Wednesday, 5th March 2014
TERM 3
As a follow up to
our previous unit: Natural Disasters; Pak Imam (Rahma’s Dad) gave us avery informative presentation about
his job as a Geologist with the Repsol Mining Company. We learnt a lot about
tectonic plate movements over time, how studying rock formations can give
geologists a better understanding of what is happening below the Earth’s
surface, as well as below the oceans. Our students became very good at
recognizing patterns in the rocks and could explain what had caused the
formation of these rock patterns. Many thanks to Pak Imam for giving up his
time to share his knowledge with us.
The Transdisciplinary Theme
for our current Unit of Inquiry is: Sharing the Planet.
Central Idea: Biodiversity
relies on maintaining the interdependent balance of organisms within systems.
Our Case Study is The Rainforest.
Lines of Inquiry:
·
Ways in which ecosystems, biomes and
environments are interdependent.
·
How human interaction with the environment can
affect the balance of systems.
·
The consequences of imbalance within ecosystems.
As part of this unit
we visited the Botanical Gardens (Kebun
Raya) to study some of the many fascinating trees and plants that grow
naturally in tropical rainforests.
Despite intermittent rain we had a great time following a route to
study a wide variety of trees, creepers, vines, epiphytes, fungi and flowers, such as: the ‘Sausage Tree’, Lipstick Palm,
bamboo, Strangler Fig, water lilies and lotuses, bananas, rattans, ginger, coffee
and nutmeg trees, and the magnificent ‘King of the Forest’ with its huge
buttress roots. Many thanks to Helen Henry, who gave up her time to accompany
us on this trip.
j
j We enjoyed a very informative presentation from Jacqui Sunderland from BOS:
The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. This is an Indonesian non-profit
organization dedicated to the conservation of the Bornean orangutan and its
habitat. It is currently the largest orangutan rescue and rehabilitation
organization in the world. Jacqui’s presentation was really moving as she
introduced us to some of the many orangutans who have been rescued, enrolled in
orangutan classes and successfully rehabilitated. It takes approximately seven
years of around the clock care to nurse them back to health and teach them all
the orangutan skills they need to be able to be released into the wild. The
students asked really thoughtful and relevant questions and showed great
empathy for the plight of the endangered orangutans that are at risk of
extinction. We really appreciate Jacqui making the time to share her
presentation with us.
MATHEMATICS
The three classes are developing their understanding of measurement using both the metric and
imperial systems. We are focusing on linear measurement, perimeter, area,
volume, time, (analogue and digital clocks and elapsed time). At the moment we
are working inside the classroom but will take it outside weather permitting.
READING
We are
enjoying participating in a stand-alone reading unit based on our own personal favourite books. This involves
sharing and ‘selling’ our books to others to encourage them to read and enjoy a
wide range of books. So far this is proving very popular with all students
fully involved in the reading and sharing process.
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