Squirrel Investigation

It all started with a pretend squirrel restaurant outside (isn't fall such a perfect time to explore outdoors!), 

and an ongoing LOVE for Scaredy Squirrel books...

So, we dove headfirst into a squirrel investigation.  After all, squirrels are ALL around us, but how often do we actually stop and really think about them?  We started out by sharing things we think we already know about squirrels...

And spent some time looking closely at photographs to figure out even more.

Check out everything the kindergartners learned about squirrels just by looking closely!  Their observation muscles keep getting stronger...

We continued looking closely as each kiddo chose a squirrel to draw.  Squirrels are pretty complicated animals to sketch, but the kindergartners gave it their best try.  Despite the difficulty involved in such an endeavor, there were no tears.  They have definitely begun to internalize our conversations about trying and trying again without giving up...

Check out the detail in their final products...

 

In order to continue building a collective sense of excitement about our topic we shared and then wrote/drew stories about times we have seen squirrels (and since their imaginations never stop, several pretend squirrel stories popped up as well :)

I find their wonders are richer and more genuine if I wait until we have interacted with our topic in a variety of ways before soliciting questions.  Now that we had thought about, talked about, and looked closely at squirrels, we were finally ready to start wondering. Can you believe how strong their wonder muscles are this early in the school year?! 

Next we revisited our handy chart of all the ways we can find answers to our questions.  We then headed outdoors to figure out if we could learn answers to our questions by looking at squirrels in nature.

Unfortunately we didn't spot any squirrels on our walk in the woods (and I left my camera inside), but we did come back with a large collection of acorns and new wonders about why some acorns look different from each other and what they might look like on the inside.  Our walk also helped me realize that while I had assumed squirrels would be a great topic for kindergartners because they are all around us, I hadn't thought through how squirrels would work to avoid a noisy classroom of kindergartners out in the woods !

I also discovered there aren't a lot of books out there about squirrels.  I had originally hoped for more non-fiction books so that the kindergartners could begin learning how to use books to uncover some answers to their wonders on their own.  Hmm..no squirrels to spot outdoors and very few books on the topic.  Thank goodness the internet is full of squirrel videos!   

Since I realized we wouldn't be learning about squirrels by seeing them out in nature and we wouldn't be learning about them through many books, a new plan was hatched.  I would help the kiddos uncover answers to their wonders, but they would simultaneously bring their newly acquired information to life by doing what kindergartners do best...making things.

Before we dove into investigating their wonders we needed some basic understandings about squirrels to help scaffold our future learning.  Discovering the myriad of ingenious ways squirrels use their tails was definitely a highlight for all of us!

Once they had learned about the parts of a squirrel, they were ready to build their own 3-d squirrels out of recycled materials during Fab Lab.  The kiddos repeatedly referenced our chart to check and recheck their squirrels and make sure they had the necessary parts.

After learning about the three types of squirrels, each kiddo decided what type of squirrel they wanted their original 3-d creation to be and then went back to add in any necessary details.

Check out their cuties below...

Several days later I spread out a variety of squirrel pictures on the floor, and the kiddos used picture clues to help sort and categorize the squirrels based on differences in where they lived.  The kindergartners ultimately discovered that some squirrels live in nests, some live in dens in trees, and some live underground in burrows.

Depending on what type of squirrel they had created, they then selected a type of home for their squirrel and spent several days creating (and improving) a tree den, a nest, or a burrow for their furry friend.  

Since this project did not happen during a Fab Lab period but instead stretched across a week, the kiddos were willing (and eager!) to continually revisit and improve their squirrel home. Our design cycle sign was a great support in terms of reflecting upon where they were in the process and figuring out what step to undertake next.  



I was so impressed with the natural way they complimented each other's creations, shared ideas, and lent numerous helping hands along the way.  The best moment was of course getting to see their hard work and clever designs pay off as they tucked their little squirrels into their new homes...

 

Coding text is such a powerful way to get kids of all ages to think deeply about what they're reading.  Even though most kindergartners can't dive deep into the words of non-fiction books independently, they can definitely dive deep into the content. The kiddos used hand signals as we read aloud a non-fiction squirrel book, and every time they tapped their head for the "I learned" signal we stopped and added a sticky with a key word to our book.  Check out all their learning...

Scaredy Squirrel continued to be the book of choice during our story times on the carpet almost every day.  I'm pretty sure I read aloud each Scaredy Squirrel at least ten times. The stories are very appealing, yet the story lines are very complex. An informal conversation one day about all the things Scaredy Squirrel might be afraid of got us thinking about possible titles, and the next thing I knew we were gathered on the floor working our way through a Scaredy Squirrel Goes Trick or Treating book.  We co-authored the story, illustrated it, added it to our classroom library, each got a copy to take home, and even gave one to the school librarian to add to her collection. Needless to say, the kiddos were beyond proud of their masterpiece!

After creating our squirrels and their homes, it was time to feed our little guys.  So, we dove into their wonder about what squirrels eat. We gathered information on a circle web and then brought our learning to life by making various types of food out of clay.  We couldn't wait to take our food over to our squirrels and feed them a little snack...

If you really want to bring a topic to life for young children, it's not enough to draw and build and watch videos and talk and write and read about squirrels, you've got to pretend to be them (a favorite game called Sleeping Sleeping can turn anything into a pretend moment in kindergarten) and sing about them too!  This song (accompanied by my squirrel hand puppet and kindergartners playing the part of acorns) was definitely a class favorite throughout our investigation...

A chart detailing different types of acorns, along with my trusty hammer, helped us solve our wonder about the insides and outsides of acorns.  We were definitely surprised to find some bugs crawling around in those things!

A Wild Kratts episode helped us learn more about how squirrels hide and find their acorns.  It also taught us why squirrels are SO important.

I wanted to make sure the kiddos really understood why squirrels are so important for our world.  Making this chart together over the next several days led to continued conversations about the important role squirrels play in helping plant so many of our world's oak trees.

Some kiddos in the other kindergarten class had been making adorable little animals out of pompoms during choice time, and the sight of their cute little animals inspired us to dive into our wonders about baby squirrels.

Of course the kiddos wanted to use a similar pompom technique to make their own squirrel babies.  I loved overhearing them talk to each other about how old their baby squirrels were based on their size and whether or not they had googly eyes yet (squirrels don't open their eyes until they're five weeks old).

All the talk about mom squirrels and babies got several kids wondering about squirrel dads, so we added our new wonder to our chart.  One of my favorite things for the kids to realize during investigations is that the more information you discover, the more questions you always have.  There's always so much more to learn!

By now we had created (and learned about) squirrel moms and babies, homes, and food, so it was time to learn about and of course make squirrel predators (and some dangerous cars too).  We learned that squirrels have many clever tricks for avoiding predators, but they aren't always lucky.  Hawks and coyotes and snakes and raccoons need food too!   

It's always rewarding to see our investigation topics seep into their choice time activities.  Check out the squirrel family being created below...

One kiddo kept asking if we could create puppet shows with squirrels, so of course that seemed like a perfect idea.  It was also such a great way to reinforce our writing workshop lessons about storytelling.  Each pair of kiddos worked collaboratively to plan, illustrate, practice, and then tell their squirrel story to the class.  Listening to their stories turned out to be such a great way for me to informally asses all their squirrel knowledge (which came through so clearly in their tales).  

 



Conversations about squirrels stealing bird food came up at several points during our investigation, so I had a feeling the book Those Darn Squirrels would be a big hit.  I also knew it could lend itself to being an interesting STEM challenge. Turns out there also some pretty entertaining videos online of squirrels stealing bird food that inspired us as well.

 

Each kiddo worked to design a bird feeder that could keep out squirrels.  I was blown away by the creativity and depth of each design.  I was also impressed by the clear way they explained their inventions aloud to each other.  The hardest part of this activity for the kiddos was being asked to design the bird feeder but NOT actually build it!

Next we used our finger signals (for coding text) and a web to collect new information to answer their wonders about flying squirrels,

And then we revisited our original chart of wonders to see which ones we could cross off and which wonders we still needed to explore.  We still wanted to find out whether or not squirrels play dead (like Scaredy Squirrel always does), but I explained to the kids that I had read conflicting information about this online.  Our pet question was still looming large as well.  We were pretty sure wild animals should not be pets, yet we had seen numerous pictures and even read stories about squirrels and humans in close contact.  Hmm.  Kiddos are never too young to discover that everything you read/see on the internet is NOT reliable information, so we agreed we would need a squirrel expert to help us sort all this out.   

Luckily we were able to connect with a squirrel expert at the Virginia Wildlife Center.  We arranged to meet up with her online so she could answer our remaining questions about squirrel doctors, squirrel medicine, squirrel daddies, playing dead, pet squirrels, and more. 

Check out all the information the kiddos absorbed from our online discussion and were able to teach to Ms. Simpson when she popped into our room later that day!

By now we had discovered the answers to all of their wonders. Interest was turning to board games (which was quickly becoming our newest investigation topic), so I decided it was time to wrap things up.  Since so far this year we had already made a class book, created a video, and hung signs and gone door to door to advertise a service project, I knew I would need to think creatively about possibilities for the final phase of our investigation.  I want to expose the kiddos to as many possibilities for sharing their learning as I can, especially this early in the school year.

I had three main goals headed into this final phase.  First, I wanted the kindergartners to have an opportunity to share and celebrate the squirrel projects they had worked so hard on.  So, we invited a group of preschoolers who had been learning about owl homes to our classroom and used our projects to teach them all about the different types of squirrels, squirrel homes, what squirrels eat, all about squirrel babies, and even about squirrel predators too. The kindergartners were so excited to become the experts/teachers for a bit...  

Second, I wanted the kiddos to have an opportunity to realize how MUCH information about squirrels they had actually learned. So, we gathered in front of our documentation board and reflected together.  

Then each kiddo chose a favorite fact they had learned about squirrels and acted out their fact for us all to guess.  Playing squirrel charades seemed like the perfect merger between our squirrel investigation and our new interest in games. The best part was definitely enjoying a tasty acorn treat at the end!  

And third, I wanted the kiddos to think deeply about WHY it was important and worthwhile for us to have spent so much time learning about squirrels.  Obviously investigating squirrels had been a ton of fun, but I was curious what they might come up with beyond that.  So, we sat down together to pair-share some thoughts and then discussed our ideas as a group.  Here's what they came up with...

Looking back on our squirrel investigation, I think we accomplished five important objectives...

1. The kindergartners had another opportunity to cycle through the process of wondering and then finding ways (using our eyes and brains, books, the internet, and experts) to discover answers to their questions.  Ultimately, I want them to become so comfortable with this process that they can engage in it on their own. 

2. They gained more experience planning and making things using the design cycle.  

3. They practiced new ways of keeping track of information to make their thinking visible.  The more comfortable they become with simple tracking devices such as bubble maps, t-charts, and circle maps, the more likely they are to access these supports on their own during future investigations.  

4.  They undoubtedly learned a lot about squirrels (and why they are so important for our world ) along the way.  Content is never a driving force of an investigation, but it is definitely a useful by-product.  Learning new content stretches those little brains and supports important vocabulary growth.
  
5.  The kindergartners became more aware of, empathetic toward, and appreciative of squirrels, as evidenced through informal conversations and play, through shares about noticing squirrels in their own backyards, as well as through our final conversation together.

I have a feeling squirrels will continue popping up here and there, but for now we're ready to dive deeper into our newest games investigation and see where it takes us....