March 9, 2012

World's Science Day


Yesterday it was World’s Science Day. We have been investigating about the life cycles of butterfly, frog, bean and sunflower but since we got our chameleon our focus of inquiry shifted and for a good reason. It is fascinating to have a pet chameleon. We have been learning a lot about it. The students asked many questions and wondered about the life cycle of a chameleon and how to take care of chameleons. We found many answers in books and I complemented the research by looking up sites in the Internet. I have started a PowerPoint presentation with information that we have collected but we still have a few questions to answer.


The highlight is of course watching the chameleon feed. I am posting one clip of him feeding below. It is only 16 seconds but if you do not have very good Internet connection it takes some time for the video to upload. After you click on the play button be patient and wait a few seconds. You might need to clock again on the play button. Initially it looks like the screen is frozen but the video will play.


Chameleon feeding from Amelia Mello on Vimeo.




Back to World’s Science Day we watched what we have so far of the Power Point and we did a close observation of our chameleon and all students drew it. Then I asked the students what they could tell me about their chameleons.  Below are some of their journal entries.  The whole process of drawing the chameleon was fascinating as we were discovering shapes and different ways to draw it. One student said that the head of the chameleon looked like ‘capital letter D’ and he started that way. See if you can find who the student is. Even the younger ones did a great job.
 Chameleon by Cristobal
"Chameleons eat grasshoppers, butterflies, ants and flies." Delhem 

 "His tongue is big. He is eating this (and he pointed to his drawing of an insect)" Edvin
 "My chameleon has big eyes and a long tail. It has a long tongue to catch the grasshopper." Fredy

 Chameleon by Imani D
 "My chameleon is eating a grasshopper. The grasshopper was going to fly but the chameleon got it quickly." Marika
 "My chameleon is eating a grasshopper with his sticky tongue" Nina
 "My chameleon was looking for a grasshopper to eat. And he found one" Shose
 "It's (my chameleon) is green" Jemima (who just turned 3;0)
 Jelte likes chameleons

We will free the chameleon before the school year ends. By the way the chameleon was found crossing a road and Hannah’s mother stopped her car and rescued him. This type of chameleon is very common here in Tanzania.

Amelia Mello, M.Ed.

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