A Science-filled Day

Today kicked off our year for our science co-op group. We are studying Biology this year, beginning with plants. Since I had to teach the 4th-6th graders today, I have been busy preparing, etc., the last few weeks. We are loving picking up living things from nature, whether it's a leaf, moss, mushrooms, or various pieces of food, and examining them through the lens of a microscope. Today, the kids in class really seemed to enjoy that avenue of closely examining God's creation.

Here, the students are practicing being taxonomists and are using their classification skills in organizing a tub of legos. Megan's crew is attempting to classify various shoes.
When we were leaving, we saw this praying mantis on the glass door and another one on the wall near by. We brought them home and placed them in our landscape. This one is the female. We figured that out because when we dumped them out of the cup, the two of them were....eh um...mating.
When I walked out of the house, this is how I found the girls. I bet we sat and watched those amazing insects for about 20 minutes. Very fascinating!
I know you can't see them very well, but they are hanging on to the end of the twig Megan is holding.
While I was preparing lunch, Leah excitedly came in from outside and showed me what she found~~a white furry caterpillar. She intently watched it crawl around either on her hand or on the little chair she so tenderly placed it on for quite some time, talking to and petting it all the while. We then thumbed through our caterpillar book and believe she found a hickory tussock moth. I just have to share little snippets of her conversation to both the caterpillar and to me:

"He likes me because he will stay there while I pet him.

[she said to the caterpillar when he had the nerve to start crawling away] "Hey, don't you like me?"

"Mom, is he a daddy one?"

"Yeah, he sure is sticky. Their legs stick on you."

"Mom, do you like caterpillars and butterflies?" "....but not worms."

"Oh, there's him's head. Mom, him's head is black."

"Him won't obey me." (guess Mr. Caterpillar was crawling away again:))

[she said to her sisters] "Guys, come and feel him! Him's so soft!"

A little while later.....Leah came to me in tears because she couldn't find her caterpillar. Walking back into the kitchen, we found him there at the top of that little chair. As affectionately as I could, I said, "Come on, baby" while trying to get him on the napkin to take him back outside. Appalled, Leah's comment to me was, "Mom, "him's" a Mommy one, not a baby."
~Wee