Caterpillars Continued

This past week, our students have continued wondering and investigating the life cycle of caterpillars.  During a play-based learning period, a few boys were curious about how many legs a caterpillar has.  They began counting the tiny hair-like legs of the caterpillars through the containers, and came up with the number 32.  Then, the boys decided to create 32 legs to add to a caterpillar creation that other students had already made.  The images below show the process of the boys working together to create 32 caterpillar legs. 

The boys used the number wall to help remind them of the number order.

Once the boys completed 32 legs, they glued them onto the caterpillar and shared their creation with the class.

M.R. "We used paper as the legs, and we write numbers on them so we know how many legs there were."

G.V. "We write the number so we know the legs are here.  We put the legs on the whole body because there was no more space in the lower body."

Ms. I "Wow, what a great way to solve that problem."

G.V. "The caterpillar said he's hungry!"

M.R. "The more feet we put, the more hungrier he would be."

Ms. I "When you weren't sure of what number to put next, what did you do?"

M.R. "I used the board."

G.V. "Me and M.R. wrote the same number one time, so we just took one away."

M.R. "When I remembered all the numbers I put them together with my mind."

These students ended up inspiring other students to use a variety of materials to construct caterpillars.  Here is what another group of boys worked together to create.

After adding a variety of materials, the boys found the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and used it to remind them of all the food the caterpillar ate.  

 Once the caterpillar was complete, they shared their creation with the class.

M.B. "This is the face, and this is the food that he eats.  We used links, and we used corks for legs, and we put the spikes and stomach with blocks."

M.D. "We used chocolate pie, chocolate cake, orange, pickle, ice-cream because we used the caterpillar book."

Ms. I "Why is there a red link at the front of the caterpillar?"

M.B. "Because the caterpillar's face is supposed to be red."

Ms. I "Where did you see a red caterpillar face?"

M.B "It's on the book."

Another one of our students created a caterpillar and wanted to share his creation with the rest of the class.

E.L "I used the glass blocks, I used nature blocks, I used food.  These are the antennas, this is the face and head."

Ms. I "How did you decide on how long your caterpillar would be?"

E.L "I decided to make that long because I thought it was a good idea.  I made a pattern."

Ms. I "Can you tell us more about the pattern you created."

E.L "There's green, red, and then blue, yellow."

Ms. I "Can you tell me about these pieces that stick out of the caterpillar's body?"

E.L "Those are the legs, and the back legs.  My caterpillar is Electric Caterpillar because the yellow is where you get electric from.  When it touches you with the electric you will be a charger, ok!"

  

Our caterpillars have started to form cocoons.  We are so curious about how long it will take them to be butterflies.  Looking forward to continuing our inquiry with you next week.  

It's a Tulip!

Planting and Growing Inquiry Continued

After a month of observing and wondering what was sprouting in front of our school, we learned that a rainbow of beautiful tulips were growing... not hostas.  It was so interesting to explore the different stages of tulip growth.  It was fun to guess what colour of tulips would grow in front of our school. 

While exploring the tulips this past week, some students were curious about the yellow piece inside the tulip.  Below is part of a conversation Ms. Marrella and I had with some students about what they thought it was.

Victoria – There is a yellow thing inside (the tulip).  I want to know if it’s for the bees to get the nectar.

Ms. Iagallo – Let’s ask some of our friends what they think that yellow thing is. 

Gabriel – Maybe it’s gonna be nectar because yellow is for nectar and bees use it to make honey.

Ms. Iagallo – Why would the bees want to fly to the tulip to get “nectar”?

Gabriel – Because they want to make honey for their kids and the grown-ups.

Emmett – Um, I remember when we went to the Toronto Public Library I saw a bee with black stripes and orange stripes.  It was going to a flower.

Ms. Iagallo – Did you see the bee reach the flower?  What did it do?

Emmett – Um, ya.  It, um, it gets the nectar and then goes to its honey nest and then bakes it into honey.

Ms. Iagallo – Has anyone seen what a bee does with its arms and legs when it touches a flower?

Ariyanna – Bees get the nectar by using its touch and then putting it in the beehive.

Aifie – A bee eats honey at the flower.

Alex – The bee has a jacket and a circle thing to suck up the nectar. 

All these wonders about bees, nectar and honey.  Next week we will be on the lookout for bees.  We will be taking a close look at what bees do when they buzz around the flower and learn what the "nectar" really is.  

Planting and Growing Inquiry Continued

Our Planting and Growing Inquiry has continued to evolve over the past few weeks.  We have focused our attention on observing the growth of the Hosta plants outside our school, and a plant called, Elephant Ear.

Hosta Observation

Over the month of April, our students have been observing Hostas growing in front of our school.  Recently, the students noticed a stem growing from the leaves and wondered what it would grow into.  

 A small group of students were interested in exploring what the stem could be.  With the guidance of Ms. Marrella, the students used the iPad and figured out that the Hosta plants they had been observing for a month, weren't Hostas!  

But what were they?  

The students used books to research what the stem could be.  They predicted a sunflower, an orchid, a rose, a bean flower and a sea flower.

Another small group of students compared images of an orchid, tulip and sunflower to the mystery plant on the table.  They discussed the similarities and differences when they compared the flowers in the pictures to the plant on the table.  Then they presented their findings to the class. 

We will continue to explore the mystery plant outside our school.  We look forward to reporting what we find out!

Elephant Ear Plant

Back in March, the students planted this large bulb called, Elephant Ear.  We planted the bulb, made some predictions and monitored its growth.  We didn't see much change or growth and wondered if anything was happening to the bulb under the soil. 

We were amazed to see that the bulb had grown roots and a pink beak-like piece to it.  We invited our students to share their thinking about the Elephant Ear bulb.  Then we decided to re-plant the bulb.  This time, we searched the internet for some videos that showed how to correctly plant Elephant Ear. 

 Now that we know the Elephant Ear plant is growing, we look forward to seeing how it transforms further.