All about bugs!
(our little project of the week)
It all started on a Thursday morning. There was a big fuzz about an ant and while the kids were outside, I stayed in our room setting an ant farm- (bug fuzz alert #1).
Kids had Gardening class with Ms. Sharon and were looking at nature and having some outdoor fun as usual. By the time they got back to me and were supposed to have circle time, everyone was excited and aware of a little "catarina" (mariquita/ladybug) that Rodrigo brought in (bug fuzz alert #2). While I was getting ready to sit down, I've heard Isabel saying "que tal si le ponemos Rodrigo Jr.?" (What if we name it Rodrigo Jr.?) and then I burst out of laughter :'D and that caught my attention.
I got close to Rodrigo (and Rodrigo Jr.) to see it better and noticed that indeed, there was a small and friendly bug crawling all around Rodri.
Now that we can perfectly differentiate in between cans, plastic bottles, cardboard, etc. I asked the kids to look around the classroom for the perfect "plastic jar" to keep Rodrigo Jr. in observation. Everyone started to look around excitedly, offering different containers and then I suggested that the jar we had to find needed a lid so that Rodrigo Jr. couldn't escape.
Since none of the plastic containers in our classroom filled that single requirement, we went outside with Rodrigo Jr. (big mistake) to look for something useful in the recycling bins school has all around. As we left our room, something AWFUL happened--- Rodrigo Jr. went missing!!! We lost him/it as we searched for his temporary home, most likely in our green area.
Devastated by the news, we started to look for him/it in the PK surroundings, but we couldn't find him :( We came back inside a little dissapointed and already missing our new friend and then, an idea strike our heads. We decided to make signs so that everybody could join us in the search of Rodrigo Jr.
Below in the pictures, you can find some of the ideas that we brainstormed together- we had to think about Rodrigo Jr.'s characteristics, the last time we saw him/it and of course- a reward to offer and encourage everyone to help us! :'D
Later on during recess time, some kids found the "source" of all the ladybugs/beetles = SUNFLOWERS!!!! That's where they like to hang out! And guess what?, we even found a "replacement" for the original Rodrigo Jr.- but turns out it escaped too!
As sneaky and friendly as they are, a second dilemma caught our attention. Are all of them ladybugs or beetles? We caught a bunch of them to observe and research a little bit more.
Today during Read Aloud time, we read about the life cycle of ladybugs and we looked at different kinds of beetles on encyclopedia (fancy, huh?). Now besides fiction books, we are aware that there are non-fiction books with real information and facts about things that we're usually curious about! How cool!!!
We'll keep this going as long as the "bug fuzz" haha and the children are interested in it :)
If you happen to be an expert on bugs hahah or know a little bit more about them, please let us know to see if we can have you as a guest for a special interview on "all about bugs!"