First off, I had students come and draw me a picture of an insect they knew. I got the usual suspects like butterflies (one was a Monarch!), bees, ladybugs and a rather scary looking "biting insect".
I was expecting to see spiders, but I also got snails, an octopus and a horse.
So, I thought, let's work on this whole insect concept.
With small groups today, I read a short book called "How Many Legs?" Some students were able to pick up on the patterned language and predict words, which was great too. We counted the number of legs and learned that an insect always has 6 legs. (Sometimes antennae and pincers look like legs though, which is confusing to students.)
A number also made pictures for me:
We also had a student bring in a nest they found at their cottage earlier this week. As a class, we brainstormed about the types of birds that students knew. We decided that it couldn't be a pigeon or a seagull for sure because they were too large and would crush the nest.
Today, I printed out a number of pictures showing different types of nests. One student today spent some time at the science centre and was able to match the nest to a picture to help him decide what kind of nest it could be:
Finally, we've opened our painting centre. We read this great book, Sophie's Masterpiece, which is about an artist spider who spins a baby blanket out of snowflakes, moonlight and lullabies. It inspired me to think about line, so we've been painting using strings and pipe cleaners instead of paint brushes. I've asked students to think about making a nest or web:
In the next few weeks, we may be learning more about insects or branching out to look at different animal homes, or perhaps going in a direction I have yet to predict. I have to say that my favourite thing is being inspired by the new ideas and connections that students bring in, so I'm looking forward to continuing to explore.
