Prairie Elementary School, Waunakee, Wisconsin

We are a class of second and fourth graders from Prairie Elementary School in Waunakee, Wisconsin.  Waunakee is a suburb of Madison in the south central part of our state.  Our climate is seasonal.  Our school is near the north end of town and is surrounded by neighborhoods.  We have a large playground area and grassy field. We have a small prairie plot and a newly planted butterfly garden.  We set up several squares near these areas. 

We worked in small groups to collect our data. For animals we found: ants, beetles, bugs, spiders, frogs, and a worm.  The spiders showed us some sneak attacks and we also saw the ants crawling in the grass looking for food.  We saw a frog that was sleek and green with some red on it.  The beetle we observed was black, shiny, and had 2 antennae.  We heard some of the bugs make sounds.  We also saw several butterflies.  Ant beetle bug spider frog worm

Our plant observations were:  grass, trees and weeds.  The colors of plants we observed were green, yellow, red, and brown.  Our tree was about ten feet tall.  Some grass measured 15 cm.  We noticed a weed that was flat on the ground, but when we picked it up we found out it was really 2 feet tall.  We also observed some wild flowers. 

For non-living:  rocks, dirt, paper, and sand.  The small rocks were brown, tan, white and oval-shaped.  They felt rough and smooth.  The paper may have been trash from a car.  The dirt was brown and some of it had sand mixed in too.  Parts of the soil were wet and parts of it were dry.    

Our small groups found many similarities and differences across the country and the globe!  In New York they had fungus and big rocks and we did not.  Choptank Elementary found 2 fewer bugs than us, but Hermann Middle School found two more plants.  Ferrisburgh found a bush and a snail and we did not, but we found 6 things the same.  All the way across the ocean in Australia they found a tree and a spider and so did we.  They found a lizard there too, and we usually wouldn’t find one in Wisconsin. 

We think we noticed some differences in places that have different climates or are in different seasons than we are.  The weather or the time of day could also be a reason why we found differences.  Schools near the ocean or desert or equator would be very different than places near Six Mile Creek in Waunakee. 

Our students enjoyed being real scientists.  They liked making observations and sharing them.   Using the outdoor squares and the indoor computers was also fun.  We liked looking at the globe as well.  Finding similarities and differences was interesting to us all.