What Comes Next Beside the Tetherball Court?

The Tetherball Court Border

A strip of plants grows outside the tetherball court, away from running feet. The playground nature club watches ladybugs, grasshoppers, and annual nasturtium plants there. Members photograph changes without disturbing the living things. Their record book combines observations from several seasons, not just one afternoon.

The club uses four process labels in its models. Birth marks a new life beginning; hatching and sprouting mark the starts shown in these records. Growth includes getting bigger and developing body parts. Reproduction means producing offspring, or a new generation. Death means an individual's life has ended.

Ladybug records: Tiny larvae hatch from eggs. A larva has a long body and looks different from an adult ladybug. It eats and grows. Later, it becomes a pupa attached to a surface. Inside the pupa, its body changes. An adult ladybug emerges. Adults can reproduce and lay new eggs.

Grasshopper records: Small nymphs hatch from eggs. A nymph looks like a small adult but lacks fully developed wings. As it grows, it sheds its outer covering several times. It develops into an adult without a pupa stage. Adults can reproduce and lay new eggs.

Nasturtium records: A seed sprouts. The seedling develops more leaves and grows into an adult plant. Flowers appear, and later the plant produces seeds. Some seeds sprout the following growing season when conditions are suitable.

Late-season records include the deaths of individual insects. After a frost, the club records that the annual nasturtium plants have died. The book also shows adults living after producing eggs or seeds. Some individuals die before they reproduce.