Memories of a kindergarten squirrel inquiry: “What was in this pumpkin?”

Our curiosity about a pumpkin with a mysterious hole turned into a learning journey about squirrels. Cross-curricular connections to language, science, visual art, dance, and drama.

Read the full story below, including reflections of our very first attempt at sustaining and extending an inquiry.

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Memories of a squirrel inquiry: "What was in this pumpkin?"

Our goal at the outset of this, our very first, inquiry: 

Find a “spark” that would inspire students to observe and wonder. Listen to students and use their ideas to sustain the inquiry for at least one week.

Our learning journey:

The students had been very interested in gathering acorns and watching squirrels running around our recess yard. I brought a pumpkin to school, which a squirrel had hollowed out and filled with leaves. 

Cheri and I encouraged the students to observe and wonder about the pumpkin. We listened to students’ ideas and thought about how to use those ideas to extend and sustain a squirrel inquiry.

“What do you see / think / wonder about this pumpkin?”

“There is a hole.”

“There are seeds inside.”

“I see leaves in it.”

“Something was eating it.”

We revealed that a squirrel had made the hole.

New theories:

“There is a squirrel in there.”

“A squirrel is sleeping inside.”

“There must be eggs in there.”

(What kind of eggs?)

“Squirrel eggs.”

(Why do you think that?)

“Because the leaves are a nest.”

We wondered...what is a squirrel’s nest like? 

Theories:

“There are leaves so it can be warm.”

“The squirrel nest we saw in the tree has leaves, and sticks on the outside.”

“It’s like a bird’s nest because it has sticks and grass and leaves.”

“A squirrel’s nest is bigger than a bird’s nest.”

“But both kinds of nests have eggs.”

“A squirrel nest has a roof.”

“It has a kitchen for seeds and acorns, and it eats some leaves.”

“The squirrel nest (in the tree) has a tunnel down into the tree and the seeds are down there.”

“There are bedrooms for 2 babies.”

“There is a family of squirrels inside.”

We drew and painted about our theories. 

Some ‘researchers’ looked carefully at birds’ nests, and then looked online at photos to learn about squirrels’ homes (dreys, dens; could be made of leaves, grass, fur, feathers, moss). The ‘researchers’ taught the class what they learned and we made plans and constructed model squirrel homes with appropriate construction materials we’d collected from outside. 

We eventually cut open the pumpkin to check for squirrels or eggs. 

We learned that squirrels are mammals and their babies are born live; they don’t hatch from eggs. The ‘researchers’ selected photos of baby squirrels that they found online to show to the rest of the class.

“Do squirrels eat pumpkins?”  

“They eat acorns from the recess yard.”  

“What do squirrels eat?”

We researched and learned that squirrels eat nuts, seeds, berries, apples, mushrooms, and even insects. We collected ‘squirrel food’ in our school yard and forest. We pretended to be squirrels and hid our food in safe places. We checked on it each day and saw bite marks in some of our apples! Had real squirrels been nibbling on our food?

While pretending to be squirrels, some students thought about different ways squirrels move. We observed squirrels in the recess yard and created a squirrel dance using students' knowledge about squirrels' movements. Others planned the musical accompaniment using sticks, which they theorized would be the instruments of choice for actual squirrels when they made music in the wild.

We also read a book called "The Busy Little Squirrel." Then we made costumes and performed the story as a play.

Reflections on our very first attempt at extending an inquiry: 

We’d successfully sustained students’ interests in wondering and learning about squirrels for three full weeks. We’d made language, art, science, music, drama, and dance connections. Next time, we wanted to find more ways to make infuse math and language learning into an inquiry.