Wednesday 12th May

Today Sabrina brought a fly to school today her mum caught it in their house. Unlike the fly we looked at yesterday the children noticed that it had a black head, body and eyes and Sabrina thought that it had white on its wings. Sabrina counted the legs and it had 6 so it was decided that it must be an insect.
We looked at a big book that was delivered to our classroom there were lots of great big pictures of insects. We were looking at a picture of a grasshopper and talking about what we could see. Taylor told us that the long pieces at the front were antennae. I asked the children what they thought an insect used its antennae for…
Taylor: They use them to charge.
Miss Bell: Like horns
Taylor: Yes they charge each other with them.
Shawn: I think they use them to flap away the wind.
Finn: I think they use them so they can fly.
The book also talked about camouflage and adaptation to environment. The children were very intrigued with a leaf bug that was very hard to see and could change it’s colour depending on the leaf it was sitting on.
Taylor: They do it because they are scared of people.
Finn: Because they are scared of birds
Miss Bell: Why are they scared of birds?
Jeherson: They (birds) eat them.
A picture of a grasshopper turned up again on a page with a bee and a butterfly. Taylor was
fascinated by the grasshoppers legs and came to the conclusion that a Grasshopper jumps
because it hasn’t got any wings, she also decided that bees have very small wings because they have to get into their hives.
Later in the day I gave the children playdough, pipecleaners toothpicks and asked them to create for me an insect and a spider. All of the children created both with the right number of body parts, antennae were very popular as well and a number of the children placing the correct number of legs on and on the right body part. On top of showing that their understandings about creepy crawlies are already changing it was also a lot of fun.

Questions or ideas to explore further:
What do insects use antennae for?

Today we explored:
· That spider and fly have different physical features that allow us to distinguish them.
Science Level 1 and 2: Recognise that there are lots of different living things in the world and that they can be grouped in different ways.
Investigating in Science:Extend their experiences and personal explanations of the natural world through
exploration, play, asking questions, and discussing simple models.
· That different insects have different features to aid survival and live within their chosen environments.
Recognise that living things are suited to their particular habitat.