Octopus!

It's Octopus Week in my classroom!

Today, I brought in ten octopus for the kids to study. 

First, we broke into groups of four and observed the octopi, writing down interesting things about them.

To my surprise, none of the kids were squeamish.

They "dived" right into the activity!

Noah was fascinated by his group's octopus and got close for a better examination.

Audrey and Erik having fun learning.

In the afternoon, we went to the art room and did Gyotaku, an ancient Japanese art form of making prints of the animals. This was done because there was no refrigeration, and printing them allowed the scientists to continue studying the animal after it had decomposed.

First, the children arranged their octopus on newspaper in the position they wanted to print.

Next, using brayers, they rolled ink onto the animals.

Then, rice paper is laid over the inked animal and the student gently patted the paper to make sure there was full contact between the octopus and the paper. This ensured a better print.

Mrs. Fields, our principal, came in to watch. She was so engrossed with what we were doing, she asked if she could make one, too!

Tomorrow's project? Dissecting the animals!