This week in preschool, we learned about endangered animals. We started off by reading a book about polar bears and how we can help them! The children listened carefully and learned that the earth is getting warmer and that the Arctic ice is melting. They learned new words and phrases such as fossil fuels, climate change and green energy sources. The children were very engaged and asked lots of questions such as “how does the dinosaur fossils turn into oil?” and “how can we help?”

Following on from their questions, we decided to do some research and make our own posters! The children each took turns to write and illustrate the posters. Just like in the book, they wrote a problem and thought of a solution to help tackle the problem. Preschool came up with the solution of using solar panels, just like they had read in the book to help with the melting ice problem. They were interested in learning more about endangered animals, so we decided to research tigers. They learned about deforestation and how it’s affecting the tiger’s habitat. Some of the children suggested that we plant more trees to help the tigers. We then hung our posters up for everyone to see, so they could also learn about endangered animals.

To further extend the topic, we set up a tuff tray using polar bears and real ice to illustrate how it might look in the Artic. Whilst exploring the tray, the children said, “The ice is melting in my hand” and “look the ice is breaking”. We explained that their hands were warm and that today was hot, so the ice melts quickly. Well done Preschool, you all were very engaged and asked lots of amazing questions.