The fourth grade gifted students went bug collecting on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006. We waited until about 1:30 PM in hopes that the weather would get warmer and more bugs would appear. The temperature was about 80 degrees F with no wind. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.
The boys in the class were very excited while the girls, for the most part, were making faces. Once into the activity, everyone enjoyed themselves. Kids LOVE bugs! The children looked great with their colorful nets and bug boxes.
We started on the grass next to the blacktop where the buses come and go. We found several ant hills but no bugs. Of course, they are there when you don't want them. The kids tried throwing their nets at the bugs but found this wasn't working. They saw some wasps but were afraid of getting stung.
Next we tried the front of the school where there is a tiny man-made pond. The results got a little better. We found some grasshoppers and a few daddy long leg spiders. We decided to avoid the ants after a few children were bitten by them.
The best results were from the side of the school where there is a playground and the closes thing we have to woods. The children found crickets and more grasshoppers. We were unable to catch any butterflies.
The kids had a blast and we plan to compare results at our video conference on Tuesday evening.
As far as soil goes, Georgia has lots of red clay. It is odorless but stains the clothing. It also makes it very difficult to dig.
Had we gone snake hunting, which I'm glad we didn't, we could probably top the results of our Japanese friends. Our school was built on a marsh so we often have uninvited and unwelcome visitors.
I am going to submit this and then attach the pictures separately as they have to be sized and I can't do it. Bob, my husband, will work on this tomorrow.