Bird Beaks and Feet

 

We had a beautiful breezy day today learning all about bird beaks and feet. We started off with a game that was new for most: the horse game!

 

We came inside and did a greeting that involved matching cards with animal noses with the correct animal.

 

We stretched!

 

 

We read the morning message. Today’s password is keratin, which is what beaks and talons and fingernails and our hair is made out of.

 We did a bird beak adaptation lab where homeschoolers had to pick up different kinds of bird food using different tools. We learned that different kinds of birds have specialized beaks to eat their food, whether it is fish, flying insects, seeds or plants!

 

 

 We had a great outdoor adventure! We admired spring wildflowers...

 

...encountered new poison ivy and jewelweed...

 ...built a bridge...

...pretended we were mommy and daddy birds with clothespins for beaks...

...found a dragonfly recently emerged from its exoskeleton...

 

... and caught frogs and a baby turtle!

 

  

We worked hard on journal writing...

...and made a beak wheel craft to match the birds with their beaks!

 

Super Skulls (And Teeth!)

  

We had so much fun today learning about skulls and teeth. We began the day by playing “kick the stick” with the older kids. It involves building a teepee out of sticks, kicking it over, and hiding and seeking. We’ll have to try it again sometime – it was fun!

For their home projects, kids reported about the adaptations of several herps – spring peepers, green frogs, snakes, and American toads!   

 

Diana and I put on a play about a mouse, hare, and fox as an introduction to tooth types.

We examined an herbivore skull and a carnivore skull and compared them. Then we learned our password of the day – omnivore – and looked at a possum skull (which is an omnivore). 

 

In partners, kids looked at animal mounts and matching skulls to see what was what. Omnivore, carnivore, or herbivore?

  

On our outdoor adventure, we did a tooth and diet scavenger hunt. We looked for the three kinds of eaters and food they could eat, plus an animal with no teeth, and something a human could eat.

 We played on the trampoline tree for a good long while, and some of us climbed trees.

  

We headed to the hibernaculum, but all the garter snakes seem to have gone. There was plenty to see at the farm pond though, like a grasshopper, ducks, goats and water spiders.

  

We had a look at a model of human teeth and pointed to the incisors, canines, premolars and molars. Then we went and brushed our teeth!

What bright, shiny smiles!

 We worked hard on our journals.

This poster helped us figured out our skulls.

 Then we made our own animal jaws!

 

Please note there is no class next week due to April vacation.