Froggies, and Snakes, and Caterpillars! Oh, My!

If you saw my room right now, you'd think I worked in a zoo. Ever since we began studying animals, my room has filled up with creatures. Every day, another somebody's something arrives. Today, it was mine. A snake. Dead, of course. Here's how it happened...

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful, and my sweet family treated Mommy to a picnic in the mountains for Mothers' Day. We found the perfect spot, with a beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There wasn't a bug to be found. My salad was delish. Their subs were fab. Then we decided to go for a short hike up the trail to see what we could see. Before we even had everything packed back into the car, I found a teeny, tiny baby snake in perfect, albeit dead, condition.

I dropped him in a Ziplock and threw him in the cooler with the leftovers.  Ewwwww! Today, I brought him in to join the live frog, 6 dead bumblebees, 48 dead insects of all varieties, 4 live insects, including the biggest moth you've ever seen, and 13 quickly growing Painted Lady caterpillars.

My kids loved it! Even my baby girl who's so afraid of snakes she squeals at the mention of reptiles wanted to see it in the bag! 

All my students are loving our animal study so much we decided to do some writing about their favorite animals. I tried to make it easy to understand how to get research materials, paraphrase for notes, and then put it all together by making these Animal Research Wheels.

These are the perfect, easy way to begin research with, really, any class! You put the wheels together, take notes in the small space allowance, and then begin a draft. It's really that simple. My kids are super motivated and ready to write all about pythons and crocodiles, zebras, and cheetahs, scorpions, and koalas. I'm excited to see them so excited! Click on the picture above to check out the Animal Research Project Wheels at my TPT shop. I'm using them with Jen Martin's adorable safari guides for presentation! I've used these before, and my kids love making them. They look great in the hall, and entice other students to read all about what we've written, too. Hope you'll enjoy these two animal projects - have fun!

XOXO,

Brooke