Animal Tracks

When Winter arrived, the meadow was a different place from when we had first visited in the Fall. The flowers and insects were gone. The green and gold of lush grasses and wild flowers had been replaced by the white, brown and gray of snow and dormant vegetation. The busy buzzing of insects and chirping birds had gone silent, but that didn't mean that there were no more interesting things to discover. The turning of the seasons gave our students new opportunities to make observations. They immediately noticed all the different animal tracks in the snow: evidence that there were still living things in the meadow! This led our students on an investigation of animal prints. Students were asked to make sketches of animal prints that they thought might be found in the meadow. Here are Areen's and Amir's sketches done on KidPix:

Whittamore's Farm

In the Fall, students from Rouge Valley went on a field trip to Whittamore's Farm to get an idea of what rural life was like. As part of Walking Wednesdays, students had been learning about the features of an urban community. Afterward, they were asked to make a chart to compare rural areas with urban areas. Here are two examples by Ashwinni and Megan.

Butterfly Life Cycle

Early in September, our three classes had begun studying the butterfly life cycle. We started with some caterpillars and began our observations. The caterpillar formed a chrysalis and eventually transformed into a Painted Lady Butterfly. After it hatched we released the butterfly in our meadow. Here are some of the pics that we took for our observations as well as Ashwinni's (Rm 209) labeled diagram of the butterfly life cycle.

A Praying Mantis, a Grasshopper and a Lady Bug...

What happens when a praying mantis, a grasshopper and a lady bug run into each other on the trunk of tree? Here are some of the possibilities that the students came up with. They used Comic Life to create the speech and thought bubbles. (The following work is by Ashwinni, Hajra, Meena and Megan from Rm 209).

The Transition Zone

By Parwez, Rm 208.

Today we were in a transition zone. A transition zone is the area between the meadow and the forest. There were tall grasses, bushes and a few small trees. There were lots of sticks and fallen branches on the ground.

The leaves around us had changed colour because it is Autumn. Some leaves were already on the ground. Mr. Daffern taught us about how seeds travel. Seeds travel by flying or floating, sticking to animal fur and being eaten and dropped by animals. We saw maple seeds. Maple seeds are called maple keys. They fly like helicopters.

We saw a field mouse. We saw snails. We saw mushrooms. Wild mushrooms can be poisonous. We didn’t see many insects. Most insects have hibernated or died.

Reflections on Autumn

By Ardijana, Rm 208.

In the autumn, the days get shorter. It gets dark outside earlier. You can harvest grapes and apples. You can also pick blackberries and good mushrooms. Some mushrooms are poisonous. Seeds from trees fall to the ground. Some seeds spin like a helicopter when they fall. Leaves change from green to orange, yellow, red and brown. Evergreen trees do not change colour. They always stay green. When we walk outside we can look for fruits and berries. Birds like to eat the berries. Birds fly south where it is warmer. They stay for the whole winter. They will come back in the spring.

Our Walk in the Meadow

Journal entries from our very first walk in September:

By Abou, Rm 102
We went on a walk in the meadow. I caught a green grasshopper. I saw a red and black caterpillar. It was big and furry. There was a praying mantis on a log. It was a cold day. I saw lots of insects.


By Shanelle, Rm 102
We went on a walk in the meadow. I saw many nice things on our walk. It was sunny and warm. My favourite part was seeing a praying mantis. We saw insects, flowers, trees and tall grass.



By Tiyalize, Rm 209
We went on a walk in the meadow. I saw two crikets. I also saw a pink flower and a purple flower. I learned not to pick things in nature. It’s bad when you’re taking it from its habitat.




By Zack, Rm 209
We went on a walk in the meadow. I saw a grasshopper. It jumped on my leg. I put my hand over it and it jumped away.

By Megan, Rm 209
we went on a walk in the meadow. I saw a grasshopper it was on the grass. it blended in with the grass. At first i didn't notice it but then I saw it moving on the grass. It was a big grasshopper and it scared me.

A Walk in the Forest

By Ardijana, Rm 208.

We went for a walk in the forest at Rouge Park. We went on Friday, May 30th from 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM. Just our class went to Rouge Park. We walked through the neighborhood to the park. We walked in the forest to learn about nature. At first it was partly cloudy and then it was rainy. We walked across a bridge over a river.

We saw: a robin, some wild rhubarb, a chipmunk, three deer, a duck, some big mushrooms, a woodpecker a nuthatch, river rapids, logs, some campers, some people walking their dogs, some joggers, some white trilliums, tall trees and a tree-stump left buy a beaver.

We closed our eyes to listen and we heard: the river flowing, birds chirping, the wind blowing through the trees, twigs snapping, leaves rustling and a woodpecker pecking.

We ate lunch on the grass. After lunch we threw the Frisbee. Then we walked up some stairs made from logs. There were lots of bugs. Even though it was raining, we did not get wet because the trees covered us. When the rain stopped, we walked back to school.