Form and Function

What a glorious first day of our spring session! We couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather. We saw some unexpected signs of spring!

We kicked off our session, which is called “Amazing Adaptations” with a class all about Form and Function. Throughout class we learned examples of how the shape or form of a living thing can relate to its function and how it survives.

 

 

Our outside game was called “Quick Frozen Critters” and we played with Homeschool 2. It was a game all about predators and prey – in this case, coyotes and cottontails. There were two coyote predators and the rest of the children were cottontails. No matter the animal, everyone had to collect enough food to survive. It was a great way to start thinking about how to survive in the wild!

For greeting, homeschoolers were given a piece of a defense puzzle with a picture of a living thing on it. They had to find their match, then figure out what they had in common with their match. For example, even though the nettles and the yellowjacket are different creatures, both defend themselves by stinging. In this way, we began to think about how form and function are connected.

 

We met Diana, our intern from Mount Holyoke who will be joining us this session. We are so glad to have her!

We sang the alligator song, a fun repeat-after-me with hand motions and silly words.

 

We compared a branch of a barberry bush to a branch of a burning bush. One had sharp thorns and the other had stiff winglike structures. How could the forms of these plants help the plant function? 

 

 Our morning activity was called “Seeing Function.” To practice observing the functions at work in living things, we began by describing them using adjectives (our password of the day!). In pairs, one child was blindfolded and held a natural object in their hand and described what they felt. The other child took note of the adjectives they were using. Then as a group we guessed at what function these adjectives could be achieving. For example, a feather was lightweight, which Penelope suggested was helpful in a bird’s flight.

 

After snack, we took a look at the next activity: a function scavenger hunt. Instead of going outside to look for objects, we were going to look for functions. It wasn’t easy, but kids opened their minds to find examples such as nature cleaning itself, nature transforming waste, and communication in nature!

  
Best of all was seeing the new signs of spring everywhere: 

skunk cabbage

 winter aconite

 snow drops

 Wood frogs mating in the vernal pool 

 We had a wonderful lunchtime outside at the picnic tables then came in for journal time. Kids had to pick an object from the nature table, list an adjective describing it, then guess at some possible functions linked to those adjectoves. For example, there was a hard, spiral shell that would be good for protection against predators.

Then Diana and I put on a play about insect adaptations. Turns out insects are fabulously adapted for survival!
 

Please wear camouflage clothing for next week! We will be talking about how camouflage is an adaptation and trying it out ourselves.