Populations: A Science Recap

Since we’ve been working with aphids and daphnia, we discussed the importance of camouflage. My students created their own paper butterflies and found items in the classroom to make them fade into. We taped them to the surfaces, then went on a butterfly hunt! The kids loved this, and it was so easy! There was basically no prep! I just grabbed a stack of white construction paper, and voila! A memorable lesson on camouflage! Check out their creations!

We’ve been monitoring the interaction between aphids and our plants. We planted fava beans, bush beans, and pea plants before spring break, and now they are infested with creepy crawlies. So far, the aphids haven’t really multiplied, but eventually, the plants will be covered by little green bugs. The kids will be learning about producers, primary consumers, dispersal, and biotic potential through this lesson. It’s always really fun unless you wind up with giant spiders in your room as I did three years ago! Thankfully, the spider was a serendipitous example of a secondary consumer in the food chain!

The little specks are aphids!

We also did a little experiment with brine shrimp eggs and clover seeds. The kids had to make a hypothesis about which was a seed and which was an egg. Then they had to guess which organism would grow in fresh water and which would grow in salt water. Each group filled four vials: two were filled with fresh water and two were filled with salt water. They put the eggs in fresh water and in saltwater. They put the seeds in salt water and fresh water too, and then we waited. The next day, the clover seeds had started to sprout in the fresh water tubes, and they could see tiny bouncing brine shrimp babies in the saltwater tubes. They loved this lesson, especially when they saw the enlarged photographs of brine shrimp! To the naked eye, they look like tiny brown specks!

With the OAA approaching, I started thinking about pumping the kids up! It’s also time to begin covering/removing all of the student work and anchor charts on my walls!  It’s great to have a print-rich classroom until testing rolls around.  Ha-ha!  I decided to use an idea from the Lesson Plan SOS ladies to cover two of my bulletin boards and ease some OAA worries. It’s their Smart Little Cookies craft!   

I usually have the kids make posters to cheer each other on during the test and those usually grace my bulletin boards and walls. This year, I blended the two. After completing the craft and smart little cookie recipe, I had the kids write messages to each other to build morale!