Mrs. Holt's Class PBL Final Paper

Our school is located in Eden, NC. Our squares of life were in a wooded area right outside of our school grounds. The squares were located on a path that connects our school to the local park. Our class was divided up into five groups. Within our five groups, we found all sorts of insects. Different groups found ants, a fly, a mosquito, a horned beetle, yellow jackets, spiders, earth worms, and inch worms. Within our squares, we found grass, pine, sassafras, mushrooms, clovers, moss, persimmons, walnuts, and even some red berries attached to a vine. With our squares being located on a walking trail, there was quite a bit of litter located in our squares as well. Some of our groups found pieces of plastic, paper, a coffee cup lid, and even a golf ball (which we were sure had to have been hit from the golf course across the street!).

(Click to view pictures of some of our findings)

When searching for a school to compare, our class decided to compare our squares of life with Murphy Elementary School located in Haslett, Michigan. Ms. Moore’s class found some of the same insects that we did. They too found ants, flies, and mosquitoes. But they also found butterflies, moths, a box elder bug, a cicada, dragonfly, grasshopper, cricket, and ladybug! Whew! That’s a lot of bugs!  In their squares they had most of the same plants as we did. Ms. Moore’s students found grass, mushrooms, clover, and moss; but they also found a dandelion. Like us, they found quite a bit of litter. For instance, they found band aids, candy wrappers, pretzels, pencils, and even pieces of metal.

We aren’t sure where there squares of life were located in regards to their school’s location but we do have to wonder if maybe their squares were on their actual school grounds. Our class feels that they probably were due to the amount of litter that they found. Most of the litter could all be found located around our school buildings as bandaids, pencils, candy wrappers, and food are all things we see regularly at school. As for their insects, we thought it was pretty neat that we see most of those bugs here at our school in NC. Many of our classmates were surprised and expected to have more differences in our findings because Murphy Elementary is so far up north.

Overall, we really enjoyed participating in our Square of Life project. We learned that even though we may live in different areas and climates, we still have many of the same plant and animal life.