I once had the privilege of overhearing an elderly woman’s prayer at church; she asked God to never let her lose her curiosity but be like a child, always in awe of His creation. Observing how the Year 1 students engage with the inquiry topic 'Sharing Our Planet', I can fully understand the depth of such a prayer.
Students began their inquiry considering the Central Idea “plants and animals live in different places that meet their needs”. Rich discussions and questions about living and non-living things ensued, swiftly followed by nature walks and talks, hypotheses and experiments to reach an agreed definition about living things.
Plants were defined as the most important living thing and therefore the first area students wanted to explore. Students enjoyed classifying trees in their autumn beauty as deciduous or evergreen. An experiment to observe how a stem sucks up water and distributes it to the leaves kept students intrigued, and seed sorting and growing is still taking place.
Students have also been mesmerised by the life cycle of a Monarch butterfly. Following the process of life’s metamorphosis has inspired questions and connections, awe and wonder. Students launched into fiction and non-fiction texts to learn more about these beautiful insects and created their own craft that depicted the life cycle.
Australian native Animals captured our hearts during our incursion with Animals Anonymous. Students stroked a freshwater crocodile, cuddled a quoll and played with a python around their necks. We all agreed that God has a great imagination to create so many different animals.
What’s next, you may wonder - St Peters Campus Year 1 students will be joining with the curious Year 1 students at St John's Campus to explore the Highbury Drive Reserve. Students will work with Mrs Molloy to research animals to produce a research report as well as creating their own habitat dioramas. More animal visits and exciting botany observations will also take place.
Our prayer is that you never lose the curious awe for God’s amazing creation.
Olivia Livingston
Year 1 Teacher - St Peters Campus
