Category: We are scientists.

When doing inquiry, there are many different resources students can learn from. Yesterday, we discussed how we can learn from books, websites on the internet, experts, and videos, for example. We watched an episode of the Magic School Bus called “Spins a Web” and learned a lot from Ms. Frizzle and her students. Please feel free to watch the video with your child and talk about what they found most interesting. Ask them what other questions come to mind because we want to continue to foster their curiosity. While we cannot ride on Ms. Frizzle’s Magic School Bus, the next best thing is what we have organized for next week! And that is to learn from a spider expert!

We are so very excited to inform you that we will be walking over to SFU’s Biological Sciences Department to participate in some hands-on learning. Students will be working with a couple grad students who are passionate about insects and spiders. They will have an opportunity to see samples, ask more questions, and be curious. Here are the details:

Date: Friday, November 16th, 2018

Time: 9:30 am – We will be leaving the school shortly after 9:10 am and will return at approximately 11:00 am.

Place: Simon Fraser University’s Biological Sciences Department

Thank you so much to Priscilla’s mom for connecting us with the Faculty of Science to make this walking field trip possible!

Click to enlarge image.

This week, we did some experiential learning as we pretended to be spiders. Well, we were actually scientists doing another experiment. 

First, we asked some questions. Then we formed a hypothesis. Next, we tested our hypothesis and recorded our observations. Finally, we came to a conclusion.

We started with a sugar cube which represented the fly that the spider caught in its web. 

Then we added water to the cup to mimic how a spider “vomits” digestive fluid over the prey (sugar cube = fly) and we carefully and excitedly observed what happened. 

After a few minutes, we noticed that the sugar cube dissolved just like how a fly would after the spider’s digestive fluid liquefied it.

The next step was tasting the delicious fly (or dissolved sugar cube). Some enjoyed their “meal” but others thought it tasted disgusting and were rushing to get water (too sweet!). 

We recorded our observations. Here is an example:

This experiment gave us a good sense of how a spider “eats” its food!

Dear students,

What did you think of our experiment? What was the most interesting part of this experiment or this kind of learning? How did it make you feel? Please ask your parent to help you write your response as a comment on this post. We’d love to hear your thoughts! Thank you.

Sincerely, Ms. Chan & Ms. Cowan

Click image to view questions.

We started our inquiry into spiders by thinking about what we wonder about them. Many thoughtful questions were shared. We loved witnessing how one question asked would spark another one! What other questions might your child have that we can add to our web of questions? We would so love to see you add new questions as a comment to this post! 

For our first experiment, we discovered how it might be possible for a spider to be able to walk on their own sticky web. By using masking tape and some oil on our finger, we got to experience how to make the tape feel less sticky. Although spiders don’t actually have oil glands, some spiders do have a special chemical coating. This gave them a sense of what it might be like for a spider not to stick to their web. Ask your child about our experiment! To learn more, click here to go to Wonderopolis to read or listen to Why Don’t Spiders Get Caught in Their Webs? or watch this video which offers three reasons why:

Students also made their own beautiful glittery webs. Stay tuned for their art to be shared soon. Next week, we will be sorting the questions to help us dive into our inquiry further. There’s still a lot more to learn even about their webs!