Posted by stjosephskindy | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on June 24, 2015
Hello to parents, families and friends of St Joseph’s Kindergarten
Week 10 has been an exciting one with the arrival of a very special box of Antarctic artefacts from the Museum in Hobart. The items (including the trunk) have either been used in Antarctica or are similar to those that were used. The children have been very excited to explore krill, whale baleen (the bit of the whale’s mouth that filters the water – I had to look it up!), Antarctic Medals, a whale’s tooth, cold weather clothing and a weather balloon.
Electronic tracker used to trace penguin movements in Antarctica
Sperm whale tooth and shell fossils from Antarctica
Whale Baleen that filters water so the whale can eat
Krill from Antarctica
Kindergarten students have been very good at putting on their white gloves and handling the items with great care while investigating.
We have been learning about Humpback Whales this week as part of our study of Antarctica. To truly understand the size of an adult humpback whale we went outside and measured out a length of 16 metres, drew a giant whale and then discovered how many Kindergarten children it would take to cover that length. We didn’t quite have enough children to do the job!
After all of our learning on Tuesday we were VERY tired and needed a bit of a rest time after lunch.
Today we learned about how whales eat. We felt a whale baleen and had a close up look at a Krill that whales eat in Antarctica. We also watched videos of whales working together to herd the Krill into place so that they could feed. To help us understand what it is like in a whale’s mouth we watch a little bit of finding Nemo (where Marlin and Dory are stuck in the whale’s mouth). We then had some hands on fun using combs to catch our own ‘krill’ in containers.
The children are very excited to be learning about Antarctica. They have asked some very interesting questions about whales including:
- How do whales go upside down to put their tales to make the bash sound?
- How do whales jump?
- How do whales sleep?
- How do dolphins talk to whales?
Next week we will learn about how people have survived in Antarctica over the last 100 years. Children will be trying on real clothing worn in Antarctica and learning about food and living arrangements.
Until next time,
Mrs Seamer, Mrs Coleman and the kids of St Joseph’s Kindergarten.
P.S. We would love it if you could leave some comments for us on our posts. We can then read them together as a class and respond.