Learning About Stems

Today in science, we learned about stems.  We talked about what purpose stems serve to a plant and then tried to think of ways to test these ideas.  We synergized and came up with an idea that would test whether or not stems actually take water up to the leaves and flowers.  We put cut flowers into colored water.  We will see in the morning what happened (if anything!)

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Caterpillar Update

Speaking of creatures that go through metamorphosis....

our caterpillars are forming the letter "J"!!
This means they are going to enter the pupa stage and will create chrysalis shells!

We are super excited to watch them transform!  Soon we will move them into the butterfly house to prepare for their exit from the chrysalis shells.  

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Tadpole Update

This is "King Bob".
 The kids named him such because he is the largest of all our tadpoles.
Tadpoles are so fun to watch as they transform into frogs!  

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Plant Experiment Update

Our plant experiment has been growing like crazy!!  We were not surprised when the plant that "needed oil" did not grow.  (Turns out, they don't.)  We were also not surprised that plants need time to grow (our seeds didn't grow after just one day).   

We had to use a box to keep one sprout out of the sunlight.  We had a plastic cup over it, but the sprout kept growing and just pushed the cup up!

This is how tall the "no sunlight" sprout got.  This prompted a great discussed about what SEEDS need vs. what PLANTS need.  (We are keeping the plant under the box just to see if it will keep growing now that it is a plant.)

We also pulled out one of our plants so we could see the roots.  They were fascinating!!

We even got to split open the seed and see the seedling leaves that were forming inside!

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Parts of an Egg

We are learning about the life cycle of a chicken - starting with the egg!

The best day to learn, of course, is to crack one open!  

The class worked in partners to discover the parts of an egg.

We started with hardboiled eggs and found a membrane underneath the shell that keeps water in but allows air to pass through.  

We also looked at the white and the yolk!

Next, we cracked open raw eggs to see what else we could find!

Now we could see the chalazae!  Do you know what the chalazae does? It is the little white cord on either side of the yolk that helps to keep it centered in the white (albumen).  This is very important when the embryo is developing (but not so important if we are going to scramble the eggs for breakfast!)

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Caterpillars!

In addition to plants, chickens and tadpoles, we will also be studying the life cycle of a butterfly!  We ordered some caterpillars so we can see them change while we learn.  

One settled right in to our classroom and decided it was perfect time to start working on his chrysalis!

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Tadpoles!

Mrs. Seelye shared some of the tiny tadpoles she found in her pond.  We love to have examples of the life cycles we are learning about and tadpoles are super cool to watch!  Thanks, Mrs. Seelye!

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Seed Experiment

The BUGS are testing their theories about what seeds need to grow.  They had some great discussions about what seeds needed and how to test theories.  

We have many jars lined up in our windowsill to find out if seeds need light, water, soil, air, nutrients and even oil!  We will keep you posted on the progress!

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Incubating Eggs!

The eggs are in the incubator!!  We are so excited to learn about the life cycle of chickens, starting with what happens inside the egg while they incubate!  Hatching day should be May 3rd.  Watch for details as we learn along the way!

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Everybuggy Blogs!

What did you enjoy most about Spring Break?
What are three things you did and one amazing thing you learned?

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