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!

  

Tuesday Three: Bats, Mystery Reader, Ojo de Dios

We've been rather busy here in second grade.  There simply aren't enough days between Halloween and Thanksgiving.  We pushed through our Pilgrims unit at a clipping pace.  We created wetus and wooden houses (more on that in a later post), imagined what the Pilgrims might have packed on their voyage, and made symbolic "shells" (really bits of pasta) to give to our friends as tokens of affection.



Our inaugural Mystery Reader was a smashing hit!  The kids had 5 clues about this mystery person.  They mulled over them all day long.  We knew this person had two brothers and a sister.  She taught dance to kids.  She was born in a different country.  All day, these young lawyers attempted to bargain and coax the information to be revealed.  Their skills in rhetoric are impressive, but I would not give.  It was very exciting when Frannie, Mia's aunt, walked through our door!  She read us Jamie O'Rourke and the Giant Potato.  We were full of questions to ask!

Thank you, Frannie!  And we'll be on the lookout for more Mystery Readers soon.

On to nocturnal animals.  Our first spotlighted creature was the bat.  Did you know that there are about 1,000 types of bats?  The smallest is the bumblebee bat.  The largest is the Samoan flying fox.  Vampire bats exist, but their little fangs are only after cows.  Bats have thumbs.  There are grouped into two types:  Microbat and Megabat.

We've been doing a lot of bat-related reading.  This reading will culminate as a small version of an encyclopedia.  We aim to be bat masters.  I think we're succeeding.

Brooke highlights and writes a section of her encyclopedia.

Kevin scores the dashed lines of the bat.  This figure will become a "pop up" in the center of each encyclopedia.

Finally, we created Ojo de Dios with popsicle sticks and yarn.  Believe me, there's a lesson in this!

Nice work, Natalie!

Ojo de Dios (God's Eye) is a traditional religious craft made by the Huichol Indians of Mexico.  They are believed to watch over the recipient.  Before our craft, we discussed the various ways in which God is always looking out for us.  There is so much to learn from the faith of kids.  They are open and honest about everything.  It's really inspiring.  Becoming a second grade teacher really affirmed my faith in God.  Sharing ideas and experiences is really powerful for these students.  They enjoyed the symbolism and the significance of this craft.  It was tricky - very tricky - to master the weaving technique, but we were old pros once we figured out the code.



Second grade is busy, busy, busy - but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Goodbye Election... Hello Creatures of the Night!

I know that you were waiting with baited breath to hear the results of 2A's Presidential election....

  

 With 63% of the vote, our class enthusiastically backed the Republican ticket of Romney/Ryan!

We were saddened to learn that our candidates did not fare quite as well in the national election ;)

All politics aside, this election was so much fun to study.  We learned about past presidents, studied the 3 branches of government, had spirited debates (Should the school year be only 3 months long?) and made paper models of that famous house on Pennsylvania Avenue.

And feel as you might about the confusing electoral college, it is an EXCELLENT source for some geography and math challenges.

Grace bravely begins our journey to chart and tally all 50 states.

We love this process because it combines state recognition, increasingly difficult addition, and some pretty fierce auditory comprehension.  Montana, mighty in size, has a mere 3 electoral votes.  Why is that?  What are the trends across our country?  Why do people vote Democrat in New England and Republican in the South?

Andrew colors just a line through Florida because the decision wasn't quite official this morning!

Success!  America charted.

But not without a whole ton of paper work!

                                                       So, Goodbye Elections Unit...


                                                   ... Hello, Creatures of the Night!

Bonus points if you can identify what the top right photo is.. the kids don't know it yet, but they'll be doing it soon!

We begin our study with bats.  Did you know that the biggest bat is the Samoan Flying Fox?  Its wingspan is 79 inches!  The smallest bat is the Bumblebee bat.  Bats even have thumbs.  They hunt by using their awesome echolocation abilities.  When they're flying erratically through the air, they're really master pilots, diving and twirling to catch their prey:  tasty moths, mosquitoes and flies.

Great illustrations to accompany your graphic organizer, Sophia!

These notes will help us out when it comes time to write a mini encyclopedia on some of the more interesting creatures of the night.


Check back to find out how our meal worm investigation goes!  This is the very first time I've tried it - these scientists are up for taking on some worms, but I don't know if I am...