Are some places more important than others?

Throughout Year 2, we have learned a lot about the need to protect our planet, to save habitats and help plants and animals. When we read the Great Explorer and learned about Robert Falcon Scott, we learned about  polar habitats and what we can do as global citizens to protect these lands.

Today, we are going to learn about another habitat called the Great Barrier Reef. Take a look at the picture below.

Talk with your partner or an adult if you are working at home:

• Have you heard of the Great Barrier Reef before?
• Can you tell from the picture what it is?
• Do you know where it is?
• Do you think it is in a hot or cold place?

This is the Green Turtle which can be found in the Great Barrier Reef.

Click on the picture to read some awesome facts about this magnificent animal.

The Great Barrier Reef is found in the Coral Sea off the North East coast of Australia.

It is the largest coral reef system in the world- the size of 70 million football fields.

Although coral may look like colourful plants, they are actually animals that lives is large groups called 'colonies'.

Coral reefs need warm, shallow water to form  and are found close to the equator, around coastlines.

Nemo, from Disney's Finding Nemo, is based on a clownfish which can be found all over the Reef.

Before the COVID pandemic, 2 million people visited The Great Barrier Reef each year.

This week our learning about British Values is going to focus on Mutual Respect.

As we have learned already this year, humans burning fossil fuels is having a devastating impact on sites like this. Rising sea temperatures, storms, cyclones and floods are happening more and more around the world. Plants and animals are being lost because of the destruction caused to habitats.

UNESCO (the United Nations cultural body) has said that the Great Barrier Reef in Australia should be put on a list of World Heritage Sites that are ‘in danger’ due to damage caused by climate change. UNESCO has urged Australia to take further action on global warming.

Talk to your partner or adult if you are at home:

Are some places more important than others?

Do we have a responsibility as global citizens to look after all of our planet?

Now complete this 2Do by answering the questions sharing what YOU think having learned about the impact humans have on coral reefs.