Pond Survival

 What a marvelous day pondering ponds! The rain held off for us today as we learned about pond adaptations, caught frogs and finished up our art projects. We played Fishy Fishy Cross My Ocean for our outside game.

At morning circle, we did butterfly greeting.
 

 

Our password of the day was LIMNOLOGY – the study of fresh water (and ponds!)

 For morning activity, we learned about the adaptations of our pond creatures. 

  
Frogs have webbed hind feet, which help them be super swimmers.

  
Water boatmen have two long legs that are shaped like oars and help them move quickly through the water.

 
Whirligig beetles have two sets of eyes: one on top, one on bottom for seeing air predators and underwater predators.

Dragonfly nymphs have long lower jaws that can extend and grab prey.

 

We learned that dragonflies land with their wings out. Damselflies fold their wings back.

Being dragonflies...

Being damselflies!

 Diving beetles collect a bubble of air at the surface and then use it to breathe while they are deep under the pond.

While they are nymphs, mayflies get oxygen underwater with gills.

  
Mosquito larva get oxygen from above the pond’s surface with a tubelike attachment – like a snorkel. 

 During their larval stage, caddisflies construct camouflaged cases to hide in from predators.

 

Next we worked on our animal art projects. 

 

We saw many of our pond adaptations creatures at the pond: water boatmen, damselfly nymphs, and diving beetles. Frogs were very exciting to catch. We also found a snake or two, a painted turtle, snails and giant water bugs.

Next week is our last class! Please join us for a presentation at 1:30 next Tuesday.