Today, my co-teacher and I experienced a beautiful, teachable moment. We headed out with our students for our daily adventure. We walked past Silly Hill and over to the Naturalist Garden. While walking under the grapevines, one of my boys shouted, "DEAD FROG!" We all went running over to see. There, in the sometime-stream was a dead frog, belly up in the water. My students were instantly contemplating how it died and what would happen to it. There were thoughts of someone throwing rocks in the water, (something we do not do), and it bumping the frog on the head. Other thoughts were of another animal attacking it. In all actuality, there appeared to be nothing wrong with the frog; perhaps it simply died.
My co-teacher and I took this moment to ask what our children thought would happen to the frog's body. Their knowledge amazed me. Instantly, one of my young ladies shouted out, "Decompose!" And another began to explain that to decompose means to "turn into dirt." When asked what kind of creature may assist in the process of decomposition, one of our students chimed in with, "Worms!"
We spent the rest of our afternoon finding the fattest, longest worms I have ever seen in our West Woods. We rolled logs and lifted stones. We sang songs about worms and got our hands good and dirty before touching them. We have decided to use this teachable moment and allow it to trickle into tomorrow as well; what else are worms useful for? COMPOST!
I love it! It is so amazing how young children know things that we would never think that they know. When we think that the children are not listening, they really are, no matter where they are. I have started with my children making webs, choosing a word to put in the middle and then adding words that are connecting to the word in the middle, Great story, thanks for sharing!
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