Our program began with a discussion about High Park and the animals that live in it. Then we discussed different adaptations that animals have to deal with the cold winter months ahead. We learned about 4 different ways that animals prepare for winter:
1. Hibernators (e.g., groundhogs)
2. Catnappers (e.g., chipmunks)
3. Migrators (e.g., butterflies)
4. Tough-it-outers! (e.g., foxes)
Ask your scientist what these terms mean and what these animals do. Do they store food for snacking? Grow extra fur? Store extra fat on their body? Fly to warmer climates?
Since many animals need to gather and store extra food at this time of year, we continued by making animal pizzas. Each student needed to gather the favourite foods of their animal to put on their pizza. So, once our dough was ready, we went for a hike to search for those ingredients and look for signs of animals.
On our hike we found mushrooms, berries, acorns, maple keys and seeds. We learned about different types of trees, leaves and the secret river running under the visible river we saw.
We learned about three warming strategies of chickadees and played a game where we pretended to be chickadees and had to use those strategies to keep warm. Ask what those strategies were!
In the group I was with, one scientist found an owl pellet - what an owl coughs up after a meal - incredibly interesting, and we were able to guess what the owl had eaten. We got to keep it and bring it back to school so that we can look at it again!
If you haven't already heard all about our trip, please ask about it this weekend.
Have a great one,
Tamara
Why is this turtle named Houdini?
