Snails: Part 2

 Snail mania has not yet subsided at my house.  Crazy Bug's fabulous kindergarten teacher encourages kids to bring in things they've written at home and share them with the class, so Caitlyn published a book about her snails.  I let her type it up, because she had a lot to say and her hand still gets too tired for lengthy writing projects.  I sat with her to help her organize her thoughts and use complete sentences.  For example:

 Me: "What did we do first?"
CB: "Find snails"
Me:  "How could you say that?  We..."
CB: "We found snails."
Me:  "Good, where?"
CB: "We found snails in the bushes."


I found another great advantage of typing: spellcheck!  My daughter is a perfectionist and HATES to be corrected when she writes.  But it's extremely painful for me to watch her hand her book to someone after all her hard work and hear them say, "What does it say?"  With spellcheck, I didn't have to say a thing.  Incorrect words were obvious with the handy red line.  Crazy Bug is at the point where she recognized the correct way to spell a word when she sees it, but can't always remember how to spell it on her own.  So after she wrote the book, I showed her how to use the spellcheck to find the correct spelling.  Every time she was able to pick out the right word from the list of suggestions.  I could practically see her thinking, "Oh, yeah, 'right' has a 'gh'."  Golden!

I also took some pictures and added them to the pages for her, so it looked really professional.  Here's the final result:

Snail Crazy

Crazy Bug's class started studying snails this week.  I decided to build on her excitement and extend the learning by helping her catch snails at home.  Bad idea.  The kid has gone absolutely snail crazy.  They're all she can think and talk about.  We have to "play with" the slimy things five times a day.  (And how can you play with a snail?)  We've written snail poems, sang snail songs, and made snail homes.  Enough already!

But, on the other hand, we've learned some interesting things:

Our yard is practically infested with snails.  I never knew how many lived around us.  What else have we been missing?

Snails are both male and female.  Any two snails can make crazy snail babies. 

Snails' eyes are on their tentacles.

Cool stuff.  If you'd like to start your own snail study, it's pretty easy.  Get a glass or plastic container and add some leaves and sticks.  Cover the top with an old nylon held by a rubber band.  Go out on a wet day and look underneath the leaves of low-growing plants.  (This often involves turning halfway upside down to look up at the underneath sides of plants).  Pull the snails gently by their shells until they release their grip on the plants.  Make sure that you mist the snails and their home regularly with dechlorinated water so they stay moist.

If you're having trouble finding snails, another option is to make an outdoor snail house.   Simply turn a clay flowerpot upside down and prop one edge with a stone or saucer.  Put some veggies peelings inside and wait until nighttime.  Then lift up the pot and grab the little buggers.

If your kids fall totally in love with the snails, try writing an acrostic poem about snails.  Write the word "snail" down the left-hand side of the paper in capital letters.  Then think of something about snails for each letter.  Here is my daughter's:

Happy snail hunting!