Great Learning about how to ask a question

The other day I found a bug crawling on the counter around the sink. Luckily I am not afraid of any kind of bugs, insects or spiders. Now snakes that is a different story. I decided to collect the bug and place it into my bug jar, which happens to magnify things on the bottom. I offered both the morning and the afternoon children an opportunity to carefully examine the bug, investigating all its characteristics and to think of an "I wonder" question. The children's questions were amazing so I thought I would share them with the parents.

I wonder if it can fly?          I wonder if he can do a bug walk?   

I wonder if it has a family?       I wonder if it is a baby or an adult?

I wonder where it came from?    

I wonder if it has eyes because I don't see them.

I wonder if it lives in a tree because some bugs live in trees.

I wonder how it got all it's colours.

I wonder what it is thinking or does it have a brain.

I wonder what it eats?

I wonder if the spots get bigger when the bug gets bigger.

I wonder what it does with those things on it's head?   (antenna)

Then the children started to wonder how the beetle got into the classroom. Some of their ideas where:

I noticed there are cracks along the outside of the school so maybe it went through the cracks into our classroom. Maybe it crawled over the top of the door that leads to that outside part of the school ( the peace garden area).

Maybe it crawled under that same door.

We may never know where the beetle came from or how it came into the school. But I do know that one little beetle did create a lot of rich communication, questioning and learning in the Kindergarten classroom!

I took some of the children's questions and went to the Internet to find some of the answers.   

The beetle I found is known as a box elder beetle. It was an adult beetle because as the beetle becomes older the orange markings become more visible and larger.