Ants!

Here's Mae, a 1st grader at Grant Wood, with her newly established ant farm. It was hard work getting everything set up (especially getting the ants to cooperate!), but everything is now in place for some nice observations over the next few weeks.

The ants are Harvester Ants, and will be very active in showing us how they live and work. In addition to adding tunneling sand and snapping everything VERY securely into place, we also had to add some water to firm up the sand, and a few dashes of sugar water to nourish the ants. We will have to continue to add both food and water to maintain our colony. Our observations will accompany our other learning activities about ants.

This picture of the farm is how it looks on Day 1. Check back for weekly updates to see what our ants have been up to, and to hear what we're learning about their behaviors.

Stay tuned!