Becoming Scientist-Surgeons: Owl Pellet Dissection

Science should be as relevant and hands-on as possible.


I think that most teachers and students would agree wholeheartedly with that statement.



So, what do you do when your science curriculum focuses on the study of nocturnal animals for a hearty and intensive 5 weeks?



You get adventurous, that's what.

Did you know that there are over 200 different types of owls in the world?  These owls inhabit every continent with the exception of Antarctica.  They make their homes in trees, burrows, even airport runways.  Owls have hairlike feathers around their faces that serve as "feelers", much like a cat's whiskers.  A snowy owl can hear a mouse under 18 inches of snow.  A barn owl can hear a mouse scurrying at 90 feet away.

Amazing owl facts aside, we wanted our hands-on science.  And we got it, in the form of tiny, icky (yet totally sterilized) owl pellets.

We learned that owls do not chew their food; they often swallow small prey whole.  Due to their peculiar eating habits, they must do something equally peculiar:  they must regurgitate bones.

An owl's gizzard acts as a mighty churning machine.  The gizzard works to form the pellet of indigestible materials.  In order to grab another meal, an owl must first cough up the old pellet.

We dissected barn owl pellets in brave teams.  We utilized tweezers and pipettes in order to glean what sort of bones were inside.  Our surgery styles were varied and impressive!  We organized the bones using provided charts as we tried to figure out what types of small mammals that our owls must have eaten.

Some fears had to be addressed and overcome.  Within minutes of beginning surgery, we had a bunch of fascinated scientists on our hands.  Icky stuff, yes.   But high quality, high interested learning, too!

  

Genius Hour

We launched our first ever Genius Hour with a pep talk from Kid President.  (check out the link!)


He implores us to be awesome.  He asks us to get up and do something.  He quotes that excellent and well-known verse from Robert Frost.  The path less taken might be a little scary, and full of bramble, but it is the Awesome Path.  We should take it.

You may or may not have heard of a little company called Google.  Google is a place where thinkers are allowed to Be Awesome.  Google allows its engineers a specific amount of time to work on "pet projects".  They use this time to work on whatever creative dream that they want.  Both Gmail and Google News are projects that came from this pet project time.

Daniel Pink gets it.  In his book, Drive, he writes all about motivation.  His research has shown that the human brain functions best when it is allowed personalized inquiry time.  In short, when you allow a person to choose what they would like to learn, the result is astounding.

Genius Hour will take place in our classroom every Friday afternoon.  Our projects are varied and incredibly ambitious.  Johnny will complete a podcast about Malala, the brave Pakistani educational advocate.  Josie and Mia are going to demonstrate how volcanoes erupt.  Diego and Andrew are exploring those creepy yet cool creatures of the deep.  Ana and Skyler are creating a television show to demonstrate helpful ways to make friends in school.

As always, these young minds astound me.  Whether they are excited to explore space or launch a social justice group, they are choosing the path less taken.  They are choosing to Be Awesome.

The level of excitement blended with ultimate focus was at all-time highs last Friday afternoon.

Is it any wonder that we can't wait for Genius Hour this week?

Wondrous Writers

Furious (yet focused) pencil scribbling is quite possibly my favorite noise.  Thanks to some incredibly hard working 2nd graders, I've heard quite a lot of this noise over the past few weeks.

We are motivated as we map, chart, and plan.  We are motivated as we stretch our imaginations in order to find new ideas and words.  We are even motivated through the tricky editing and polishing process.

The key to this motivation, I think, is about keeping our work relevant.  Our writing isn't a laborious chore.  Our writing is fun, creative, and important.


We took a field trip to McCrillis Gardens in order to complete a leaf study.  We learned that deciduous trees have one of four types of edging on their leaves:  lobed, toothed, wavy, or smooth.  When we returned back to school, we completed leaf rubbings and practiced informative, detailed writing.

Young botanists at work

Taking a short leaf collection break to pose with friends

We had lots of samples to study and choose from

Alexa did a fantastic job on her official report!

We use magnifying glasses to glean key details


 

Autumn means falling leaves, and it also means pumpkins.  Fourteen massive pumpkins resided in our second grade classroom for a week.  Each student completed a book report in the form of a poster.  When we finished our reports, it was pumpkin decorating time!  Each pumpkin was decorated in honor of the main character of the chosen book.


Let's just say:  it's not very often that a pumpkin ninja sits beside a pumpkin Pollyanna.  I am thoroughly impressed by their hard work and creativity!

Austin and Daniel working hard!

Writer-Artists in the painting phase

Austin with Roald Dahl's own George

Diego with a cool-looking squid

Awesome details!

An example of a finished report