Published on: 28 July 2021





Last Friday our talented Pre-Primary boys opened their classrooms and invited their parents to celebrate the launch of their new books.

The book launch represented the culmination of an integrated inquiry project that started when the boys found a nest on one of their river walks. They wondered who the nest belonged to and what animals make nests. In the following months the students learned to care for the mysterious eggs that arrived in their classroom.

With no idea what would hatch out of the eggs, or when they would hatch, the students developed a hypothesis, researching and predicting. Some thought the eggs might contain crocodiles, sea turtles or chickens. On day two of having the mystery eggs, one hatched, revealing that they were in fact caring for baby chickens. The boys spent time observing and caring for the chicks, learning all about them in the process.

Pre-Primary student Will H described the egg-hatching process, “First was the egg, then it cracked and a chick came out. The chicks start crawling around the egg machine. They got much bigger. An adult chick is a rooster or a hen. The hen makes a clutch of eggs. The chicks use the egg-tooth to crack out of the egg. They also have a yoke to eat in the egg.”

The Pre-Primary boys then went on an excursion to the zoo to learn more about the needs of living animals and finally they started to learn the story Is that My Chick? which inspired them to create their own stories.

“As we moved through the stages of imitate, innovate and invent, the boys were very eager to create their own stories about their chosen animal. We spent time researching different egg-laying animals to feature in our books. We learnt lots of interesting facts about crocodiles, snakes, frogs, platypus and many more animals. We then created some beautiful artwork and wrote our own stories based on our focus text,” said Pre-Primary teacher Ms Stacey McKenzie

The book launch was an opportunity for the boys to not only present their final product (their books) but to share the whole learning journey with their parents and families.

“I think it is important that the boys have the opportunity to reflect on their own learning and all the hard work, research and application of new skills involved,” said Pre-Primary teacher Ms Brianne Utting.