Kindergarten Enrichment goes to The Great Barrier Reef

Kindergarten Enrichment S.T.E.A.M. + Project ... Amazing!

2/13/2015

The Great Barrier Reef in our own KE Classroom

Children Researched and Created: Hard and Soft Coral, including Brain Coral, Staghorn Coral, Finger Coral, Tube Coral, Fan Coral and Flower Coral, as well as Sea Animals including the Octopus, Parrot Fish, Clown Fish, Crab, Eel, Sting Ray, Whale Shark, Dolphin, and more. Why is the sand white?

Why is the sand white? Is the coral a rock? Does coral eat? How did the coral move and get the sand off of the top of itself in that video? What color should my turtle be if it lives in Australia? What is the weather in Australia? Where is the book I put that book mark in to go back to the puffer fish page? How big can a coral reef grow?

These and so many other inquiries from our students drove the research and learning involved in our Great Barrier Reef project. Preparing for a new project, wondering if we could find anything more fun and exciting than our recent North Pole and Santa's Workshop, we laughed about needing a little beach time with all of these "too cold to play" days. That thought, coupled with a recent obsession with magnets, led our group to a debate over whether we should create a beach or a science laboratory. Let the voting begin!

The beach was the winner, and all of the students whole-heartedly embraced our virtual trip to the Coral Sea. The students' brainstorming eventually led us to exploring the land down under, a beach on Australia's East Coast called Lizard Island, and finally, The Great Barrier Reef. Students were attracted like their magnets (opposite poles, they will tell you) to the incredible world that exists under the sea.

The learning involved the globe and discovery of the land down under being south of the equator, the location of the Reef along the northeastern coast of the country, the name of the country and its not-as-well-known name as a continent, and then it was on to the science with trying to figure out just what a reef actually is and how it forms and grows. We studied a variety of types of coral, and then the sea animals that make their home in and around the coral reef. We hit the books, a few YouTube vids and some great Kindle Books on the iPad.

Researching and Creating Sea Animals of the Coral Sea

As we began working with our art teacher, using techniques with water color, resistance, pastels, etc., math skills became evident in our art work and soon we were pulling out yard sticks and rulers to measure 8-foot streamers for the windows, counting out 8 tentacles for our Octopi...yes, we went from Octopuses to Octopies to Octopi! And, with ensuring that I am spelling this correctly here, I just learned and must share with my class that it is truly supposed to be Octopodes! Octopi developed as the plural out of a mistaken assumption that the word is of Latin origin which would require the "i" plural, whereas it truly is of Greek origin and should be Octopodes! They now say that for American English, Octopuses should be acceptable, as it is the easiest. Everything I need to know a learned from a kindergartener...didn't we just come full circle with that plural? Can you see how the learning just never ends...for all of us? Back to the project...The engineering came in with the planning, designing and building of the reef base, and the reading and writing are ever-present; however, we also created "Sticker Stories" with this project. Children selected ocean-themed stickers and set them in a scene to tell a story. They then used their best Kid Writing to write the story of their illustration. These were edited and the final copies were read to our parents at The Great Barrier Reef!