South O’Brien Elementary School
Primghar, Iowa
Third Grade TAG

Hello Square of Lifers!  For this project we observed an area in our outdoor classroom.  We made two observations.  We read many of your data lists, and we each chose a comparison school.  We completed Venn Diagrams to help identify our similarities and differences.  We researched some unfamiliar animals and plants. We then wrote our final reports.  You’ll find them below.  We’re looking forward to reading the final reports.  We hope someone chose us!

Log/Rock Area:

A) My school is South O’Brien Elementary.  My school is in the northwest part of Iowa in a town named Primghar.  The school I chose is Aanestad Homelearners.  This school is in the city of Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada. 

The things we had in common are:  we both speak English and we both live in North America.  We both saw weeds, small rocks, and mud.  We both have these things because we both have rain (for mud), soil (for weeds), and mud (for small rocks).

We also had some differences.  I had moss.  Moss lives in moist, shady places.  It’s green, grassy, and wet.  I also had logs.  It is 1 foot and 1 inch wide, 6 feet and 1 inch long, and had bark.  They had a snake.  It was small and brown.  They also had a mushroom.  It is a small, white toadstool.

I learned that nature is different everywhere and kind of the same.

B) My school is South O’Brien Elementary.  My school is in the northwest part of Iowa in a town named Primghar.  The school I chose is The Sullivans School.  This school is in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan. 

The things we had in common are:  we both are American schools and we both speak English.  We both found beetles, moss, rocks, and birds.  We both have these things in common because we have the same climate.  We both have moist, shady places to grow moss.

We also had some differences.  I had logs.  It was about 9 and ½ inches wide and 8 feet long.  I also had spider eggs.  It lives in a web or cocoon.  They make their own food to eat while in the eggs.  They had flying bugs.  It was a butterfly.  It was black and yellow.  They also had spiders.  It was huge and it was red and black.

I learned how to observe nature.

            C) My school is South O’Brien Elementary.  My school is in the northwest part of Iowa in a town named Primghar.  The school I chose is Diocesan School for Girls.  This school is in the city of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

            The things we had in common are:  leaves, rocks and wrapper.  We both have leaves because of trees and we had a wrapper because people don’t throw away trash.

            We also had some differences.  I had ladybugs.  I saw them on the bench.  I saw three of them.  I also had moss.  It’s a non-flowering plant.  It’s green.  They had plastic.  The plastic was “Glad wrap”.  They had rocks.  The rocks were small.

            I learned that you should connect to different places to get to know people and more about where they live.

Circle flowerbed:

            A) My school is South O’Brien Elementary.  My school is in the northwest part of Iowa in a town named Primghar.  The school I chose is Ferrisburgh Central School.  This school is in the city of Ferrisburgh, Vermont. 

            The things we had in common are:  we both live in the United States, in North America, and in rural areas.  We both saw beetles, flies, mud, and dirt.  We both have these things because we live in small places and we live in North America.

            We also had some differences.  I had an ant.  It has six legs, is black, and ¼ inch long.  It was picking up food.  I also had moss.   It’s green and flat.  It needs a shady place to live.  They had spiders.  It was small and white.  They also had soil.  It was dark brown and looked like clay.  It was wet.  It just rained.

            I learned about other people’s school on the other side of the United States.  I also learned about their animals, trees, and weeds.

            B) My school is South O’Brien Elementary.  My school is in the northwest part of Iowa in a town named Primghar.  The school I chose is Annestad Homelearners.  This school is in the city of Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada.

            The things we had in common are:  we are the same age, we both live in North America, and we both get rain and snow.  We both saw beetles, ants, spider, flying bugs, trees, grass, dirt, mud, and weeds.  We both have these things because these things grow in North America.

            We also had some differences.  I had a sparrow.  It had spots.  It was brown and a silver body.  I also had Creeping Phlox.  It is a perennial.  The green part is soft and needlelike.    They had a snake.  It was an Eastern Canada snake.  It was small and brown.  They also had red headed ants.  They like to bite.

            I learned about animals, plants, and non-living things.  I learned about what we had in common.

Flowerbed 2:

            My school is South O’Brien Elementary.  My school is in the northwest part of Iowa in a town named Primghar.  The school I chose is St. Joseph School.  This school is in the city of Racine, Wisconsin.

            The things we had in common are:  Asian beetles, nice leaves, flying bugs, spiders and ants.  We both have hot summers, snowy winters, and colorful falls.  We both speak the same language.  We both live in the USA Midwest.  We both have these things because we are neighbor states.  That’s why we have similar seasons and insects.

            We also had some differences.  I had three mushrooms that were light brown.  They live in meadows and gardens and grow big when it rains.  I also had a caterpillar.  It was light brown with little gray spots on it.  It had 24 legs and 24 spots.  They had a baby worm.  It is tiny.  We guess it’s an earthworm.  They also had an anthill with a red ant and a worker ant.  The worker ant was climbing up the hill.

            I learned how other people in other states and continents share similarities and plants, animals, and non-living things.

Flowerbed 5:

            My school is South O’Brien Elementary.  My school is in the northwest part of Iowa in a town named Primghar.  The school I chose is Wakefield Elementary.  This school is in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

The things we had in common are:  flying bugs and ants.  We are both elementary schools and we both like experimenting with science.  We both speak English.  We live in the USA and in North America.  We both have these things because flies love North America because it’s usually warm.

We also had some differences.  I had a spider web.  It was in a log.  It was sticky and wet with water sticking to it.  I also had a bee.  It has black and yellow stripes.  It has a stinger.  They can fly.  They had water.  It rained.  The water was in a hole because it was something to fill it up.  They also had wood chips.  It was landscaping.

I learned there are a lot of different things outside.