Phase ll
Developing the project
Building on children's prior knowledge, we conducted further investigations to learn more about the 'Animal kingdom.' Children explored videos classifying animals into vertebrates and invertebrates, by their food habits and their habitat. They also explored first-hand about animals through a virtual field trip and by going on a physical field trip with their parents. Children expressed their interest in wild animals through their drawings and clay models. So we conducted further online investigations on wild animals through Kiddle.
Overview of Animal kingdom :
Diyan : I want to tell about the body parts of insects. Head, thorax, abdomen and antenna. In butterfly.
Avan : "Ants have antenna, ants have small one, large antenna butterfly."
Shravi : "Snail is an insect."
Ruthva : "Because of the meteor flash, meteor clash on the earth, its like a ball clash to the earth, they banged on the dinosaurs to make them extinct."
Aarya : "Mammals. They born babies."
Vivaan Kabra : " I know the other animals, the birds, the sky animals, the biggest bird is the eagle."
Habitat of animals
Arkin : "Where all animals live is habitat."
Mahira : "Iceland where polar bears live. Water where fishes live."
Avya : "Camel lives in desert."
Siddhansh : "Nest, cave. Kennel (Dog home)"
Diyan : "Burrows"(Rabbit lives in)
Shravi : "Animals need homes because when rain come they will get wet, Squirrels live on tree."
Avan : "Puppy house. Puppies are small, that's why we need to make small kennel. Need to give window so that it can breathe."
Pushti : "This is tiger's house -cave, and this is elephant eating grass."
Ruthva : "My brother and I made this big farmhouse. It has place for horse, cow, baby cow, sheep and pig. Also a rooster on top of the gate to wake up everyone in the morning."
Lion and cub in cage and snake on ground
Harit : "There are 2 cows inside home, water tank for cow to drink water."
Scavenger hunt
After the exploration of animal homes in the class and constructing homes for them with legos, children stepped out and hunted for their real homes. What wonderful discoveries!
Siddhansh : "It's a weaver bird nest."
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Mehar's hunt for a centipede
Ruthva : "Spider web.. everyday my mother puts water, everyday it makes a new web."
Animals according to the food they eat...
(What will happen to the herbivores if there were no trees?)
Mehar : "They will die of hunger."
Shaan : "They will not have home to live. No food.
Harit : "Carnivores eat other animals, herbivores plants khate hai"
Children explored patterns on animals though story and made creative patterns on animal's body:
Shaan's Giraffe
Mahira's creative pattern on Giraffe and hen
Ruthva's colourful lion
Exploration on animal adaptations through videos :
Exposure to nocturnal animals through story :
We incorporated discussion about nocturnal animals through story "Goodnight Tinku".
Field trip with parents :
Children visited Science City Aquarium, Sugar Rush Farm and local cowshed to gather more information about animals.
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"My brother, Hridaan and me in the Science City Shark tunnel."
Mishika and Ruthva feeding Emu . His name is Alpha. He eats very fast.
Virtual Field trip
Based on children's interest, a video of trip to the zoo was shown to them.
Children did post field trip drawing after having the virtual field trip to the zoo.
Mehar : "I made a lion, tiger and a giraffe."
Dr.Shah : "This white tigress's name is Zumi and she is 5years old."
Field Trip to Kankaria Zoo (With teachers live from Zoo):
After the field trip with the parents, a field trip to Kankaria zoo was conducted by the teachers.The interaction with Dr. Shah, the vet was live streamed. Children came to know about the patterns, characteristics, differences and safety of the animals. They also experienced the emotional bonding between the animals and the care takers.
Few of children's queries :
"What the tigers eat when they have fever ?"
Dr. Shah : "When animals are sick, they eat less or they don't eat."
Arkin : "How doctors will know if animals have fever or stomach ache or headache?"
Dr. Shah : "Animals eat less, their nose dries, eyes get dim, hair on the body stand up."
These are antlers of Deer, they are different from horns.
How ma'am is looking with a big antler?
Dr Saha : "It's egg from Emu"
Dr. Shah: "Snakes shredded it's skin, it's called Bolting."
Discussion, negotiation with children and narrowing down the research topic according to the children's interest. The class was inclined towards knowing more indepth about wild animals.
Exploring Animal Kingdom and finding answers for children's queries from encyclopedia and kiddle.co website:
Ruthva : "They eat gazelle deer. They catch the deer and take it to the tree and eat there. They are good swimmer and climbers. They make marks on the bark of the tree to claim their tree."
Group of dolphins are called 'pod' or 'school'.
Vivaan Kabra : "Dolphin have good eye sight. They use the sound to find the location of their friends."
Shaan : "Penguin takes two months to hatch. Mummy goes to bring food and papa goes next time."
Maanveer : Dinosaur- t rex
30 types of dinosaur. Carnivore animal. Back legs are stronger than front legs and long and strong tail helps to balance.
Mishika: How tall is the elephant?
Size: Height at the shoulder: 6.6 to 9.8 feet
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/asian-elephant
Arkin : What does pigs eat ?
In the wild, pigs eat everything from leaves, roots, and fruit to rodents and small reptiles.
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/pig
Avya : How long are red snake?
http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Storeria_occipitomaculata/
Redbellied snake: Range length: 20.0 to 40.0 cm
Pushti : How long is the tiger ? Bengal Tiger?
https://seaworld.org/animals/all-about/tiger/characteristics/
Adult male Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) weigh about 220 kg (480 lbs.) and measure about 2.9 m (9.5 ft) in length.
Ruthva : How lion roars?
A roar is a deep outburst from an open mouth. Roaring is made by using hyoid. A hyoid is a small bone that is not completely rigid in adults. Animals roar for a few reasons. These include when animals claim their territory (such as territorial dispute), communication with other members, and when they are angry.
Shaan : How hornbills eat?
They are omnivores. They pic up their food with their beak. Then they take it to the middle of the mouth. As Their longue is too small.
Mahira : How is Kangroo’s skin?
The red kangaroo is a very large kangaroo. The fur is short, red to brown in colour, fading to a pale colour below and on the legs. Females are smaller than males and are a blue-grey colour with a small amount of brown, pale grey below, although arid area females are coloured like males.
Avan: "How birds fly?
Their wings. Light body weight. They have oval body. Bones are light and empty/hollow.
Harit : "I want to know about tiger stripes"
Arkin : "How much tiger sleeps in a day?"
Two tigers have same stripes. Orange fur and black stripes. Belly is white. Tiger is our national animal and also Bangladesh.
Tiger sleeps for 15.8 hour in a day.
Shravi : "Why all insects have antennas?"
They can feel-hot, cold,warm, smell, hear (feel the vibration) if any birds are coming,Motion of the air.
Visualizing the model
After much exploration about the 'Wild Animals', children got an opportunity to showcase their learning in the form of a model. Each one of them shared their idea of model making and also how they would make it.
Avan : "I want to make a lion's family in a rocky den."
Mahira : "I am making lion and his cub in a den."
Het's blueprint of zoo
Harit's Blueprint of zoo.
Ruthva : "Jungle with monkeys, lion and a crocodile."
Discussion on what material they will use to make their model
Mishika : "I will use clay, box and blue slime."
Avan : "I will use toothpaste caps, bottle cap, sauce tube caps."
Joanna : "I will use paper for crocodile."
Shravi : "I will make animals with clay."
Het : "I am making jail with sticks and green grass, cardboard and paper."
Siddhansh : "I will make with land with thermocol sheet, lot of straws."
Arkin : "I will make with thermocol and paper."
Joanna : "I will use stones, green grass, crocodile inside with paper."
Children showcased their learning through self made rhymes :
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