where we are going...

I have to say....NEVER have I jumped into a project so deeply and expansively to last an entire school year...and we still have 3 months to go...(did I mention we are extended year...to July...more thoughts on that later...). Our final district mandated curriculum strand is: Insects. We have translated this (using all the standards/essential questions and understandings that are mandated--for all the standards-based-learning lovers out there!)

Our class will explore and learn about insects by focusing on "not an insect"--spiders...conveniently also known as "nature's greatest weavers" in my class. We began with some "spider yoga", in which we discussed what we know about spiders, casually, conversationally...not like a traditional teacher directed discussion (not that there's anything wrong with that!). We did a spider egg pose and a spider egg sack pose--real yoga poses embellished by primates' ideas. Next we looked at some pictures of webs and discussed the differences between spiders and insects: body parts, number of legs, the ability to weave. Older primates led the discussion and provided the facts, along with a song/movement thing to help remember the names of the body parts.

Many primates asked for The Spider and the Fly, the book we read in the fall at the start of the project. They are pouring through bug and spider books during free reading time. And below, we did the work of spiders: creating webs with frame and capture threads--identified respectively by color. We worked with yarn, glue, water, and waxed paper.

Next we will begin a reading/writing project based on the African folktales, called spider tales. We are also reading chapter book as a whole group..I forget the title/author exactly...will post later...it's called something like, "The Spiderweb Mystery", and is part of a series...an old one. They love it--me too--(sharing a long story with a group is fantastic, we exchange ideas, share perceptions, predict, make connections, wonder together--kind of like the adult book group version--we are using reading in a real way--the way adults use it in real life).

We will also create spider models using clay--they must be detailed and anatomically correct. We will continue spider and insect yoga, and as a final product, each primate will choose one species of spider (should be reflective of their clay model--this requires attending to detail and will exhibit individual learning), and will create an information card including specific details on their chosen species of spider. I introduced the term "arachnid", and we will continue to refer to this new vocabulary word in our discussions.

It feels great to STILL feel this level of engagement in this project.