Woodlands Elementary School
Longwood, Florida 

Wow, I can’t believe how many things were in my square of life. There was moss, tiny ants, spider webs, an oak tree, a black/ brown small spider, dead leaves, sandy soil, asparagus fern, “garbage spider”, a bird’s nest, and much much more. My school is a 5 star school, the weather is always warm and nice, but sometimes it rains, there are trees everywhere, and the grass can’t get any greener.

     The school I’m sharing information with is the Sullivan’s school. Their teachers name is Mrs. Foust. They live in Japan and they found large and small spiders, black and red ants, roly-poly bugs, long and short worms, a snail, a yellow butterfly, bamboo, trees, weeds, a mint bush, a red flower, a white flower, mud, black dirt, a plastic spay bottle, rocks, a Japanese pond, and more.

     We both saw a tree, ants, spider webs, spiders, a bird’s nest, and leaves. I saw an asparagus fern and they didn’t. They found a roly-poly bug and I didn’t. I found moss and they didn’t. They found worms, a snail, a yellow butterfly, a white flower, a red flower, bamboo, mud, and other stuff and I didn’t.

      We had some similarities maybe, because the climate in Florida is hot and sometimes cold, and Japans is like that too. We also had some similarities, because some of our plants grow there too. We had some differences, because the weather there is usually hot and ours isn’t. Also, because different plants grow there and different bugs do too.

     In conclusion I have found that we have a lot more similarities than differences. The weather is very similar to our weather, and that some of the same animals and plants live there.

By Erin

“Crunch, Crunch” I stepped on the dead leaves as I approached my square. When I looked at my square I saw tons of amazing things. The weather was fine and warm. That’s why lots of people come to visit Florida. Heaps of nature is here. Woodlands Elementary is a great A school. The population is about 750-800. Now, back to my square. I saw loads of dead leaves enough to fill 3 entire dinner plates. I saw two black spiders; Spanish moss was hanging from the branches of the tree. Cabbage Lichen was crawling up the dark brown bark of the tree. There was also a bird’s nest high up in the tree.

The school’s names that I chose to do my final report on and compare and contrast our similarities and differences are Aanestad Homelearners Elem., and the Sullivans School. The Sullivans School had bamboo, trees, bushes, grass, weeds, and a mint bush. Some leaves on the ground were red, yellow, and crunchy. They saw two huge spiders. They saw bird’s nest with a mother pigeon inside. They also found a snail that was one inch long. There was a turtle that lived in the Japanese pond. The Aanestad Homelearners Elementary School found bushes such as pacific blackberry and red huckleberry. They found a bull frog, snake, beetle, and a dragon fly.

The similarities that my square and the other school’s I did my report on share are that the Sullivans School saw two spiders just as I did. They also saw a bird’s nest in the tree. The Aanestad Homelearners Elementary School and I had no similarities. The contrasts that that my square and the other school’s I did my report on differ are that the Sullivans School is that they found a snail that was one inch long. They also had a turtle in their Japanese Pond. The Aanestad Homelearners Elementary School had found bushes such as pacific blackberry and red huckleberry. They also found bull frog, snake, beetle, and a dragon fly. 

The possible reasons that the similarities for my square and the Sullivans School are that their area is very urban. Also, that our areas are very grassy. They grow bamboo in Japan. The possible reasons that the similarities for my square and the Aanestad Homelearners Elementary School is that their area’s climate varies from temperate in south to subarctic and arctic in north, and the area’s vegetation includes full sections on tundra, forest-tundra, boreal forest and mixed forest change, prairie (steppe), Cordilleran environments in western North America, temperate deciduous forests, and wetlands. Our temperature is tropical and our vegetation is southeastern evergreen forest.

The lessons I learned were that there were tons of life in the square that we chose. I learned that Japan is very urban just like us. Gardens are a traditional part of Japanese culture. The school in Canada found a pacific blackberry and red huckleberry bushes. I also learned that Florida is tropic and the vegetation is southeastern evergreen forest. That is what I learned while working on The Square of Life Project.

         Have you ever wondered what at least a part of Florida was like? Well, I live in Florida and our class made our square of life near our playground. The nature in Florida is beautiful. I bet you are wondering what Florida looks like. Read further more so you can get a picture of what Florida might look like by the beautiful description of my square of life. My class had an oak tree in the top left corner of our square. Also we discovered an asparagus fern with berries. Our class saw something new to us. The plant was lichen. There was another type of lichen, bearded cabbage lichen. The lichen was bushy and green like cabbage. (P.S You’re not supposed to eat it.) We also found creatures like blackish brown spiders and beetles. High up in the tree we could see a bird’s nest. There were two kinds of moss. Spanish moss was hanging from the high branches of the oak tree. Also a kind of velvety sort of moss was on the north side of the tree.                               

          I am comparing my information to Pequenakonk Elementary in North Salem, New York. They found a large beetle the size of a thumb! Also they said that the beetle felt like plastic. They also found two ants that were as small as a pencil tip. Also the ants were black and red. The red fire ant bit them. Ouch! Also they found flying ants that looked like regular ants but with wings. They found a lot of spiders and the biggest one was as big as their middle finger. They also said the spider was yellow and had only seven legs. They found lots of worms that were pink and the size of their ring finger. They also found plants like weeds, trees, and grass. They found different types of weeds. Some were as 3 feet tall! The weeds had white flowers and some had dandelions. They found all sorts of plants and grass for example, big red plants with prickles on the stem. The plant was about 10 inches tall and soft fuzzy leaves. They found type of trees that had tiny blue pines and about the size of a 5 foot child! They also found giant oaks soaring into the sky. It had red leaves that had 7 ends. They found non living things like rocks, mud, and sand. They found rocks that were faded red, gray, white, pale green and black.    Their sand was so rough that it hurt if you got hit.

      When I compared my information with Pequenakonk Elementary I realized that we both found beetles, flying bugs, spiders, grass and a tree. We also found things like sandy soil, lichen, moss, Spanish moss, pine needles, asparagus ferns with berries, and lizards.

        I think that we have these similarities because the insects and plants we found are common around the world. I also think that we have these differences because Florida is warmer and down south and New York is up north. For example, we have sandy soil here because Florida has more beaches, but New York does not.

         Last but not least, I have to conclude this wonderful essay. I learned through this project an idea about New York’s nature. I had fun learning about New York because I’ve always wanted to go there. Also I like learning about other places. Do you?

Hi, My Name is Clayton and I hear you are working on the square of life project. I am in Mrs. Hall's fifth grade class. We are located in Central Florida. (USA). Our school is 5 star (not trying to brag). There are about 800 students. Now I am going to describe

What I found in my square we found many dead leafs, a spider, ants, oak tree, dead pine needles, tree bark, and  birds nest , and  a squirrel’s nest. So that’s pretty much what I found in my square.

     The square of life project  helps make a big difference in the world because you learn more about wildlife, and I think that’s very important for kids who live in cities with tall buildings so they can actually find out what’s in there world instead of just tall buildings. Even the kids how live in an suburban or country area you get to now what its like in a city.

     Finding things. When you’re out looking for things I think that’s the funniest part about the whole square of life project. Your looking for things you’re exploring and that’s very fun. Mostly when you find something your excited ,but when it comes to spiders you here screams people scared but all in all it’s was fun.

    What I think was fun. What I thought was fun when we explored went outside and searched for bugs and the animals in our square we found many things and saw many things and that’s what I thought was fun.

     What I’ve talked about. I’ve talked about what I’ve liked, what I found and when we went exploring thank you very much Peace.  

                                  Crunch, crunch, buzz, buzz. Do you want to learn about my school and my square of life? You do? My school is a 5 star school! Isn’t that a lot of stars! You should see how many kids are at our school there are 750 students! Isn’t that a lot? It gets hot and cold here .My square of life has moss ,oak tree, lichen,  asparagus fern ,fungus, Spanish moss(etc)

 The name of the school is  St.George`s  independent school I am comparing to the schools group 1 they had had a bush, weeds, big rocks, (etc.). They said that the metal they found would affect their square.

     Their square had ants, beetles, flying bugs, spiders, worm, a bush, grass, fungus, a tree, a big rock, dirt, metal, mud, paper, sand and small rocks. Ours did not have metal, paper, weeds, rocks, grass or a bush.

     What is the weather like in Tennessee is it hot or cold? What was the climate like when your plants grew? Where is your square located? What is the vegetation like? I have learned not to pull out and to take care of the things around us like your gardens, your pets and other wildlife so take care of the environment.

BY: KIRSTEN J