At the beginning of this unit, the children asked questions about all sorts of animals and things that move. So we decided to first brainstorm different ways in which we can find out new information. Here's what the children came up with:
  • Ask experts
  • Computers
  • iPads
  • T.V./Video
  • Books
  • Experiment or try it out
After that, each time we looked at one of our friend's questions, we chose one or two of these methods to find out information. We are still in the process of answering some questions, however the children are doing a great job of making connections and thinking of ways to learn more information. Many of the children took action and remembered they had books at home that could help answer some of our questions.

How do crocodiles move?

We found some videos of crocodiles on YouTube and watched them on land and in water. We discussed the shape and size of their legs. Talked about if they move fast, slow or both and also looked at other parts of their body that move. The children decided to try out walking like a crocodile. The children described their body feeling heavy when we bent our arms the way a crocodile's legs are bent. Snehansh predicted that maybe they don't move that often and walk slowly because their bodies are too heavy for their small legs. We also noticed that in the water, crocodiles didn't use their legs but their tails moved side to side to swim.

How Do Snails Move?

The children decided that the best way we could find out about how snails move was to see if we could find some and watch them! So we set off on a snail hunt! This is where we found our first snail, Peanut. We noticed Peanut was sticky and slimy, he had four eyes and he moved very slowly. Some of us were risk-takers and wanted to hold Peanut so we could learn more about how he moved even though he only had one foot! Many of us described the feeling as 'ticklish'!
We had talked about finding a friend for Peanut, but on our hunt we only found one snail. This did not matter because we have such reflective students in our class! Within the next few days Three of our friends brought snails into school and soon enough Peanut hand a new family! Aina M. brought us Nina, Miria brought us Sid, Snehansh brought us Sudah, and Ms. Hima found out about our unit and brought us Giant!
Giant really helped us learn about how snails move because when he walked on the side of the box we could see under his foot. We noticed his body moving in waves and then tried out moving our hands in the same motion. We also learned about what snails eat by looking on the internet and trying to leave different types of fruits and vegetables for them. The snails took big bites so we could tell if they ate something or not! We learned snails can eat lettuce, apple, guava, starfruit, blueberries and chalk! We also learned they didn't like the carrots very much and didn't really eat them.

How Do People Move?

We made many predictions for the answer to this question. We all knew that legs and feet help us move from one place to the next. How then do the legs and feet work? Some of us thought the blood might give us energy, some thought the bones made our legs move, others thought it was the muscles! It turns out we were all a little right! Alex took action and brought in a book about bodies for us. We also thought that we should interview Nurse Jit because she is an expert on bodies! We learned that bones and muscles work together to move the different parts of our body. We use rubber bands, pegs and wood pieces to inquire about bones and muscles. We also learned from Nurse Jit that the brain has to tell our muscles to move the bones and the blood carries all the vitamins and minerals that give us energy to move.
We are still in the process of finding out about other things so stay tuned to see what we learn about next!

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