On Tuesday, March 11, a group of preschool children travelled to the ponds with an inquiry in mind- will there be ice or water at the pond? Along the way we speculated about the possibility of there still being ice as there was still snow on the ground, but also there could be water as the sun was shining.
We arrived at the first pond to discover that there was still ice on the surface. “But where did all the birds go?” a child asked as they observed the barren pond. “Birds all gone,” another child answered. “I don’t see any birds there, but I hear something in the air,” another child replied looking around at the trees. “It must be Mr. Heron!”
The group decided to investigate at the next larger pond, “there’s gotta be ice there,” they decided. Along the path, we observed birds flying around and could identify blue jays flying overhead. As they arrived at the larger pond, ice was noticed on the surface there as well.
“No birds here, but I do still hear something in the air,” the child who initially noticed the bird songs repeated their wondering. “Let’s go find that goose!”
We left the large pond and headed down to the bridge and river as the last stop on the walk. This time there were many cardinals singing and flying over our heads!
At the river, something was spotted right away. “Shh! There are ducks in the pond!”
“They’re sleeping! The ducks are sleeping in the pond!” At the noises from the children, the ducks woke up and began to swim. “I want them to swim under me, let’s go to the bridge!” The group settled on to the bridge to observe the ducks below. As we sat there, three more ducks flew right over our heads, circling over and over to finally land in the pond.
“I don’t want them to land on my head!”
“I love those ducks, those ducks are so cute and I can hear them quacking.”
“The ducks are coming back for the summer! But they forgot their baby ducks.”
So What?
- wondered about whether the ponds would have ice on them or not due to the weather conditions
- recalled that the heron was always spotted at the same location in the small pond last year
- discovered many birds flying and identified their names
- searched for the sound of the goose; we were unable to locate the bird
- recognized the perspective shift as they were higher up than the ducks swimming and that they could go underneath of them
- realized that the return of birds flying over were a sign that they were returning for the summer
Now What?
- keep a record of what birds we see in and around the ponds and when; is there a pattern to their arrival?
- identify the bids seen; what do we know about them?
- research when birds will start to have their young; where, when, how (eggs vs live birth)
- create a habitat inside (diorama) of what a pond looks like as it awakens in the spring.
