the praying mantis lives…

It is week two with our praying mantis as our unofficial classroom pet. It has been quite interesting to see the effect it has been having on our class. During recess time, a good handful of my students are very busy collecting and catching food for the praying mantis. They have caught grasshoppers, butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects from the field to feed it. They bring the praying mantis with it to lunch and recess, in it’s small plastic container. Two of the boys during our library visit last week were super excited about finding books on the praying mantis. A few of my students wrote about the praying mantis in their writer’s notebook. Here is an excerpt I liked:

“and other children ran fast as possible, but they were no match for dragonflies’ extremely fast wings.  …

He suddenly swung the net like a baseball bat. It hit the dragonfly in the head. The dragonfly’s head went flying. He thought it was dead, but I said to just put it in the praying mantis’ cage. He did. The headless dragonfly was moving. Its legs and belly was moving quickly. I read in a book that dragonfly’s body is different from human’s.  Then, the deadly-insect predator snatched the headless prey and ate it happily. The praying mantis looked very happy.”

I loved this poem that another student wrote in their writer’s notebook:

butterfly

fly fly butterfly

don’t be snatched by mantis

don’t be snatched by bird

fly fly butterfly

don’t die in the rain

don’t die in the snow

fly fly butterfly

fly through the fresh air!

There have been some good teachable moments with the praying mantis. I’m thinking that it will fit in nicely with our unit on ecosystems in science, especially when we are studying the food web. However, it’s cage is starting to smell.

For more slice of life entries go here: http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com

our newest member of our class…

I’m not a huge animal person, except for small cute dogs.  Yesterday, my student brought in a praying mantis he caught to share with our class.  He wanted to keep it on his desk, which is right near me, and I told him to keep it in his cubby.

During lunch, some of my boys were trying to catch dragonflies with the dragonfly nets. In the last few minutes of recess, my student catches a dragonfly and puts it in the praying mantis container that he brought with him. A few minutes later I hear the kids screaming and gathering around the container. It turns out that the praying mantis was eating the dragonfly and all my students were glued to this lovely feeding moment outside. My students shared with me how it violently ripped off the head of the dragonfly and the rest of the body was still moving around.

As we gathered back inside the classroom, we discussed what had happened. I told them that we could try to have the praying mantis as our class pet. However, they would need to do some research on what they eat and etc. Well, after doing some of my own research, I found out they are predators and like to eat living things and some are even cannibals. I think I prefer herbivores for classroom pets.

From wikipedia.com:

“Mantises are exclusively predatory. Insects form the primary diet, but larger species have been known to prey on small lizards, frogs, birds, snakes, fish and even rodents; they will prey upon any species small enough to successfully capture and devour. Most species of mantis are known to engage in cannibalism. The majority of mantises are ambush predators, waiting for prey to stray too near. The mantis then lashes out at remarkable speed. Some ground and bark species, however, pursue their prey rather quickly. Prey items are caught and held securely with grasping, spiked forelegs.”

This does not sound like a friendly insect that I want in my classroom. I’m secretly hoping that it has a very short life span. Well for the sake of my students, I will keep it around for a little bit longer, and hope I don’t need to come in close contact with it. The things teachers do for their students!

Find more slice of life entries here:http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com

welcome to 5th grade

the headless dragonfly

closeup of the praying mantis