During the process of outfitting our classroom, we made a big trip to ACE Educational Supplies, a.k.a. the teacher store. As I filled our cart to the brim with supplies for activities pertaining to pre-writing, pre-reading, sensory, number sense, etc., I told Zelda that she could pick out one thing, and this is what she chose. (Please note that I'm not making any money for any of the products I post on our blog. I'm just sharing ideas and the cool stuff that we've been using.)
The model insects (bee, ladybug, grasshopper, butterfly, fly, ant, and dragonfly) are made to be handled by little hands that aren't always gentle. You can throw these things across the room to see if they really fly, and they will be fine. We've had many mini-lessons using the insects, most of which were precipitated by encountering one of the species in real life. It's all about authentic learning experiences, folks. When the kid is interested in something, we dive head first into learning all about it.
We focus on the main facts about insects, such as:
- Insects have bodies in three parts - head, thorax, and abdomen.
- Insects have six legs.
- Insects have antennae.
During the mini-lessons, we use the insects as tools to practice important skills, such as:
- We count the legs. Every. Single. Time. (She counts one at a time, and I show her how we count by two.)
- We talk about the insects' colors and relative sizes.
- We compare them. (Which is bigger, the ladybug or the grasshopper?)
- We sort them by attribute. (Which insects have wings?)
Hearing that Zelda has a thing for our tiny six-legged neighbors, a good friend - who has been teaching fifth grade for 15 years - brought us a most excellent present. Her class had just completed a study of the butterfly life cycle, and she had three left over chrysalises that needed a place to hang out (hehehe...see what I did there?) until the butterflies emerged. She showed Zelda how to carefully transfer the chrysalises into a cardboard box resting on its side. Then we loosely covered the opening with plastic wrap (so we could see in, and the butterflies couldn't fly out). She left us with instructions for dabbing sugar water on cotton balls so the newly formed butterflies could have a nice snack, and wished us luck.
Zelda was in love. She named them. (The names changed every day, of course.) She checked them multiple times each day, and each time she asked when the butterflies would emerge. During that week, we focused on the main idea of the butterfly's life cycle and always used the correct terms, including "metamorphosis."
egg --> larva (caterpillar) --> pupa (chrysalis) --> adult (butterfly)
She told EVERYONE about her chrysalises. When the first one emerged, her excitement was palpable. She used the water dropper to put sugar water on the cotton balls, and she explained to the butterfly that she'd made it a "nice yummy dinner." The next day, we released it in the backyard, and she wished it well as it hopped on the grass for a few moments and then took off into the sunshine. We had to wait a few more days for the other two to complete their pupa stage, which was a good lesson about nature: you can try to predict how and when things will happen, but you're not always right.
To enhance the week's butterfly theme, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle a few times and colored and painted many caterpillars and butterflies. I should note that in the book, the chrysalis is called a cocoon, so I made sure to use the correct term during the read alouds.
No comments:
Post a Comment