Category: We are scientists.

What a wonderful experience students had during our visit to SFU’s Biological Sciences Department! The team started with a presentation about the differences between spiders and insects. Then we divided into groups to learn more about the critters at each station: cockroaches, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, ants, spiders, bed bugs, moths, and beetles. They even had an arts and crafts station set up which many enjoyed!

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As scientists, students are expected to be able to demonstrate curiosity and a sense of wonder, make observations, ask questions, and communicate observations and ideas. While everyone was fascinated by the different insects and spiders that the SFU team prepared for us, Ms. Cowan and I were most impressed by the kinds of deep and inquisitive questions asked and keen observations made. It was also inspiring to see these grad students, as experts, so enthusiastic and passionate about sharing their knowledge about particular insects or spiders they were researching. We were expecting to stay for an hour but because they were all so engaged in the hands-on learning, we ended up staying for an extra half hour! We are so very grateful to the Biological Sciences team who provided this great learning opportunity for our students. Thank you for your generosity of time and for setting up so many stations for us to learn from!

In the afternoon, Kira’s mom, Bryony, so graciously offered to teach us yoga. Not only did we have the pleasure to exercise our bodies, Bryony planned an amazing experience that started with exploring and singing the Eensy Beensy Spider in different ways as we warmed up our bodies. Then, she took us on a storytelling journey about the adventures of a spider as we became the spider, the mountain, and the tree, to name a few poses among many we practiced. We even tried collaborative yoga with a partner to become a spider with 8 legs! Finally, we ended with a fun game to test our spider senses. So very thankful to Bryony for her time to prepare and teach such an engaging lesson of yoga! Our bodies and minds were blessed!

All students have worked hard on finishing their own Spider Facts Booklet. We are currently working on a class book about what we found as the most interesting thing we learned about spiders. [We are using an iPad app called Book Creator.]

Students were also offered the opportunity to extend their learning by researching a specific spider of choice. We are looking forward to sharing more of our learning about spiders with you soon!

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!