Through our partnership with Aullwood Audubon Center, naturalist Miss Nicole came to teach us about birds of prey.
She even brought in a Peregrine falcon to the visit!
As part of the presentation, she brought owl pellets for the students to dissect! To clear up any confusion, 'owl pellets' are the undigested parts of food (mostly bones and fur) that are coughed up by the bird. They are not droppings or poo and they do not smell!
Since owls swallow their prey whole, the bones found within the pellet can tell you what the owl had to eat! All of our pellets contained the bones from mice. After extracting them, we used a chart to help us identify each bone and where they came from in the mice. Then, we pressed the bones into playdough to create the body of the mammal.
To continue our study of birds of prey, Miss Jacqui from the Wright Memorial Library came to read us some awesome books about birds of prey and brought us a huge bag of books on birds of prey. We love when Miss Jacqui comes to visit!
Each child chose a bird of prey and searched through books and online to find the wing span and height of the bird. They each got bulletin board paper and measuring sticks and measured out the height and wing span on their paper. This real-life measuring application was great practice for the students. They drew the body of the bird, folded it in half and drew one wing and cut it out---to make the birds symmetrical. Students used oil pastels to show the feathers and the bird's unique markings.
Some students also had an opportunity to create a portrait of their bird using acrylic paint with Mrs. Martin, the art teacher.
Using books from the library and online resources, they conducted research and wrote a paragraph using facts they found.
After students hand-wrote and edited their reports, they used the iPads to type them.
These research reports, along with their life-sized birds, can be found outside Mrs. Hoy's primary classroom!
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