To bid farewell to the Inquiry Unit that the 2nd grade students have been working on, we want to tell you about Niki's visit, a three-year-old African turtle
A few days ago, we showed you the habitats that the students had built for the different animals of the planet using cardboard, cardstock, and modeling clay, as they have been working on the "How the World Works: Living Beings on Earth" unit for several weeks. The students have linked the inquiry cycle of the unit with the life cycle of different animals and have learned many things. On one hand, they have worked on the characteristics of animals when they are born: some are oviparous, others viviparous, and some ovoviviparous. They have also recorded in their inquiry journals how they feed: whether they are herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores; how they grow: whether they are vertebrates or invertebrates. And finally, they have learned to classify some of them as birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and mammals.
Thanks to the Inquiry Unit, they have participated in active learning through three activities: the first was a visit to the Gel Farm, where they fed the cows, a mammal; the second, about birds, was the incubation of chicks and the welcoming of more than thirty that are living in the school for a few days; and, finally, the visit of Niki, Lucas Naveros's African turtle.
Paco, his father, has taught them all about this reptile that is already three years old: what it eats, how it grows and moves, where and how long it can live, what its needs are, what its shell is for. And all the students have been able to see it up close. For many of them, it was the first time they had seen a turtle and they were excited.
Thanks to Paco and Lucas for their generosity, for coming to the school with Niki, and for teaching so much to the students.
Here's to a new inquiry!