Nema the Toad

I am sure you have now heard many wonderful things about our classroom toad.  She was introduced early last week and immediately we wanted to learn as much as we could about her.  I figured this would be a great time to introduce our "Research Wall" to the children.  I made the space before school started knowing we would find something important to us we would want to study.  I did not know what it would be, until Nema came.

Covered with a blanket on the shelf, the children did not notice the mystery box until meeting time started.


"What is it?"
"Is it treasure?"
"I think it is a guinea pig from your home!"
"It's a duck!"
"No!  A duck won't fit!"
"I think it is a dog.  A puppy!  I wish it was a puppy."

The mystery was solved when I brought her out.  We gathered in a circle squeezing our shoulders together to get a closer look.  With excited voices and bright eyes, we observed her every move- or lack of moves.  I explained the toad's history and caught her as she jumped around the towel.  Within ten minutes, I heard twice as many questions.  Curiosity, wonder, excitement, and passion are great reasons to start a long-term investigation.





Taking those questions, we narrowed down the most "important" ones and recorded them in a list.  We observed Nema as I took her out and drew our thoughts in our journals.  The next day I took those questions and drawings and started the research wall.  We talked about it and each child found a place for their drawing.

Here are some of our drawings.

As we started our research to answer our burning questions, we utilized discussion, books, and the computer.  I had many stories about Nema's antics and the children had stories about coming in contact with toads in their own homes.  We started answering each question as individuals and then reported to the group.  Once we felt we had answered a question, we wrote it all down and made sure to make an illustration for the words.  We were all the authors to the questions, while one person volunteered to be the illustrator.

The research wall is still growing bit by bit, so make sure to stop by to see what we have done!