This past spring my students started
bringing in living things from outside after recess. They were most interested in cater- pillars and snails and began asking a lot of questions. And so our inquiries began. We explored and photographed nature using our iPads, identified plants and wildlife, and recorded our observations in Field Notes. Soon our very own caterpillars arrived and we raised painted lady butterflies, observing the complete life cycle. Throughout our in- quiry we collaborated with Digital Human Library meBook expert Karin Davidson- Taylor, an educator at Royal Botanical Gar- dens (RBG) in Burlington ON, using Padlet, our class blog and individual student blogs. We later videoconferenced with Digital Hu- man Library meBook expert Cheryl Tyndall from the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls ON, to help us answer our new wonder- ings about the differences between butterflies and moths. During this time other groups of students
had started inquiries about different liv- ing things like frogs, snakes and bears. After weeks of observing live tadpoles, a leech and a corn snake, we engaged in a series of vid- eoconferences and blog conversations with Digital Human Library meBook expert Field
28 ETFO VOICE | FALL 2014
Trip Earth at the North Carolina Zoo. This time Steve Gerkin joined our class to help us explore our thinking about amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds. We got to see several different live animals up close, in- cluding a snake, turtle, prairie dog and owl. Steve also showed us animal skeletons, shells, furs, feathers, teeth and eggs. We asked him a lot of questions and learned so much.
CREEPY-CRAWLY THINGS
Our final inquiry about living things brought us back to insects, after observing so many fas- cinating insects outdoors. We reconnected by videoconference with Digital Human Library meBook expert Karin Davidson-Taylor from Royal Botanical Gardens to help us with our inquiry. Karin began by showing us different habitats at RBG, and then asked us to explain what insects we would find in these places. Then she showed us live ladybugs and aphids in two different habitats. Karin reviewed the characteristics of an insect before leading us in an action song – “Head and Thorax, Abdo- men” – sung to the tune of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” Later we were challenged to observe and identify whether live snails, mil- lipedes, sow bugs, ants and beetles were in-
sects or not. We learned about the purposes of an insect’s antennae, and saw a luna moth’s antennae under Karin’s document camera. It was so magnified we could count the individ- ual hairs on each antenna. Did you know that insects don’t have
noses? Karin showed us live caterpillar larvae and a dragonfly nymph up close and taught us about their different breathing holes. Needless to say we were surprised to learn that the dragonfly nymph is a butt breather! Karin made connections to the conversations we had on our blogs and reviewed the way a butterfly sips nectar though its proboscis. Then we watched a live caterpillar’s jaws up close as it ate a leaf and we imitated how its jaws moved from side to side, which Josh pointed out is different from the way mam- mals chew. After a series of final questions we said goodbye to Karin and thanked her for collaborating with us.
CRITTER-CAL THINKING SKILLS
Following our videoconference about in- sects, we revisited our Reading and Analyz- ing Non-Fiction (RAN) chart. We use this adaptation of the KWL chart by Tony Stead
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