"It smells like nature"

What can the earth provide us?
This was a question asked to the children.  Answers varied from rocks, trees, bees, toys, God, and love.  I narrowed it down to Earth's materials.  We talked about rocks, water, landforms, and dirt.

From there we spent more time talking about dirt.  And what better way to understand it other than sticking our hands in it!  I grabbed dirt right from the garden and brought it in the classroom.  What words did we use to describe what we knew and observed?

smelly
hard
soft
damp
black
rough
crumbly
smells like nature
smells like potatoes
wonderful

When we looked closer, we saw many things besides dirt.  I wonder how they got there and why they were there.

Analyzing the dirt and taking apart what we saw, we got to the bottom of it.  What is dirt made from?

This garden dirt is made from wood chips, sticks, plants, rocks, leaves, roots, plants, bugs, and dirt (leftover black stuff).  This dirt was very dynamic.  It had so many things we might have never paid any attention to.  

Another type of earth material is sand.  It is very similar to this dirt.  We borrowed some sand from Ms. Molly and came up with attributes just like before. These are some of the words we came up with:

smells like nothing
mushy
soggy
smooth
crunchy
breaks apart
smells gross
cinnamon
pepper
grainy

While coming up with these words, we noticed there were some similarities, but mostly differences.  Both materials came from the earth.  They both were wet when we touched them.  They both broke apart and had rocks in them.  In order to compare and contrast these items in an easy way, we brought our written words outside to give us more space.

Two different earth materials can have similarities and differences.  It is important for sand and soil to be different.  They are great for certain things.  Which one is easier to play in?  Which one is better for an animal's habitat?  Is soil better for a cactus plant or a lettuce plant?  Can a plant grow the same in each type?  

A child suggested an experiment and we all thought it was a good idea.  Why don't we plant the same seeds in different types of dirt and see what happens?  Many children predicted nothing would grow in the sand.  We will let you know what we find out!