Let's Study It!

Amber's Kindergarteners investigate critters inside and outside their classroom.

Amber McLandrich is a Kindergarten teacher in Beaverton, Oregon. She and her teammate Bobbi Janssen introduce their students to inquiry through a study of the “critters” they can find right outside (and inside!) their classrooms. Thank you, Amber, for sharing how you and your students make the ordinary extraordinary.

For our other posts on outdoor learning, go here.

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Digging with a bark chip to find a bug he saw crawl by.

We begin our year by teaching students how to be “Curious Kids.”

We realized that student inquiry is most impactful in kindergarten when they are wondering about a tangible thing right in front of themselves. Our school grounds look like they wouldn’t provide much room for inquiry. It’s your typical building with grass, sidewalks, and some plants around it. We have a few trees. It backs up to a creek but there is a giant fence stopping access so the kids can’t get close.

However, we have found that even an everyday space like this is teeming with little critters that students LOVE to investigate.

Finding a line of ants in the sidewalk.

We have found ladybugs, ants, worms, pill bugs, slugs, snails, beetles, spiders, millipedes, and more just by teaching them to move aside dead leaves, lift up rocks, or simply get low to the ground and look closely.

A large portion of our students live in apartments. Our landscape is similar to what they have access to at their homes. This helps them see they can observe nature and be curious anywhere.

Our study of critters doesn’t even need to start outside. It doesn’t take long into the school year for a spider to crawl across the rug during a read aloud, causing a panic.

This is usually my first opportunity to say “Let’s study it!” This phrase “Let’s study it!” starts from me but becomes a common refrain from the students for the rest of the year.

Small world sensory table created after finding ants in and outside of our classroom. We asked questions about them, observed them, read books, and then co-created this tough tray.

I have little critter containers and cages and magnifying glasses ready so students can do observational drawings and ask questions when they see a critter. We learn more about the animal through observing the animal, looking at pictures, and reading books.

Student generated collaborative art wall after learning about ants. They asked for a big ant hill so they could make tunnels.

Students have a nature journal where they document their learning. There are times when we are all learning about an animal on the rug and other times when they are choosing to write in their journal about something they saw.

Pictures of pages from nature journals. Students draw a synthesis of what they are learning about each animal. It’s like beginning note taking.

We usually make some kind of small world play so that students can act out what they learned during play workshop (we are now calling it Work Choice time thanks to the Taproots article.) We also allow students to bring out magnifying glasses to share with everyone during recess.

Observing several holes in the ground and wondering who made them.

From there, it’s easy to make the jump to observe little critters they find outside. In rainy Oregon, worms are often on the playground. Students pick them up off the playground to save them.

Finding worms on the playground for the first time.

This leads to us making a worm jar. When the worms aren’t on the playground on dry days, they miss them and begin digging around the playground to look for them.

We made a worm bin to learn more.

Studying tunnels that worms dig that students can see when they are looking for worms outside on the playground.

This digging leads to finding other bugs. The cycle just goes round and round.

Students observing ladybugs after finding one outside and asking if we could study them. This is a critter our district will order for us. During our morning playful inquiry time, students are drawing them, looking at them with magnifying classes, another students is showing a friend the life cycle. Again - all heads together for collaborative inquiry.

A kids yells, “I found a ______!” All the kids run to look at it and then they all start digging, turning over leaves, and searching for more.

Someone runs over to me and says “We need to study it!”

If it’s a bug I think we could bring inside for a short time, we put it in a little jar. Other times, I take an up close picture.

Students digging with sticks to find more bugs on at recess. I love how they put their heads together so they can all see the same thing.

We have found that the students don’t need shovels to dig. They are happy to use sticks or even large bark chips they find around the playground. In fact, the fact that sticks are less efficient at digging than a shovel, encourages students to look closer for bugs rather than just making a giant hole (which has its benefits but we aren’t allowed to do for safety concerns.)

It’s magical to see heads together as they marvel over the smallest creatures that we usually walk by in our everyday lives without noticing.

Mrs. M! Will you take a picture of this so we can study it?

The skills they build are innumerable, however, I think the most amazing learning to come out of it is them saying to a friend in their free time (recess), that they found something cool in nature and they want to study it together. It’s authentic agency as they collaborate with peers to inquire further.

Egg found under tree. We also teach students to look up in the trees and sky to observe what animals they can find there. We have volunteers from a local wildlife refuge come on some Fridays to provide binoculars and teach students how to identify local birds. This is part of our whole school inquiry of local birds.

The only downside? Be prepared to take MUCH longer walking anywhere! They now find wonderment in every tiny bug we come across. We all have to stop and observe it for a bit before we can move on. It’s not uncommon for me to have to say “Sorry we are late, there was a pill bug on the sidewalk” to the music teacher when we show up.

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Thank you, Amber! We are so grateful you shared your classroom (inside and out) with us.