Over the past few weeks, we have been researching all about animals and how they survive in the winter.
We started by researching as a class:
Last week, the students broke into expert animal groups and researched to complete the pic collage layout for their animal.
As our final project, we used the IPad app, Pic Collage to create our own. They turned out great!
We have LOVED our animals in winter unit this month! I wanted to include a picture of our board which shows all of the students hard work and our long process of research and exploration.
Last week, we learned about the 3 ways that animals survive during the winter: hibernate, migrate, and adapt.
We started learning about adapting by talking about Polar Bears. We read the following non-fiction book:
After reading, the students had a chance to place their hands in freezing cold water.
If you can tell by their facial expressions, it was FREEZING!
I posed the question, "how are polar bears able to survive in freezing cold winter?" The number one answer was because of their fur.
We focused on the following page in our book to learn more information:
We did some research on blubber and learned that blubber is a layer of fat that these animals develop under their skin. I asked, "do you think we can create something that is like blubber so we can feel what the polar bear feels when it swims in freezing cold water?" As a class, we created our own "blubber" out of crisco.
Each student went back to the ice water and felt the water with and without our blubber. They could not believe how warm the blubber kept their hands in the ice water.
After experimenting with the blubber, they recorded their findings in their wonder journals.
Today, we went on a winter wonder walk. We observed the winter weather and recorded our noticings in our wonder journals.
While on our walk, we also observed our 2 adopted trees! We were so excited to discover that our deciduous tree was bare; it had no leaves! As a class, we recalled our previous learning about how some trees get rid of their leaves to survive the winter. Our adopted evergreen tree still had its green leaves which were rolled tightly like needles! This was so cool to see all of our previous learning and research in action!
While walking to our trees, I overheard an incredible conversation between two students about the leaves on our trees. Of course, I was only able to record the end of their conversation once I realized how awesome it was. I wanted to share with you everything that was said and the short video clip that I did catch on camera!
Child 1: Look! The leaves are gone!!
Child 2: I know, the tree had to get rid of those leaves because it is winter.
Child 1: And look, our evergreen tree still has it's leaves!
