Wombat Rex: YEAR 2 - Science - Engage
One night, Nanna teaches Little J, Big Cuz and Levi about the star constellations through stories of the past. At school, Ms Chen encourages the students to investigate the evidence of dinosaurs. Little J and Levi set out to find evidence of dinosaurs themselves, happening upon the fossil of Diprotodon, also called Wombat Rex.
Engage - Pose and respond to questions, and make predictions about familiar objects and events
Theme - HABITAT
After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 2 ‘Wombat Rex’, engage students with the following activities focusing on how living things grow, change and have offspring similar to themselves.
Conduct a Think-Pair-Share activity for the whole class to list animals that would fit into these categories:
- mammals,
- birds,
- reptiles,
- fish.
Ask students to work in pairs and to assign an Australian animal to each category. The students should be able to explain why they have decided on the selection and categorising of the animals.
Have students list as many Australian animals that they can for each category and then share their list with another pair. As a class, have each group of four present their combined list so that as many animals as possible are sorted into the categories. Start a list of common animal characteristics for the categories, so that it easy for students to identify other animals for the same categories.
Produce 52 images of animals that represent these combined categories. Cut and paste the images on cardboard, the size of a playing card/flash card. Write the name of the animal on the reverse side of the card, along with its Aboriginal language name and/or Torres Strait Islander language name. Once the deck is complete, students can play a SNAP game based on identifying animals in the same categories. Make two decks of cards and these cards could also be used to play a game of Concentration.
Introduce the term ‘Habitat’ and ask students to suggest what they understand a habitat to be. Once a clear definition has been established by the class, have students suggest
- where these animals live
- the conditions needed for these animals’ survival
- the foods these animals eat
- the animals’ life cycles
- animals that are the predators of these animals
Ask students to find images of the habitats of each animal and to make another set of 52 cards. Find images of the young of each and make cards o of these. The card groups can be used to mix and match the animals to their habitat and their young.
On the other side of each card, write any words associated with where the animals live and enter an Aboriginal term and/or Torres Strait Islander term that corresponds to the animal, their young and/or their habitat.
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