To introduce important science big ideas for our students' insect studies. To learn about children's initial understanding of these ideas: change, growth, behavior, and structure/function of body parts.

We expected that students would come with knowledge of insect facts such as number of legs and number of body parts. We thought students would be able to label some insect body parts. We wanted students to learn which features are common to all insects. Our main focus was on learning 1) what children thought about insect features and their functions, and 2) how children could document, ask questions, and offer evidence about these features. Would they separate insects from spiders or keep them in one group? Would they question the purpose of a specific body part? Would they relate any observable behavior to an attribute?

The following outline and documentation of these initial lessons provides the reader with a picture of how we attempted to meet our stated goals. Lesson overviews first offer brief descriptions, timelines and lists materials used. Following the overviews are notes about the initial lessons providing more details about the tasks, conversations and offers samples of childrens?work. A summary is also included as a reflective piece to help us think about our initial goals and plans for the future.

• Lesson One:Insect Discussion and Walk

• Lesson Two: Collecting Insects

• Lesson Three: Drawing and Sorting the Collection

• Summary

The purpose of this initial lesson was to learn about children's prior knowledge about insect attributes and habitats. Classroom discussion about what makes an insect an insect and likely places to find and collect insects was the focus of this lesson. Approximately 30 minutes was spent eliciting children's knowledge about:

• What is an insect?

• Kinds of insects

• Habitats

• Insect Coloration

• Insect Movement

• Insects' Needs

Children were taken on an insect walk later that day to locate places where we could find and eventually collect insects.

• 30 minutes for discussion, recording ideas on chart paper

• 30 minutes for observational walk

"What is an insect?"

Children always have lots to say about what makes an insect an insect. Their comments typically range from broad descriptors such as, " They fly," to more specific details such as, "They have ___# of legs," or "They have antenna."

"An insect has wings," said Ernesto.

"They fly," said Emily.

"They are little," said Tyler.

"They have 8 legs," said Tim.

"No, they have 12," said Katie.

"How do you know they have 12? What? your evidence?" asked Mrs. Clement.

"I remember that insects have 12 legs," Katie responds.

"So your evidence is what you remember from another time you learned about insects," asked Mrs. Clement.

"Yes."

"Do we wonder how many legs an insect should have?"

"Yes."

"Where could find the answer?" asks Mrs. Clement

"In a book."

These discussions provide excellent opportunities to teach and model for our children how to question, debate and offer evidence for the ideas they are discussing. It is also a great time for encouraging children to think about places they can go, people they can ask or resources they can use to get answers for questions they have.

A Know, Wonder and Learn (KWL) chart is a useful way to record things discussed in a format like this. Under the K the teacher records notes about what children know about insects. All ideas offered are listed, even those that conflict. Under the W the teacher records things children ?onder?about. Under the L the teacher takes notes about what and how the children plan to learn about the answers to the questions they have.

After the children had discussed ideas about insects we told them that we would go on an insect walk. The purpose of the walk was to find places we'd be likely to find insects so we could later collect some to bring back to our room. The children shared stories as a way to offer evidence for likely places to collect insects. "At recess we always go by the fence on the hill. We see insects there all the time!"

The Walk:

Later that day we took the children outside to look for insects. Before going we reminded them that they were to look carefully for places we could find insects so we would know where to go back to collect them. Throughout the walk many conversations took place between children and teachers about what we were looking for and what we saw. We worked hard to wonder aloud, to talk with children throughout their experience, and to encourage children's conversation about their observations.

"I wonder why there are'nt many insects on the blacktop," asked Mrs. Penner

"There's no food or grass here."

"Maybe we'll find more insects in the grassy part of the playground," said Mrs. Gavin.

"We found some ants in the grass at recess."

"Are ants, insects?" "Yes, well maybe."

Eventually our walk led us to the school prairie, a small plot of land in front of our school. The children saw many interesting things and decided that the prairie would be a great place to collect insects. Here we talked about the various movement, coloration and plant life provided for the insects we saw. The children were reminded to look on the ground, on plants and in the air(often overlooked) for insects. They were very anxious to come back to collect!