“I don’t know how to draw why!”

With snow storms finally moving away and Spring beginning to make a stronger bid to arrive, we enjoyed a interruption-free week for once!  This allowed for us also in get back to our small groups and two groups took some time this week to gather together.  The first of our groups to meet was the Animal group.
 
Revisiting with the children about our last meeting, it was noted what we remembered about our questions and even how we were going to find ways to investigate those questions.


“I remembered what I was curious about.  Lizards.  Why do they have a super long tongue.” -Nico

 


“I know why frogs have super long tongues.  To catch flies far away!” -Margot

  

“I know that!  I know that!” -Eleanor

“I know that too.  And I also know why turtles have shells.  Cause the shell, it’s their home and they wanna…they don’t know where their home is so it waddles with them.” -Nico

Some ideas this group came up with from our last meeting included books, watching nature movies and even writing a letter to a zoo.  All of these ideas were shared back with the children and we began with exploring some books on our chosen interests of cats, lemurs and turtles.  We wondered aloud with the children what they might discover differently about their animal or even if there would be something interesting to note in their books.

“I think I’m gonna make a picture to the zoo, not a letter.” 

“What?!  It looks like it lives in the rainforest.”  (Turning the page to Ring Tailed Lemurs) “Now these are the lemurs I was talking about!”

“Hey that’s the picture on Mark’s book” (pointing to a familiar lemur photograph)

Liam

"The lemur...ahh...on the first page." -Liam

Nico quietly looks through his book.  He points to a turtle’s shell on one of his pages.
Hmmm…a turtle’s shell.  Is that something that’s interesting to you?

“There wasn’t a page that was interesting…there was a turtle…”
Was there something on a page that you learned something about turtles?

“Did you know turtles have sharks on their fins?”
Is that surprising to you?
Nico shakes his head, yes.

“Eggs hatch turtles?!”

Nico

"The turtle with sharks on their fins." -Nico

“They are so cute!  This one looks so cute!” -Eleanor
Ahhh!” -Margo
“We see a picture of a cat catching a mouse!” -Eleanor
“That’s the cat that’s the same as Granny has.  It looks the same as Granny’s.” -Eleanor
“This one looks like a panther.” -Eleanor
“Yeah and this one looks like a plain kitty.” -Margot
“Hey, look!  Look!” -Eleanor
“Oh!” -Margot
“Ah, she’s so cute.” -Eleanor
“And look at this!” -Margot
“This one’s sitting in a bowl!” -Eleanor
“Must be a cute little baby one.” -Margot

Margot and Eleanor share a book and comment back and forth to each other as each page is turned.  Reaching the end of their book…

“How can this give us information if we don’t know how to read?” -Margot

"Well, look, kitties sleep on shelves I guess." -Margo "It has a white paw!" -Eleanor
"I did the cat sitting on the bookshelf." -Eleanor
"That the cat was near a clock. How can a clock be on the ground when it's suppose to be up in the air?!" -Margot
"The kitty next to the clock." -Margot
Previous slide
Next slide
After spending time with our books and drawing our discoveries from them, we turned our attention to creating a letter to a zoo around our questions.

“How are we gonna ask them? -Liam

“I want to ask it why elephants have really long trunks.” -Eleanor

“Why do spiders put their babies inside an egg sac?” -Margot

“Why do lemurs have really long tails? -Liam
“To swing from tree to tree!” -Margot
“To make his tail wrap around to another tree.” -Nico
“You have to ask something about turtles!” -Eleanor

“Why do one of the turtles has some kinds of monsters on their fins?” -Nico

As we wrapped up with talking about our questions for the zoo the children were reminded that at our next meeting we would draw these questions to the zoo.

“I don’t know how to draw why!” -Eleanor
“I can help you!  You just do a straight line up then you do 2 other lines diagonal.” -Margot
“That’s the letter Y.  I don’t know how to do like…why do elephants have really long trunks.  That kind of why!” -Eleanor
What could you do to show them your question?
“Okay, so if you don’t show me how to draw a why I’m just gonna … I will just draw a elephant!” -Eleanor