This fall, Kindergarten students immersed themselves in a multidisciplinary investigation of the natural world around them, a year-long exploration that will fuel their curiosity and develop science, math, and literacy skills along the way.

 

With the first hints of fall settling over campus in September, Kindergarten students discovered how their five senses are essential science tools, helping them explore, question, and observe the world around them. Every morning, the class meteorologist kicked off the day by sharing a weather report and graphing it over time. In Kate Noel’s class, students tracked the daily cloud report to identify whether the sky holds cirrus, cumulus, or stratus clouds. During a nature walk along the Sudbury Reservoir, students used iPads to photograph curiosities and practice their observation skills, writing about their pictures afterward. In the Primary School garden, students added new plants to the pollinator beds. Fay's Director of Grounds guided them through a hands-on planting lesson, and students took turns settling asters and butterfly bushes into the soil. As the children worked, they used their senses to explore the garden, listening for the buzz of bees, noticing where pollinators gathered, and feeling and smelling the textures of different plants.

 

Back in the classroom, the Kindergarten teachers brought the monarch butterfly life cycle to life. Kate introduced a butterfly egg and a caterpillar foraged from a local field, placing them in a glass tank and inviting students to document their observations at every stage in their field journals. Each day, students used magnifying glasses to track the tiny caterpillar. They created a line graph to chart the days spent in the chrysalis, practicing early data collection and scientific thinking. Butterfly studies also presented an opportunity for a lesson on symmetry, after which students created butterfly paintings. Over the summer, Primary Librarian Courtney Lauriet collaborated with Kate to curate a book list to accompany the class’s nature explorations, and students read about the monarch’s migration to Mexico, giving them a broader context for their observations. Excitement built as the children watched the caterpillar form a “J,” create its chrysalis, and change over a two-week period.  “I took a video of the butterfly emerging, and to see the wonder on their little faces, and hear all their questions…they were fascinated!” said Kate.

 

An apple-picking trip to Tougas Farm in October inspired a series of apple investigations. Students learned about the life cycle of an apple and conducted a taste test of Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Honeycrisp varieties. The children painted colorful apple watercolors, and everyone took a turn using Ms. Noel’s spiral apple peeler as they prepared apples for their class apple sauce recipes. Students used their culinary imaginations to crowdsource recipes, with one class combining apple cider, honey, and cinnamon in their concoction and the other creating a chocolate applesauce! A design thinking challenge to work in partners and build the tallest tower possible that could support an apple using Keva planks and cubes kicked off a building frenzy. For days, the students kept returning to the challenge, constructing increasingly more elaborate towers.

 

Students continued their nature walks, learning about the types of trees on campus. When they happened to find Fay’s facilities team gathering fallen leaves, the class took a joyful break, leaping into the leaf pile. They collected leaves, pinecones, and acorns from the evergreens, sweet gum, beech, elm, and oak trees around campus to examine under the digital microscope, and they created colorful leaf prints from their favorite specimens. Kindergarteners also ventured to Beals Preserve in Southborough, where a naturalist guided them along the trails, pointing out tree species, signs of local wildlife, and the historic stone walls that once contained grazing cattle. It was a hands-on lesson in ecology, history, and observation.

 

Curiosity led to some spontaneous investigations. Spotting intricate spider webs on the Root  Building downspouts, students wanted to learn more. Kate read books about spiders, and the class was fascinated to discover, among other things, that not all spiders spin webs. Both Kate and Primary Teacher Annabel Chase have also drawn on what they’ve learned in the Mass Audubon Nature Year at Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary this fall. The teachers spent Saturdays learning about different species from hawks to fungi, and enriching the students’ explorations during the week with real-world naturalist knowledge.

 

As Kindergarteners dive deeper into owls and animal tracks in the winter, Kate hopes the nature unit will continue to create magical moments, sparking wonder, encouraging questions, and fueling each student’s natural curiosity.  “I want the kids to slow down and appreciate the beauty of nature, take a deep breath, and notice things that are happening right here, right now.”