Mealworms

This week I taught the FOSE kit Insect to my second/third graders. We started out by reading a story What is Science? They drew a scientist and answered the questions: What is Science? Who are Scientists? What would you like to learn about in Science? They did an awesome job and I modeled for them with the doc cam on some ideas. I passed out three different types of gummy worms. They learned about observation and used their powers of observation to draw their gummy worm. We talked about drawing a cartoon and that good scientists make scientific drawings. They make the drawing as realistic as possible and they label their drawing. We then talked about characteristics of their gummy worm using descriptive words. After they wrote three characteristics of the worm. I asked for them to raise their hands and share. They then compared their gummy worm with their neighbors to find ways they were similar and different. We spoke of habitats for meal worms and what they need to survive. I checked for prior knowledge and they came up with a list of water, food, and habitat. We then gave them their meal worm(larvae) and pupa. Each of them got a habitat for their worms which they will keep on their desks. We will observe what happens over the next few weeks together!