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Featured Project: Investigating Jellyfish

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Children love sharing their discoveries from visiting the ocean with their families. One day, the children began talking about the jellyfish they had seen.

This sparked an interest with many of the children, so we began asking them what they knew and wanted to learn about these creatures.

We started our learning by observing photographs and diagrams. We began to study the different parts of the jellyfish with a particular interest in their stinging tentacles.

To create their individual jellyfish, the children collected natural materials such as clear plastic tops, twine and bubble wrap. They incorporated the bell, mouth, oral arms and tentacles.

One of the students remarked, “I want a neon jellyfish!” So, he chose to paint his bell with fluorescent paint to ensure his jellyfish could be seen in the deep, dark ocean.

The children utilized their fine motor skills and vocabulary as they drew jellyfish using oil pastels. Another student observed that “the jellyfish needs water to live.” So, the children painted over their drawing with liquid watercolors to create a drifting or wandering jellyfish in the ocean.

The children were fascinated with the jellyfish and their many colors. They are so proud of their miraculous masterpieces!

Featured Project: Investigating Turtles!

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Children in Toddler E had been studying jellyfish when Brooks asked, “Are there any animals that eat jellyfish even though they sting?” To our discovery, we found that some turtles eat jellyfish. Our project focus then shifted to turtles, particularly, Leatherback Turtles.

Children began studying the parts of a sea turtle through diagrams and observing photographs upon the light table. Toddlers were soon able to identify parts of the turtle such as the shell, scutes, flippers and beak.

While observing pictures of different turtle breeds, toddlers became highly intrigued by the variances in turtle shells, particularly in the turtle scales (scutes). Toddlers were asked to create scutes of their own using recycled fruit jars. Toddlers used an array of natural materials to fill their scale: seeds, rocks and peas.

As a class, we glued each scale to a canvas to form a turtle shell. Jude stated, “Our turtle needs flippers and a head,” so we added flippers and a head to the shell using textured paint consisting of sand, glue and dark green paint. The paint consisted of rough, bumpy sand to represent the roughness of turtle skin. Vivian then said, “Ms. Alex, the turtle needs water to live,” so we added an ocean background.

Toddlers used bubble wrap and forks to create dimension such as waves and bubbles. The collaborative creation is proudly sitting on a shelf in the science center for children to reflect on, and parents and other classes to observe.