Plants and Insects Galore

Dear Parents,

On Monday we read Growing Colors, Trees: A Rooted History, Plants Are Alive!, and Where Do Insects Live? We read about insects and animals living in trees, eating trees, and camouflaging themselves to look like parts of trees. We saw pictures of seed sprouts that looked similar to ours. 

We made tree bark rubbings of our tree in our yard using crayons and paper. Some children used one color while others used all the colors. As we drew, we saw ants crawling up and down our tree.

We made small purple sculptures using air drying clay. Children made people, paths, a shredder, a rocket, a unicorn snake, a monster stuck in a cave, water with fish in it, and six tiny fish eggs. 

We used our Feely Box this week. The guesses were mostly a ball, with a few people correctly guessing the biggest seed, a coconut. We cracked open the coconut to see what was inside. Most wanted to taste the coconut milk but only two liked it. The same two friends ate most of the coconut fruit, others only nibbles. 

We read The Dandelion Seed, Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!, and What Do Insects Do? We looked at real dandelion seeds up close. The children pretended one seed was scared to jump off of the flower like the one in the book. Children added pumpernickel, kiwi, cherry, and watermelon seeds to our collection.

While half the children drummed and marched with Alex in the big room, in the classroom we read The Mosquito, The Fly, Head Lice, The Slug, The Worm, and The Spider. We differentiated which of these were insects and which were not. Our books told us insects have three body parts and six legs. 

We used magnifying glasses to examine our insect collection. Some wondered if the bugs were alive or dead. “Dead” many children answered. We have several bees, a fly, a cicada, a roach, a dragonfly, and a rhinoceros beetle. 

Frank, aka the bug man, came to visit on Thursday and brought many insects and arachnids. We assumed the creatures would be dead, but much to our delight, they were all very much alive! When he pulled out the first 8 inch bright green Malaysian walking stick, the class was thrilled. “She’s cute!” and “This is awesome!” were among the many comments.  We had written a list of questions before he arrived but they were quickly replaced by new ones: What’s the biggest bug you have? Are they all alive? Can we touch them? Do they sting? Why aren’t you getting that one (Arizona scorpion or the Mexican red knee tarantula) out to hold?  Frank answered, “Because it has a nasty sting” and “Because it emits an itchy powder in self defense.” 

He also told us about our classroom paper wasp nest; that the wasps chew bark to make their paper nest. He also showed us a leaf insect from the Philippines, a Goliath tarantula that can grow to the size of a dinner plate, (his was closer to a saucer), a pink dragon millipede from south east Asia, and a Tanzanian millipede that was about six inches long. Frank told us we couldn’t hold the creatures because some might sting and they get stressed out being handled too much. He held most of them, except a few moody ones. It was pretty exciting and held the class’s attention for almost an entire hour. 

When we went outside later, many children were pretending to be spiders and catching each other in webs.

On Friday we read more insect books. We also watered our seeds twice this week and watched as they slowly grew. 

Have a buggy weekend!

Therese

Grow, Grow, Growing

Dear Parents,

We examined our seeds on Monday and all had sprouted except one. Some children shouted, “I see green!” And, “There are roots!” 

We measured everyone for the third time on our height chart. Most children have grown an inch or two since the beginning of the year, with one person shooting up more than three inches! Our seeds are growing, and so are we. Someone pointed out that the teachers have not grown. This is true. 

On picture day, we played in the classroom with magnet tiles and dinosaurs, and in the big room, playing basketball and climbing in the jungle gym. We read Inside, Outside and then went outside to play in the sandbox and swings. Someone said, “Those are opposites.”

Thanks for all the seeds from home! We received flower seeds, quinoa, buckeyes, sesame, tiny pine cones, avocado, sweet gum tree, and  forget-me-nots. 

While half the class played wooden xylophones with Alex in the big room, the rest of us worked on new self-portraits. Everyone looked in a mirror and told us what shapes we see in our faces. The class said our faces are circles, our eyes are circles and ovals, our noses like triangles, our mouths are round and oval, our teeth are squares, and our hair is curly and straight. We put sharpies to paper and got to work drawing. They are hanging above the cubbies beside the self-portraits we did at the beginning of the year. 

On Thursday everyone looked at their seeds again. The children said, “I see green and white stems.” “One of mine is bent over because it’s getting too big.” “I see growth!” “Mine has sprouts.” “Mine has a little hole in it, maybe it’s from the plant.” We hung them back in the window for more sun and went to play.

We wrote a winning web of W words for our ABC wall while wondering whether we would wish our weeping willow tree wonderful weather. When one person added wine to our list, we asked what kind, meaning wine or whine? She responded, “white”. Another child piped up, “I drank wine one time.”

We have been watering our grass seeds that we sprinkled last week. Some children are waiting nearby asking to be watered too. We are spraying them a tiny bit and they are blooming into flowers and trees. Our plants are alive and well! 

On Friday we repotted our seeds to cups. Everyone took turns digging dirt in a big bin and adding dirt to their cups. We added water and placed them on the window sill for sun. 

Have a sunny weekend,

Therese