Milipedeology

The difference between Hunter's kindergarten and first grade years has been pretty drastic. It amazes me the difference that a teacher can make and his teacher is awesome. Mrs. Painter is a great teacher and he is absolutely loving school. At the "meet the teacher" night when school first started Hunter had of course asked her about Science in the classroom. One of the big activities that they do during the year is soil studies and experimenting with Milipedes. From that day forward the countdown was on to when he would get to hold a Milipede. Mrs. Painter told us when they would start the project. A couple of weeks before they started Hunter and I went to the library and got some books about Milipedes so that he could start learning about them and researching them. For the next two weeks he became a walking set of factual knowledge about them. Things like "Mom, did you know that milipedes have four legs per segment" or "Milipedes are myriapods" are examples of our breakfast conversations. Mrs. Painter said he could bring the books to school to share with the class. When the big day arrived Dr. Coleman their principal was stopping in to all the first grade rooms to check out the excitement. When she came into Hunter's room Mrs. Painter let him stand up in front of the class and read some of his favorite parts of his Milipedeology book. He then proceeded to share his favorite facts about the little guys with his principal as well. "I think we have found first grade's future scientist" she told him which of course left him beaming. Mrs. Painter told me the next day that Dr. Coleman commented on how impressed she was with his reading abilities. Then I was beaming :) On the big day they spent the morning outside gathering leaves and grass and other things appropriate for their habitats. Then each table group was given a little container and a milipede. Hunter told me that they quickly named their milipede "Cookie" and gave him the nickname "One smart cookie" which he added that he made up. They did all sorts of experiments with them and got to wear special gloves to be able to take turns holding them. After school he practically flew off the bus to tell us about it all. During the whole week everyday we heard about the drama and excitement of these visitors. One day one accidentally got flipped over on its back and couldn't get back over. Another one fell of the desk and ended up dying. Hunter was convinced that their milipede thought that he was its daddy because when they let it crawl it always tried to come to him. On the last day Mrs. Painter let the girls and I stop in and take a quick peek and get some pictures of him and Cookie. It was such a fun thing for the kids to do. Currently the big thing is growing a pumpkin they planted that has now come home to continue growing. Please don't die little pumpkin. Then on to their unit about ancient Egypt which should prove I am sure to be very interesting for all of us. Can I go back to first grade?