Bug Quest 2010

Today I spent much of my afternoon crawling around with 30 excited 8 year olds, magnifying glasses in hand searching for bugs. It's Spring in 3rd grade and that means time to study creatures with both six and eight legs. I haven't ever taught 3rd grade before so I have never had the opportunity or excuse go get outside with a journal in hand and search out those critters. I was curious about how it would go, but as the day progressed and the weather just kept getting better and better it was obvious that I could not put if off to another day.

I wrote Bug Quest 2010 on the white board and spelled out the expectations. We would head out with our bug journals (think regular spirals that we had put our own covers on with scrapbook paper and puffy letters). Each kid was issued a magnifying glass and a pencil. They were given the locations they could explore and directions as to what I wanted them to do. Find some bugs, look at them and sketch them in their journal. They could also write descriptions on each bug they found so we could more easily identify them later on. The only real rule I gave them was "do no harm!" We could not kill the bugs we found.

I can honestly say that this little activity may rank up there in my top 5 teaching days of all time. The kids raced around the playground in search of any insect, spider or whatnot they could find. They were ecstatic. "Mrs. Ross, over here" was heard all over the playground. They found worms, spiders, flies, wasps, beetles, and the jack pot find of the day one tree frog. No he wasn't in the bug family but how often do you find a tree frog at school?

They found creative ways to use their magnifying glasses like trapping the bugs under them or using them to pick the bugs up. Each new bug find was like the discovery of a new uncharted land. The excitement of the kids with each new sighting was contagious and I found myself crawling around with them, slowly running my finger through the grass trying to prompt the movement of a bug out of their camouflage cover. We picked up rocks, lifted up water covers and peaked under benches. It was some of the most fun I have had in years. Leave it to a bunch of kids to remind me to take some time and play with some bugs.

I think I'm going to have to go find us some bug boxes this weekend. I have a feeling there is going to be a lot more bug searches in our future. Thanks kiddos, today was a very good day! Maybe not so much for the bugs, but for 30 8 year olds and one teacher, the memories will be priceless!