sharks lay their eggs, why they are shaped the way they are, and how they hatch. We have also had a lot of children interested in our egg drawing provocation, with a basket of wooden eggs (different sizes, colours and patterns) accompanied with the book 'An egg is quiet' which explores the many differences in egg shapes, colours, patterns, and sizes. Children have investigated what animals hatch out of the eggs, using the iPad. 

Our preschoolers have really enjoyed going for lots of walks around the whole school, looking and listening for signs of birds as part of 'The Great Aussie Bird Hunt', tallying the birds we find and referring to the Adelaide Plains Common Urban Bird Chart to determine the species of each bird or feather we found. We also looked for 'living things' on our walks and encouraged the children to draw their findings of fish, butterflies, bees, spiders, ants, birds and plants. The conversations and questions from these experiences are continuing to lead where this inquiry goes.

Ms Ollie Lauder

ELC Teacher