This document summarizes activities in a preschool classroom focused on exploring life cycles through observing plants and animals. The children plant seeds and bulbs, observe tadpoles transforming into frogs, and learn about animal hibernation and migration. They engage in play that demonstrates their understanding, such as creating nests and homes for animals. The children also go on field trips, including one to a raptor center, and have discussions connecting their observations to life cycles.

1. LIFE CYCLES

2. Look at the tree and show me how you see it… Noticing and becoming aware of our surrounding environment.

3. Georgia: “Squirrels and birds live in the tree…” Delilah: “The tree looks like this…” Expressing what we see through drawings and our bodies.

4. Isaac: “Birds and squirrels live on opposite sides of the tree… There is a hole in there and the squirrels put their nuts in there…” Combining what we know with our imagination and creating a story.

5. We explore natural materials found outdoors like acorns, bark and leaves. James: “Acorns come from Oak trees…” Exploring materials. Sharing what we know with others.

6. Children’s ideas about what would happen if we had no trees… Delilah: “It would look sad…” Georgia: “We wouldn’t get shade… It’s because if you don’t have trees… the sun… Not pretty…” We plant different kinds of seeds… And once these sprout, we transfer them to small pots with dirt… Exploring, hands-on, inquiring. Making connections with what we’ve heard and what we see.

7. In just a few days, our leaf-covered playground shows the first signs of winter as it is covered with a soft blanket of snow… Noticing the weather changing… the change of seasons is also part of life cycles.

8. The chilly weather leads us to think and talk about ways animals cope with the cold temperatures… We talk about hibernation… Becoming aware of animals and winter and exploring through play.

9. Some animals have thick fur to protect them from the cold weather… Exploring fur qualities’ and comparing.

10. The children create homes for animals in winter… Georgia: “The animals live in the middle…” Aoife: “This is a house for the frogs…” Continue to explore animals and winter through the arts.

11. The “Hibernating Cave” gives opportunities for socio-dramatic play and exploration of “bear-like” life… By “pretending” the children express what they know and expand on this.

12. The Frog small group brings 3 tadpoles to our classroom, and we are all waiting to see how long until they grow legs and start transforming into frogs… An additional opportunity to observe life cycle first hand.

13. James: “I see the three tadpoles… no they don’t have legs yet…” Ruby: “They look like this…” Enhancing observation skills by encouraging the children to notice details and development.

14. James: “This is a tadpole… It is going to be on the trunk of the tree and it is going to be a forest tadpole. It’s going to have three eyes. At winter time the forest maybe will be white…” Exploring what we know and expressing it.

15. Experimenting to catch a glimpse and better understand why animals eat so much before hibernating and the significance of fat in their bodies. Vaseline= animal fat Cold water= winter Which hand gets colder first? The one covered with Vaseline or the one covered with nothing? Children: “This is why animals eat a lot before winter comes!” Hypothesizing. Using our senses to figure things out.

16. Question to provoke children’s thinking and expand on animals and winter… Some animals homes’ freeze during winter… Sharing general knowledge.

17. And not all animals have fur or get fat before winter… some… Georgia: “Migrate!” Understanding the animal world. Connect between things we’ve experienced and things we know.

18. We explore migrating animals… Involving parents in what we learn in the classroom. Sharing.

19. The children notice the bird feeder and other animals that come to eat from here… Wondering about our world. Noticing what happens around us.

20. The bare trees reveal birds’ and squirrels’ nests… We try to weave birds’ nests… Investigating, questioning, observing, problem-solving, cooperating.

21. James: “It’s a bird’s nest…” Isaac: “Yeah, we are making a bird’s nest…”

22. But making nests is not easy work… the eggs keep falling through the cracks… Alper: “The eggs fall!” Noticing, questioning.

23. Frances and Leo: “Let’s put the fur to make it cozy… and the eggs stay…” Problem-solving, cooperation, utilization.

24. What do we need to do to help our plants grow? Children: “Sun… light … water…” Frances: “Trees need three things: water from their roots, sun and carbon dioxide that they get from their leaves .” The acorn we planted continues to grow… over winter break we send a picture of our growing “Baby Oak Tree” and its three leaves. The children talk with their parents about it and represent what they think on paper… Alper: “It needs water…” Noticing the plant world. Sharing knowledge abut the world. Caring for our own “baby oak tree.”

25. Baby Oak Tree by The Children

27. The children are looking at the map of the world with little pictures of birds… Charlie Elliot: “Look what I did… I put all the birds down… “ Why?” Charlie E: “That’s where South America is… the birds migrate there…” Isaac: “Where are we? “ Let’s see… it says Minneapolis here…” Isaac: “Then, I must be here… ST. Paul (he lives in St. Paul) (puts a little bird right next to Minneapolis…” “ I guess there still are birds around here during the winter…” Isaac: “Yes… here in St. Paul…” Alper: “Where is Minneapolis (Alper lives in Minneapolis)?” Isaac: “Here, next to St. Paul…” Alper: “I’m going to put my bird in Minneapolis.” Charlie E: “I landed all my birds in the South…” Coming back from winter break… the children are still interested in exploring migration… Sharing our knowledge with our classmates and connecting pieces of information.

28. One of our tadpoles died… “ How many tadpoles can you see?” James: “Lots…” Can you count how many? Georgia: “There’s two…” Isaac: “We had three.” All of them: “Where is the other one?” “ It died…” James: “Where is it?” “ We buried it.” James: “What happened to it?” “ It got very sick and died.” James: “Why its not here?” “ What would happen if we would live the dead tadpole in the tank?” Georgia: “The others would eat it and die.” Noticing, observing, wondering, questioning, hypothesizing.

29. And what happened to the Baby Oak Tree? Children: “It needs water…” “ But I watered it…” Georgia: “Maybe too much water…” Alper: “It looks like this (droopy arms and head down... The leaves are like this…” Discussing, problem-solving, making our own theories based on what we know and what we have talked about.

30. During large group conversations we draw children’s attention to tracks left on the snow, which leads us to think about birds that we often see around our school and what can we do to help them survive winter… The children: “We can give them food!” So, we spread bird seed in the playground. Observing, learning, understanding, sharing, figuring out!

31. The children collect natural materials to make a cozy place for the birds to rest and eat…

32. We continue to explore birds, different kinds… feathers… we pay attention to colors, sizes, beaks… Georgia: “The pheasant has cool color…his eye is yellow, his claws are sharp and his beak is sharp…” Trying to better understand, using different sources of information, inquiring, representing.

33. Rosie: “It feels soft…” Using our senses to understand.

34. A visit to the Raptor Center allows us to get to know other kinds of birds… Deepening our understanding. Watch the animals we’ve been talking about alive! Notice differences and similarities.

35. Ruby Alper: “Bald eagles can fly 100 miles fast…” Inga Expressing what we saw, remembered and impressed us.

36. Frances: “the Turkey Vulture… This bird was special because of its bad habits…eats dead meat of course!...” Charlie Elliot: “His favorite food is dead animals… because it protects the world…”

37. Isaac: “Two pictures of Cinnamon…” Leo: “Cinnamon” Delilah: Lives in a tree nest…”

38. Coming back from the Raptor Center Field Trip… children’s impressions… Georgia: “I’m making the nest pretty…” Impressions are expressed in different ways…

39. Blue Jay puzzle, by Aoife Our inquiry related to birds continues and deepens. The hibernating cave is the winter cave now, and children made homes for the animals…

40. Checking on the tadpoles daily… changing their water and noticing their growth… We continue to notice and observe our tadpoles’ growth and development.

41. Taking a closer look.

43. One more way to learn about birds… What is your wing span? Measuring, comparing, working together.

44. To brighten up our long winter days, the teachers plant an Amaryllis bulb and encourage the children to follow its growth. We ask the children to predict how tall they think it will grow. Observation, prediction.

45. Encouraged by a teacher, Isaac pays detailed attention to the Amaryllis plant’s colors and represents in on paper. Symbolic representation, attention to details.

46. We talk about plants that grow from seeds and plants that grow out of bulbs… Charlie Elliot: “It is so big, it bends down…” James: “I think this is going to be a tulip…” Alper: “It’s going to be a sunflower…” Delilah: “It’s going to turn into daisies…” Lisa: “How did it look before it grew these long leaves?” Leo: “I looked like a volcano.” Inga: “It still looks like a volcano…” Lisa shows a bulb… Do you know what this is? Children: “It’s a seed!” James: “It’s a bulb…” Drawing children’s attention to our Amaryllis…

47. It doesn’t take long before a flower comes out and the children think that: “The Amaryllis plant is going to grow up to the classroom ceiling…” Planting seeds and bulbs will allow us to support children’s understanding of plants’ cycles and taking care of our plants. The children plant bulbs and seeds. They take care of their plants and watch them grow.

48. Our tadpoles have big legs!! Encouraging the children to check and notice the tadpoles’ development regularly.

49. We remind the children to pay attention to what is happening with the tadpoles, and the frog life cycle is reviewed… After a short talk about our developing and changing tadpoles, and a demonstration of how to draw them, the children make their own representations…

50. Each child chooses and expresses how they see the tadpoles development. Some focus on the shape, the number of legs or the size.

52. The sudden warmth, melting snow, sunny skies, and sound of birds singing clue us into the fact that winter is coming to an end and spring is on its way… the children are fascinated with the sound of birds and their shadows… Noticing nature changes in general and weather changes in particular and how it affects our surroundings.

53. Charlie Elliot- “I saw 5 chickadees! Alper- “I just saw 3!” Beth- “What are they doing when they come to the feeder?” Alper- “Eating!” Beth- “What are they eating?” Charlie Elliot- “Corn and seeds” Alper- “Like corn seeds and white seeds!” Charlie Elliot- “In my group I’m going to build a bird house with seeds!” Observing, counting, keeping track, comparing, sharing, cooperating. The warm weather affects the light in the afternoons and the children notice an increase in the amount of birds and frequency of their visits to our bird feeder.

54. The Bird Explorers small group dedicates time to make sure the birds around our school have plenty of food during the last weeks of winter and create the Bird Cafe-Restaurant right by our playground… And the birds show their thanks by quickly noticing the precious treats they find… Deep exploration leading to meaningful understanding.

55. Alper: “They are caterpillars…” “ They will turn into butterflies…” “ They will turn into black beetles…” Our newest classroom residents… Mealworms! Life cycles are all around us… mealworms, just like our tadpoles go through a process of transformation… children relate to caterpillars and butterflies and draw from this previous knowledge and apply it to this new experience.

56. Aubrey” They are so little, you need this [magnifying glass] to see them. Why do you think they are called mealworms? Rosie: “Because they eat meals!” One more opportunity to notice “life cycles.”

57. Sharing knowledge, likes and dislikes. Exploring together is very powerful! Aoife: “It’s the mealworm…” Rosie: “It’s looking down… a super worm… all kinds of shapes are the food it likes… it’s smiling…”

58. James: “It’s a dark worm… those are baby worms…” Mom: “OK.” Those are little babies… is that a larva, is that what it is?” James: “Yes … Mom: ”Because that it what it certainly looks like…” Mom: “Oh, this one is moving… do you see that, do you see that one moving? James: “Hey, I see this one moving… Mom: “Oh you are right, that one is moving, very very slow…” James: “They do move slow…” Involving families in what we experience and learn at school.

59. Our froglets… … became full grown young frogs… What will happen to our mealworms? What will happen to our eggs? Making predictions. Using previous knowledge and apply it to new situations.

60. What will happen to the seeds and bulbs we planted? What will happen with our trees outside? What will happen with the birds? Looking forward to an amazing Spring session, with lots of opportunities to share, learn and enjoy!