Rehm and the Rhinoceros Beetle

A couple of months ago Rehm came home and said he wanted to look at insects on the computer. He informed us that he needed to decide what his favorite was for Quest. He and his daddy looked and he decided his two favorites were the Giraffe Beetle and the Rhinoceros Beetle. He finally picked the Rhinoceros as his most favorite. So he printed a couple of pictures of the Rhinoceros Beetle to take to school to show his Quest teacher.

For several weeks nothing was mentioned about the beetle. Then Rehm came home one day and informed us he needed to make a beetle out of stuff found around the house. And he needed to take his materials to school the next day so they could start working on them. Oh boy! Of course we had t-ball practice or What-A-Wednesday and choir or something that night.

We decided he could make the beetle out of a soda bottle, straws, and a funnel. Of course we had none of these things actually at home so Michael had to do a 9pm grocery run. But Rehm went to school the next day with all the stuff he needed to make his bug. I was glad he was making the bug at school as it kept me from micromanaging the process as I'm sure I would have done if he had made it at home.

A week or so later his teacher sent home a sheet of facts about the beetle that he needed to learn for his presentation on the bug. We worked really hard and he learned all of his facts.

For the presentation they invited three kindergarten classes and parents to attend. There were four students giving presentations. Rehm did a great job! He told everyone all of his facts and only had to ask the teacher one question. He even personalized the presentation by telling everyone that if he were a rhinoceros beetle he would be able to lift a whale shark! His whole class laughed as they are all used to Rehm's love of the ocean.

The other presentations that day were for a lady bug, tarantula and black widow. All the kids really did a great job.

I videoed the presentation (while holding a baby and Charlotte and trying to keep the other baby from pulling a little girl's hair) but have not been able to figure out how to get the file size small enough to upload it to the blog. I'm still working on it.

The beetle is now living on top of Rehm's book case.

Jenn