This month in the library, first graders have been learning about Africa. We began by learning about our library mascot, Sunny, who is a meerkat. Last week we shared several stories about meerkats and made a list of some of the characteristics of meerkats. The students noticed that meerkats have big ears to hear predators approach, long tails to help them balance, and that they always stay in groups to stay together. Last class, they also colored some pictures of meerkats, and drew some of their own as well (ninja meerkat, Barbie meerkat….). Today, we located Africa on a map and a globe, and took a closer look at the desert habitat. I showed the students a short clip on my laptop of a documentary made about the Kalahari Desert which included snakes, insects, wildebeests, giraffes, lions, eagles and of course, meerkats! Next week, we will head to the other side of Africa to visit Ghana and read a few folktales.
As usual, we concluded with book browsing and checkout. Happy reading!