Sad News

It was a sad day in kindergarten today.

Steve the stick bug has died.

To most people, Steve is just a bug.  To a group of five-year-olds, he is the best stick bug a kid could ever have!  There were tears today... lots and lots of tears.  I really didn't expect it to be such an emotional time for the kids, because he's just a bug.  When I realized that it was a really big deal to the kids, we made time to write about it and draw some pictures about Steve.

We took Steve out to the courtyard gardens and I told the kids I'd say something nice about Steve before we buried him.  A couple of kids asked if we could all say something, so I told the kids they could share if they wanted.  After we shared our feelings about Steve, we buried him and put a few flowers by him.  It was a very emotional time for the kids.  When we came back inside, we had a group hug and then moved on to some fun activities.

Today was a day full of emotional learning for our kids, but it was also a time to see our recent learning in real life.  We have been talking a lot about the life cycle because of our baby chicks and also because of our most recent addition (ask your kids about our new insects).  When one of our boys was crying about Steve, another student explained that it's all part of the life cycle.  Steve has laid eggs in the dirt and, with any luck, we will have more stick bugs.  We look forward to meeting Steve Jr.

Rest in peace, Steve.

You were the best stick bug this class has ever had.

Steve the Stickbug

Meet Steve!

Steve is our new Australian stick bug who joined our classroom today.  

We have already learned that Steve likes to eat blackberry and raspberry leaves.  We don't know much more about stick bugs, so this will become a good inquiry project for us.

We've decided that Steve looks a bit like a dried up leaf.  He didn't do much today, but he did dance a little.

As you can see, Mrs. Ross is not at artist, but I did model my story during Writer's Workshop today.

A few kids in the class chose to write about Steve as well.

We will be sharing Steve with Miss Mulder's classroom, so all of our kindergartners get to meet Steve.  We have so much to learn about Australian stick bugs!  If you'd like to help your child look up information at home about Australian stick bugs, we'd love to interview our experts when they return to the classroom.  A trip to Bridges Pets to visit the stick bugs and ask questions of the sales people might be a fun little field trip, if you're over that way!

Happy learning!