Square of Life Project Mrs. Hess-Balzano’s 2 nd Grade Class Fall 2015

About Our School Welcome! Our school is called Winter Springs Elementary which is located in Winter Springs, Florida. We are a group of second grade students that are thankful to live in the Sunshine State! Together, all of the second grade teachers created one foot by one foot squares around our school campus so that we could learn about the living and non-living objects in nature. We found all kinds of things outside such as bugs, plants, rocks, and trash.

Predictions – Living  Tree  Bug  Insect  Cockroach  Spiders  Blue Bird  Queen ant  Queen bee  Snail Non-Living  Toy  Water  Pieces of wrapping paper  Leaf

Results Living  Ant  Black Crow  Beetle  Praying Mantis  Butterfly  Crab spider  Cockroach  Oak Tree  Grass  Oak seedlings Non-Living  Rock  Asphalt  Water bottle  Sand  Bottle wrapper  Paper

Who We Compared With: Theodore Roosevelt Elementary Our class compared our data with Theodore Roosevelt Elementary which is located in Oyster Bay, New York. Our class was very surprised at just how many differences our school in Winter Springs, Florida had when compared to a school in Oyster Bay, New York. We discussed in our class that some of this may have been a result of the New York school completing their Square of Life project in the month of March whereas our school in Florida did our project in the month of October. There are many factors that apply such as climate, weather, and whether or not the school is located in an urban or rural area. As a class, we feel that we learned very valuable information about nature in other places compared to the place that we call home.

Comparing Living What We Found…  Ant  Black Crow  Beetle  Praying Mantis  Butterfly  Crab spider  Cockroach  Oak Tree  Grass  Oak seedlings What They Found…  Tiny red spider  Small black spider  Small white butterflies  Flies  Ladybugs  Worm  Heard birds – black crow  Dandelion  Violet  Pine trees  Grass  Bushes  Maple sapling

Comparing Non-Living What We Found…  Rocks  Asphalt  Water bottle  Sand  Bottle wrapper  Paper What They Found…  Spider egg case  Cement  Storm drain  Gum wrappers  Red plastic  Soil  Small rocks  Spider web  Oak leaves  Acorn top  Sticks

Both FloridaNew York Asphalt Cockroach Praying mantis Oak tree Sand Beetle Ant Rock Paper Water bottle Bottle wrapper Grass Seedlings Butterflies Black crow Grass Spider Rocks Storm drain Spider egg case Gum wrapper Red plastic Soil Spider web Worm Sticks Lady bugs Oak leaves Flies Bushes Cement Acorn tops Pine trees Dandelion Violet Maple saplings

Crab Spider

Monarch Butterfly

Water Bottle/Bottle Wrapper

Thank you for allowing us to share our data with you! Have a great year!