Today two of our children brought a very exciting surprise to school - perfectly preserved cicadas! It was fascinating to see them perfectly intact, even with their beautiful wings visible!
At circle we passed them around and described what we saw.
It was so interesting to see the cicadas. Some friends were even brave enough to touch one.
At play time we displayed the cicadas on a table along with magnifying glasses to help us explore them and some writing tools so we could carefully record our observations.
The children were quite captivated and it was interesting to listen to their conversations. Many overcame their reluctance and touched the cicadas. Others noticed just how interesting their legs and wings were when made large.
A few friends tried to draw what they saw. We reminded the children that scientists make careful observations and then record their ideas using pictures and words. It was thrilling to see this authentic moment of literacy happening as a result of something interesting found outdoors! Tomorrow we will add some nonfiction books to our centre so the children can see what other insects look like up close.
Families, we always welcome interesting 'treasures' that you find outdoors and love to encourage the children to bring things for us to explore at school. Thank you for your support of our children and program!
How serendipitous! I too just posted about our investigation of cicadas. They are amazing little creatures. I'll share the link only because it contains all of the resources that I used. I hope some of them might be helpful! http://alifesustained.blogspot.com/2016/09/nature-study-cicadas.html
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