Did you know that polar bears have jet black skin?! Their fur is actually hollow and translucent; but it appears white because it reflects the light from the sun!
The Pre-Primary Blue class at Wilson have been learning all about God’s wonderful world of animals, their habitats, and the special adaptations that help them survive and thrive. Through hands-on activities, stories, and guided discussions, we are discovering how each animal is uniquely created by God with specific features suited to its environment – like the polar bear’s thick fur for the cold or the giraffe’s long neck to reach high leaves. This area of learning can be deeply meaningful as children begin to see how each creature is uniquely designed with purpose and care by a loving Creator.
We have been having lots of fun playing in our ‘Wild Fun Zoo’ play area, where the children have been pretending to be zookeepers, zoo visitors and cashiers. This has prompted a lot of questions about what different animals eat, their needs, where they live, and how we can care of them. We began by investigating animals from Antartica and the Arctic regions, and the children were particularly interested in how they stay warm in the cold! Did you know that polar bears have jet black skin?! Their fur is actually hollow and translucent; but it appears white because it reflects the light from the sun! Their black skin absorbs heat from the sun, and they also have a thick layer of blubber and two layers of fur to help them stay warm! We also learnt that penguins have waterproof feathers and blubber that helps to insular them, as well as social behaviours like huddling together to keep out of the cold. Students are encouraged to see these features not just as biological facts, but as evidence of God’s thoughtful design. These adaptations show how God equips every living thing to thrive in the place He has given it.
This term has also been full of exciting progress in our literacy and mathematics learning! The Pre-Primaries attempted their first independent sentence writing as they completed their holiday recounts and they have been practising segmenting and blending lots of CVC words! We have also been working on identifying and creating rhyming words, which is an important early literacy skill. It has been so exciting to see the children’s enthusiasm for learning and to make some big steps in their reading journey!
In mathematics this term, we have been doing lots of activities involving patterning, sorting, and measurement. The children have enjoyed measuring their height and sorting themselves from shortest to tallest. Another popular activity involves sorting the ‘trash’ in the ocean, as children used scoops and nets to remove the rubbish from our ocean play tray and sort it into groups such as bottle tops, plastic bags and bread tags. This linked nicely with discussions surrounding how important it is to care for our oceans and the animals that live in them! This learning also fosters a sense of responsibility. Children are taught that caring for animals and their habitats is part of our role as stewards of God’s creation (Genesis 2:15). We have also been creating our own zoo scenes in the block area, where children sorted the toy animals into their own enclosures. These sorts of activities make our learning purposeful, and lots of fun! It also connects what we learn with Biblical truths, such as Genesis 1:25, which tells us that ‘God made the wild animals according to their kinds.’
We are excited to continue our learning about God’s creation, as we explore a range of different habitats and the animals that live in them. What a blessing to witness young children who recognise their calling to care for the world He has made, and to appreciate the beautify and diversity of all living creatures as part of His divine design!
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” Gen 1:24
