Mrs. Sherwood’s Fourth Grade Class

Allen Elementary School

Strongsville, Ohio

Group 1:

     Our school that we compared with was Pequenakonck Elementary School in North Salem, New York.  They were a class of 5^th graders.  Our squares and theirs were pretty much the same, but they had different things because they may have done theirs in a field.  Both of us had bushes, mushrooms (fungus), grass, trees, and weeds.  They have birch, cedar, maple, and pine trees.  We both had the same bugs: ants, beetles, flying bugs, spiders, and worms.  The best part about their Square of Life project we thought was the garden snake.  We had metal and they had plastic.  We both had small rocks and we had mud and dirt.  Our squares were really very similar.  We think that we have similar squares because we have similar climates. 

Group 2:

     We did our square in the woods.  Our square had a Northern Red Oak tree in it.  It also had potato bugs and spiders under dead branches.  We also had a plastic bag, pine cones, and dead leaves.  Our square’s environment usually has small animals and more life. 

     Our partner’s environment is in Wisconsin (Mrs. Ilkich’s class at Endeavor Elementary). They had ants, beetles, flying bugs, frogs, spiders, and worms.  They also saw bushes, grass, mushrooms, weeds, and trees.  What they thought was really cool was that they saw a baby painted turtle.  We usually don’t have baby turtles roaming around in the woods.

    Ours were the same with our partner’s because we both have the same bugs.  Their plants were the same too.  The difference is that we have dirt, metal, mud, plastic, and small rocks.  We think it’s different because they might have more water or lakes so they could have frogs and turtles.  We have a drier climate so they might have even more different animals and plants.  We learned that Ohio and Wisconsin are different in many ways and the same in many ways.

Group 3:

     In our environment we observed little bugs like a potato bug, a mosquito, a mayfly, and a gnat.  We even saw things that showed that there were birds around.  We usually see deer, rabbit, and squirrels but we did not see any so we were surprised.

     Our partners from Pine Grove Elementary in Colorado found some of the same things.  We found almost the same things in animals; in plants, we found mushrooms, bushes, and wildflowers but they didn’t.  They did have a larger variety of plants.  In the “other” category, we found metal but they found sand and paper.

      We think it is different because they live in a different climate.  Also they live further west.  We were in different types of areas.  We are glad we picked them because we learned a lot!

Group 4:

     In our environment, we have lots of bugs such as ants, beetles, flying bugs, spiders, snails, and worms.  We also have plants like bushes, trees, weeds, grass, and fungi.  We also have lots of mud, dirt, and small pebbles.  Our partner (Norfleet Elementary in Missouri) has frogs and some other things we don’t have.  They basically have the same plants as we do.  They also have a lot if dirt and mud but they have some sand.  We think that our climates are pretty much the same.

Group 6:

     We found slugs, mayflies, and gnats.  We also found ants, bees, weeds, and pine cones.  Our class uncovered Styrofoam, a Snapple bottle, pine needles, and logs.

     Our partner (The Sullivan School in Kanagawa, Japan) had centipedes, mud, mushrooms, and a metal storm drain.  They also had big rocks and a frog statue.

     We found more living things than they did, but they found more human made things.  They found more human made things because they were in a courtyard.  We found more living things than they because we were in a forest.  We learned that forests have more life than courtyards.