What Do We Know About Fall? (Term 1)
We started our nature inquiry with a knowledge building
circle: “What do you know about Fall?”.
We made a chart of all the things that the students knew/wondered about
fall.
The children had many insights:
-
Squirrels hide nuts
-
Leaves change
-
Leaves fall down
-
It gets colder outside
-
Some squirrels fly
-
We will see bugs
-
We will see sticks
-
We will see frogs
We
read some books to get us thinking about looking and listening on our nature
walk
We
put our “lookers on” and we went to Taylor Creek walk to find nature and signs
of fall. We encouraged the children to only pick up nature that has fallen to the ground. We need to respect nature.
We
took a moment to practise mindfulness near the quiet creek.
When we returned to school, we did another knowledge building circle. We collected ideas from the children
We saw:
- sticks
- leaves
- dirt
- snail shells
- trees are getting bare
We Think:
- animals are gathering food
- the bees are going away because it's getting colder
- the leaves are not green anymore because it is fall
We Wonder:
- what do animals do to get ready for winter?
- where do the animals in the park go when winter comes?
- what kind of animals live here in our city?, in Canada?
- what can we do to help the animals in the park find food in the cooler weather?
- what can we do with the nature artifacts that we collected from the park?
Sorting Nature
As a class, we decided to work on how we can use the artifacts that we found in the park.
When we returned to school, we did another knowledge building circle. We collected ideas from the children
We saw:
- sticks
- leaves
- dirt
- snail shells
- trees are getting bare
We Think:
- animals are gathering food
- the bees are going away because it's getting colder
- the leaves are not green anymore because it is fall
We Wonder:
- what do animals do to get ready for winter?
- where do the animals in the park go when winter comes?
- what kind of animals live here in our city?, in Canada?
- what can we do to help the animals in the park find food in the cooler weather?
- what can we do with the nature artifacts that we collected from the park?
Sorting Nature
As a class, we decided to work on how we can use the artifacts that we found in the park.
Jolina Cuevas, our teacher candidate from Dr. Erik Jackman I.C.S. helped small groups of students to sort the items that they found in their
bags. They chose to sort by colour, red, yellow, orange, brown and green.
Making a Nature Canvas
After
sorting the items into colour groups, we put out some canvasses, acrylic paints
and textured rollers for the students to explore. Students experimented with
painting the canvas with different textured paint rollers.
Our Canadian Animal Inquiry (Term 2)
We decided to revisit our "Nature Inquiry"
Vanessa Ius, our Term 2 teacher candidate from Dr. Erik Jackman I.C.S. lead our circle. We revisited our wonderings from our last KB circle.
- what do animals do to get ready for winter?
- where do the animals in the park go when winter comes?
- what kind of animals live here in our city?, in Canada?
- what can we do to help the animals in the park find food in the cooler weather?
We noticed that the students had many wonderings about the animals so we decided to go back on another nature walk to see what was happening in our creek. Ms. Ius also planned some class meetings around hibernation and Canadian animals.
She read the following books to the children:
Our
animal inquiry began by exploring the different animals who hibernate in the
winter months. We played games and read books to learn more about what animals
do when they hibernate. We learned that bears, mice, bats, ground squirrels,
and turtles hibernate!
We noticed that the children were incorporating animal homes and curiosities into their play. Using blocks and loose parts from outside, the children built and created their own animal homes. Some children built bear caves while other children built farms for the animals to stay warm in during winter.
They made up math games to put the bears into the caves to hibernate.
We made snow using baking soda and hair conditioner and we put out animals and natural materials for an animals in winter invitation.
During our KB circle, we asked the children if they had any ideas about our upcoming walk back to Taylor Creek Park. We decided that we would make some bird feeders for the birds (or squirrels).
MATERIALS
3/4 cup small birdseed
1 packet of unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water
Twine
Cookie cutters
Parchment paper
Straw
DIRECTIONS
1. Bring water to a boil over medium
heat.
2. Add in packet of unflavored
gelatin.
3. Stir until gelatin is dissolved
(about 1-2 minutes).
4. Take gelatin off heat and let set
for a couple of minutes.
5. Stir in bird seed.
6. Place cookie cutters on a piece of
parchment paper.
7. Scoop the bird seed into cookie
cutters, and using another piece of parchment paper, press the birdseed down.
8. Stick a straw in the top of each
filled cookie cutter to create a small hole.
9. Set cookie cutters in the freezer
for 20 minutes.
10. Remove cookie cutters from the
freezer, and let them sit in room temperature for approximately 10 minutes.
11. Carefully push the bird seed
feeders out of the cookie cutters.
12. Thread a piece of twine through
the hole at the top of the bird seed feeder and tie it into a loop.
When we returned, we had one last KB circle. The children had many wonderings about what kinds of animals live in Canada. Vanessa found a simple book and she read it to the children.
We
had a lot of questions about these animals.
We focused mainly on the Moose, the
Blue Whale and the Puffin.
What
we learned:
Every animal has their own habitat. This
means natural environment where they live
Blue Whales are the biggest animal on earth,
and they live in the ocean
Blue Whales are as long as three school
buses
Blue Whales are endangered
Only male moose have antlers
Moose are taller than our parents
Puffins flap their wings 400 times per
minute
Puffins are a vulnerable species due to
oil spills and overfishing
Puffin’s live on the coast of Newfoundland and have bright orange beaks
To
honour our curiosity and appreciation for these animals, look at what we made
using different coloured, textured materials!
We were hoping to continue our inquiry into the spring but unfortunately we are stuck at home doing distance learning.
Maybe when you are at home, you can go on a wonder walk.
What are your wonderings now that Spring is here?🙂
