Mystery Moth

During our morning meeting, a moth suddenly appeared on the carpet. One moment it wasn't there, and the next, it was. I scooped it up in a jar so we could take a look at it.

Brooklynn asked a key question: "Why is there a moth in the classroom?"

I just love it when inquiries fall it my lap! This was a great opportunity to get them thinking like scientists. I abandoned the plan for the morning and instead started gathering their ideas:

Maddy: Maybe overnight he saw the crack in under the door and crawled in.
Kenadi: Maybe someone picked him up and held the door open.
Ari: Maybe someone stepped on him and he stuck to their shoe. (We checked him for signs of shoe trauma, then abandoned this hypothesis.)
Landon: I think he saw a big hole outside in the ground and he came through it into the class and he landed on the carpet to sleep.
Mia: Maybe he came in behind the door and landed on the carpet.
Maya: Maybe he went through the window and it was tired so it flopped on the floor.
Brooklynn: It might have hided somewhere in the classroom and he fell down. Maybe he was camouflaged on the roof.
Adam: He can also camouflage on the floor.
Maya: And the walls too!

They wrote some stories about what they think happened:

Did the butterfly get in from the windo or did the butterfly get from the door or did the butterfly get from the vent? We don't know. -Maya

Nolan

The children decided to build them a house. Jack suggested they make blueprints of their ideas:

I asked: "That's a great plan...but what do you need to build it? We need a list."
When they responded with "grass from outside", I suggested they look outside for a spot to find grass.Hamish checked, saw the 3 feet of snow outside, and said "Uh oh, I guess we'll have to wait till spring."

Adam said: "We don't have that long! Water then. From the tap for him to drink. And blocks."

Hamish was consulting his blueprint as he built.

Adam found a white container for a "bed", since it had a big hole for an entrance and was the same colour as the moth.

The moth seems pretty happy to sleep in his/her new home for now...Maya even added a plastic friend.

Some other good questions:

What do they eat?

Do they eat bugs? Or grass? Or worms?

When is he ever going to wake up?

Do they always sleep in the day?

Should we put in toys for him?

Is it going to have baby moths?

Does it have a house with a family in the class somewhere?