A Most Wonderful Year
5/24/2019
This has been an incredible year for me. I have come to adore this class, they have been kind and compassionate to one another, and full of eagerness to explore and learn. I will miss them, our explorers, but I am also excited to see how much they have learned and grown, and to see them ready to move into their next adventure. They are brave, smart, kind, and curious. It has been a privilege and an honor to have been their teacher. Thank you for sharing this year with me. Happy Trails and Explore Everything, Ms. Amy Enjoying being outside-making kites and going on a nature walk. Field Day!
From Egg to Chick
5/15/2019
Last Wednesday morning our first chick hatched! We had been learning that week about how chicks have an egg tooth on their beak to help them make the first crack, or pip, in their shell. We even acted out how a chick hatches, pretending we were in an egg, poking our heads out from under are wing and cracking the shell. Wednesday when we arrived at school we heard the first peep from inside a shell and saw one egg wiggling around with a small pip. We were so excited! As we watched the pip became a crack and we saw a beak and then a wing. Soon the chick was out of its shell! One more egg had pip by the afternoon and hatched in the night. The third chick hatched over the weekend surprising us all Monday morning!
We are all fascinated by the new babies. Watching them stumble around, listening to their little cheeps, and observing how they changed as their feather down dried. They are now growing their wing and tail feathers. We worked together to make a new home for them making sure they had food, water, warmth, and a soft nest-like place to be safe. We had discussions on how we should care for our chicks and what they needed to survive. That Thursday was another very exciting day as the the chicks were old enough to be held. We took turns very carefully holding the chicks. The Explorers loved how soft, fluffy, and light the chicks felt. Our Spring Adventure
5/11/2019
Our spring trip to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center was wonderful despite the weather. It was filled with learning, excitement, and discovery. Our guide, Mr. Duane, taught us about the animals, their adaptations to living in Alaska, how they came to live at the AWCC, and what they needed to survive. We learned how wolves say hello to each other, what a wood bison feels like, how a musk ox skull let's the animal live in the arctic, and how an owl's ears work. We also discussed which of the animals we saw were oviparous and which were mammals. We were treated to an up close encounter with Kit Kat the 3-legged porcupine. The Explorers were ecstatic and amazed to watch the porcupine move around on the table in front of them, see his orange teeth, padded feet and claws, to watch him eat, and hear him make his noises. Mr. Duane showed us the three types of fur a porcupine has and answered all our questions. I was proud of our Explorers on this final field trip, to hear their insightful questions and watch them make observations and discoveries. They have become confident and exuberant learners. They are also true adventurers as the weather was very wet and windy. Nests! Nests! Nests!
5/3/2019
This week was all about nests. We examined real nests and a collection of real eggs. Our collection's largest egg is an ostrich egg and our smallest is a quail egg. We had 3 alaskan bird nests and one East African weaver bird nest. We were able to see how birds build their nests sturdy on the outside and soft on the inside to protect their eggs and babies. This lead to a discussion of why animals make nests. Together we came up with these reasons: to keep their babies safe and warm, so predators won't steal their eggs, to keep their eggs from falling or cracking, and to be a home. After feeling and describing actual bird nests our Explores built nests out of clay and natural materials we collected on a nature walk. This activity required the use of problem solving skills because the nests needed to safely hold one of our model eggs. They reworked their nests to be wider, taller, deeper, or more stable depending on the design. We learned that building bird nests can be difficult.
We spent time learning what kinds of nests different eggs need and how the parent animals make them. We used kinetic sand to mimic sea turtle nests, looked at penguin and sea birds rocky nests, bird nests in trees and burrows, fish nests (redds), and frog nests. |
Anna RamseyArchives
April 2021
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