A Pond in the Classroom

The recent addition of tadpoles to the Green Room has caused quite the amphibious buzz! The Greenies have been tracking the growth, drawing representations, and giving daily reports on their observations.

I could tell that if it were allowed the Greenies would hang out in the tank with our little friends. Hmm, how to extend this to other parts of our classroom? How about creating a pretend pond?

I started by using a piece of blue fabric and cut it into a general pond shape. I placed this on the floor and asked the Greenies what else we needed to make it a habitat for frogs? (BTW, the word habitat was introduced when we read the book Tadpole Trouble featuring Curious George.) The Greenies mentioned plants (represented by fish tank plants donated by a family,) water (represented by the fabric and the addition of glass rocks from the dollar store,) and rocks and logs. We had plenty of natural materials around our classroom, including a piece of log chewed by a beaver! 

With it all in place the pond was buzzing with excitement! There were reenactments of the 5 Green and Speckled Frogs as they placed the plastic frogs on a piece of bark and removed them one by one accordingly.

The next day a Greenie asked if we could add lily pads. We trekked into the art studio where we found some green shiny fabric I recently made capes with. They made perfect lily pads!

Creating habitats in the classroom- real or pretend- can be great ways to extend and enhance learning and appreciation for the natural world.