The Mole

Did anyone come home last week and share with you about "The Mole?"

If not, you really need to ask them about the little mole we had in our classroom. It was an experience!  After those few days full of rain, rain, and more rain, the kids finally got to go outside for their morning recess. It was during that lovely recess that they found a dead mole; one that had drowned.   Mrs. Englebrecht carefully brought it inside (using all health/safety precautions) and we got to use that opportunity to learn about moles...up close!

The little critter on a bag of ice. Notice the difference in his front and back paws? 

We displayed him on the overhead projector so that we could all see his tiny features. We were able to compare his front feet to his back feet, noticing the size difference and pondering why that might be.  They got to see his tiny mouth, look for his eyes and ears and notice his fur colorings.   We did all of this with Mrs. E being the only one touching him (not me...yuck!)  Mrs. E then took the mole on to other classes for them to see and we had a LOT of new questions so we changed our plans and started a mini-research on moles.

We were able to find videos of moles above ground beginning their tunnel. We saw videos underneath ground...a moles-eye view.  There even was a video where we inside the tunnel and could see the mole digging a new hole.  It was impressive.   We looked up pictures of their tunnels, learning about food runs, burrows, permanent tunnels and why there is always that mound of dirt at the top of their tunnel.   As much as I still think those critters are gross, I learned A LOT about moles.

Looking at him via the projector, getting that close up look.

The kiddos then had more questions after we did our research. They each wrote down one more thing they were wondering (to wonder is to want to know more about....one of our vocab words :) )  Questions included: How long do they live? How tall can they get? Can moles be a pet?

Overall it was a GREAT learning experience that I'm glad Mrs Englebrecht chose to take on.  It's amazing what all comes about when we decide to stop and use those odd, nasty, unconventional happenings as a teaching time and go where the kids' wonderful minds take us!