Last week, we began exploring the text Koala by Claire Saxby. Claire has written this book in a way that teaches us fascinating facts about koalas while also telling a fictional story about a koala’s adventure.

To support our learning, we visited the Healesville Sanctuary last Friday. Lisa, a wonderful zookeeper, spoke to us all about koalas and was very impressed with how much we already knew!
“Boy koalas rub their chest on trees so if another koala comes up and sniffs the tree, they know that another koala is up the tree.” – Evie
“The male koalas have a scent gland that they rub on a tree to tell other koalas that it is their tree.” – Ben

The preps were very excited to show Lisa how male koalas rub their chest onto the base of a tree!

Before our visit, we wrote down questions we wanted to find out about koalas. We took our clipboards and pencils along to record Lisa’s answers once we had asked our questions. Our goal is to create our own book—just like Claire Saxby’s—that combines fiction and non-fiction. We will share the interesting facts we’ve learned about koalas while telling an imaginative story. We can’t wait to see what comes next in our learning journey!

Other Interesting facts we have learned:
“The baby koalas eat the mummy’s poo to help their tummy” – Ella
“Koalas have two thumbs that help them to grip onto branches.” – Jude
“Koalas eat gum leaves that are poisonous, but they are not poisonous to koalas” – Jack
“Koalas sleep most of the day.” – Billie