This past week the second graders went out into the woods and found materials with which to build snail terrariums. I was very impressed to see how the students worked together to assemble the materials. The students were asked to work in groups of 3 or 4 to create one snail terrarium per group. They talked with one another and took turns adding materials to their plastic boxes. They offered differing opinions about how much soil to add, whether to add sticks or not, etc. Students stated their opinions and (with only a little prompting from me) then gave reasons for their beliefs. They listened to each other’s reasonings and then made group decisions. Watching this all happen was extremely gratifying for me as a teacher. I have taught Science to this group for two years and have watched their growth since Kindergarten. Amazing!
The following pictures are of students doing snail observations.
