Snake Inquiry

During Thinking and Learning time a student came up and asked for a box. We asked her why she wanted one and her response was “to make a snake habitat”. So Ms. Tompkins and K.B went on a hunt around the school for a box. We found one and she set off to make a snake habitat. She created the habitat and other students became excited to add snakes to her habitat. Many students made ‘blue headed poisonous snakes’ to put in the box. This began exciting conversations between the students sharing their prior knowledge and experience with snakes. 

D.D- where do they live?

D.K- why do they need a habitat?

K.F- I wonder why they move on their bellies

D.R- I wonder what snakes eat

S.J- some snakes have cages and some snakes don’t

V.A- how to snakes have babies?

D.D- I wonder if snakes eat people

E.K- I wonder if they are mommy snakes

E.M- do they have baby snakes?

S.J- I wonder which snakes are venomous and which are not

A.A- What does venomous mean?

S.J- if they bite you, you go to the doctor to get medicine

D.S- do snakes make a noise? Why?

A.L- I wonder why snakes don’t have hands

S.P- where is the snakes legs?

K.B- how do snakes get mice if they don't have legs or arms?

We set up a snake provocation to encouraged the students to ask more questions and think about how snakes live. 

Karl the snake then came for a visit in our classroom! It was an exciting day where the students were able to ask Mr. M questions about Karl and his life. 

Priceless reactions to Karl

D.D- how do you feed it?

Mr. M- snakes eat mice, you can buy them from the store in the freezer. 

E.M- if you want to hold him you need to warm up your hands

D.K- are his ears inside him? I expected it to be slimy

D.D- we’re hotblooded and they’re cold blooded

Z.H- the snake needs to be warm

E.M- if it’s too hot it can go in the cold water

P.D- he feels very soft

E.M- this is awesome

S.P- he feels soft and bumpy, he feels wet

D.K- he feels slimy

D.S- he likes me

Having Karl visit our classroom sparked even more wonders about snakes!

V.A- how does snakes want to eat?

M.W- how do they eat if they grab with their tail?

K.B- how can snakes eat under the dirt?

C.C- do snakes drink water?

S.J- if they find food and it’s alive, they go up to it and they squeeze it really hard and when they don’t breathe, they eat it

E.M- how does snakes digest their food?

A.Bh- how do snakes breathe under dirt?

S.P- how can the snakes pick up food and eat it?

A.B- they just slither and eat it

D.D- I wonder how snakes see under dirt

K.B- how do snakes breath in the water?

So many great wonders! We have begun investigating them and finding answers. An update on our learning about snakes will come soon!