Just before the holidays, we invited Mrs. Loden to class to share her passion for trees through an interactive presentation that she put together, with creative inputs from her children, her son Joshua from PYP4 and daughter Emily from our class. The children were fascinated to learn interesting facts about trees such as the age of the oldest living tree (5,ooo years), the height of the tallest tree in the world (the Giant Redwood standing high at 100m) and that there are 100,000 different species of trees on planet Earth. The children learned about deforestation and gained an awareness of the negative impact of plastic on the natural environment. Inspired and empathetic, our children wholeheartedly contributed their ideas about how they could help care for the trees and spread awareness of our responsibility towards the natural environment.
This week our young learners had yet another fantastic opportunity to enhance their knowledge about the many bounties of nature. We welcomed Mrs. Hayek to class who engaged them in an enlightening session where the children explored the different uses of olives. They learned about the conditions needed for growing olives, about the two types of olives and the olive tree and the many ways in which the fruits are picked off the trees. They were absolutely riveted while viewing videos and pictures of how olive oil is extracted and used to make soap. The children also participated in a sensory experience, examining an array of related objects including branches of olives, specially flown in from Lebanon, bottles of olive oil and sunflower oil, bars of olive soap and jars of processed, edible olives. Our students were active inquirers and thinkers, alternating between asking meaningful and significant questions and applying their learning to think critically and answer the questions posed to them.
~ Ms. Karishma and Ms. Sangtei