Beetles are Creepy!

 I have to admit that Monday snuck up on me this week. I was not prepared mentally for teaching today. I've been anxious this month with my husband away for business so much. I'm behind on all my house work, my patiences is thin, and I really wanted to just sleep in and binge watch Downton Abby. But like always, I put on my big kid pants and got to work. In the end the day was wonderful! Somehow, seeing all my little friends and teaching them is just what I needed to cheer me up and calm me down. 

Today's lesson was all about beetles! It was the perfect lesson for me today because there wasn't a lot of extra running around and prep I needed to do. So, for today,  I wanted to write a bit about the learning process. The Mother Goose Time Curriculum is all about the process of inquiry and investigation! We ask questions, think about and talk about ideas, explore through touch and movement, and then create and play! 

During our circle time, I show the class the theme poster for the day, and before I tell them the information I want them to know, I ask them questions about it. Today's starter question was "What do you know about beetles?" The first answer I got was… "Beetles are Creepy!" 

The next question we discussed was followed by "Where would you go if you were a beetle?" The answers I heard were beetles have wings, legs, a head, poky things, and even they are poison if you eat them. My favorite question a student asked "Do beetles have light sabers?" Kids are awesome! 

We also discussed how many different types of beetles exist.  I had to explain what exist meant when I didn't see any hands raised. I heard ideas from 9 to a million. They learned that there are 350,00 types of beetles. 

To explore this idea a little I set out the a picture of some different beetles and the ABC beetle cards. 

I had them all come up and point to which beetle they liked the best. 

I had planned on talking about why they chose the one they did but the pointing of the beetles quickly turned into a rowdy dog pile. That will teach me to try having them all go at once. I guess we need to stick to taking turns. 

After we discussed some facts about beetles, I put out the supplies and let the each create a beetle any way they wanted. Some chose to use crayons, some liked markers. Attaching the wings with the brass fastener was tricky for most of them so I stepped in and helped out. 

 To end the learning process we needed to have some play time so everything we had learned would sink in. I had the class all lay down and close their eyes. As they laid there, I had them all imagine that they were turning into beetles. How would they walk? How would they look? What kind of noise would they make?  While I talked, I hid all the ABC beetle cards around the room. When they woke up, I assigned each of them a beetle letter to hunt for. They crawled around pretending to be beetles while hunting for the letter.

 One thing I hadn't planned on was them taking over the game and changing the rules. I had planned on after the first round of hunting to give them each another letter to find. But, they started putting the letters in ABC order and then a few would crawl to find the next letter while some stayed back to get them all in order. I just sat back and watched them work together. It was great! They have all become such great friends and they all get along so well.

 We were missing letter J. I couldn't remember where I hid it. But as we were packing up to go home it was found hiding in the window. She was the hero of the day!

One thing I like to keep in mind as I'm teaching is this process of learning. Think and discuss, explore, create, and play. Some days we don't always get the full circle of learning in, but on the days we do, I can really tell the difference on what they are able to remember. The lessons always seems to make more sense this way. Today was a good day!