Today we explored our school yard environment.
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| Free digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox |
Today we explored our school yard environment.
![]() |
| Free digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox |

We are very excited to start the experiment. Hééééééééééééééééé.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in a study that explores various types of insects and their DNA. As of today, we walked around the school looking for an appropriate location to set up our trap. We walked around the school grounds in search of a place that would be private, undisturbed and that would allow the maximum amount of insects to come to be collected. There were various locations that would fit under our qualifications, but we thought that in the end our library’s courtyard would be the best choice.
– Class Bloggers: Naziha U. and Scarlett C., Monarch Park Collegiate, Toronto.

For those of you wanting to know where we are located a Google Maps link is below:
I teach grade 5 in Saskatchewan and below you will find how I am integrating this project with our curriculum. My students will be blogging each day, among other forms of communication to share our experience. Today we talked about the various student roles in our scenario. Students chose their role today and we will begin the adventure tomorrow!

Thank you for the things you gave us. I can’t wait to get started! The project looks so great. I can’t wait to tell you all about what happens in our schoolyard. I am already feeling good about this project.
My job is to blog about our experiences.
Grade 5 Student :Taylor
Good morning,
We are glad to be trying this project and are excited about receiving our Malaise trap!!
We are a little worried about the amount of snow that we still have…1-2 meters (yikes). Do any other schools still have snow on the ground?
JPCI’s Grade 11 Biology students have decided on the perfect location for our Malaise Trap…. the school garden! After a survey of the school grounds, the students voted unanimously that this location would likely have the highest insect traffic. The garden is currently being prepped for spring planting activities. Both the students and the PACT Grow to Learn program staff are “bugging” out with excitement to learn more about the insect diversity in the garden.

http://www.pactgrow2learn.ca/search/label/JPCI
Stay tuned for more photos on deployment day!
COUNT DOWN: 7 DAYS!
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Why do bees hum? Because they can’t remember the words.
How do snails fight each other? They slug it out.
Two flies are on the porch. Which one is an actor? The one on the screen!


This is one of the location where we will post our trap. Iona Academy has a beautiful pond in our backyard. This is where we studied our ecosystems this fall. We cannot wait to start and set up our Trap! We are so happy it is here!!! The snow is almost gone here in Eastern Ontario. Our forest only has a few patches of snow!!! lol
Here is a photo of the beautiful and snowy scenery here right by our school. This spot is where our trap will be located and where all the action will take place. We’re hoping the amount of trees here will attract some interesting bugs to share with you.

This is our Biology 11 class selfie. We’re standing on 3ft of snow, right where our trap will be. You can tell how excited we are for this big project by the smiles on all 29 of our faces (not even the whole class). The picture on the bottom is the class pretending we are bugs. We’re so pumped to start this project that we started BUGGING out in hopes to bring some goodluck our way.

“The bug bloggers” posing on the tent location. The snow has taken over our trap’s location, but hopefully it’ll melt. We’ll be ready though because we have our lab coats and goggles on, ready to get the job done. The snow isn’t bringing us down! We are ready to get down to business and to get to some serious bug hunting.
