Category: Structure and Function

Predators and Prey – Puppet Show

Little Red Riding Rabbit

Characters: Mother Rabbit, Bunny, Grandma Rabbit, Fox

Props: a thorny thicket, Grandma’s shawl, sign saying “Meanwhile in Grandma Rabbit’s Thicket”

Mother Rabbit    Listen, Bunny Dear. Grandma Rabbit is not feeling well today. Why don’t you go and visit her? Maybe that will make her feel better.

Bunny    Sure. I’ll cut right through the woods because that’s a faster way to get to Grandma Rabbit’s thicket.

Rabbit   OK, but remember to keep a lookout for danger. Continue reading Predators and Prey – Puppet Show

Predators and Prey – Standards

PREDATORS AND PREY ALIGNMENT WITH
NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

The activities in this unit help children understand the basic concepts in the Disciplinary Core Ideas listed here. You can use the following list as a guide for lesson planning. These Disciplinary Core Ideas are taken from Grade Band Endpoints in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Additionally, our activities give children opportunities to engage in many of the Science and Engineering Practices and reflect on the Crosscutting Concepts as identified in the Next Generation Science Standards. Continue reading Predators and Prey – Standards

Skull Sleuthing – Background

Have you ever stumbled across an animal skull in the woods and found your mind filled with questions about it? What kind of animal was it? What did it eat with those teeth? Were the eyes really that big? Was the brain really that small? Finding a skull tends to bring out the private investigator in all of us. As we examine these bony shells, built to protect the brain, hold the teeth, and house many of the sensory organs, we can find clues about the animal’s life.

The first thing to notice when you find a skull is its size. Is it the length of your thumb (squirrel, rabbit, weasel); does it fit in your hand (fox, bobcat, raccoon, beaver, opossum); is it as long as your foot (deer, bear), or even bigger (cow, horse, moose)? Size can be deceptive since skulls lack the covering of muscles, skin, and fur of a live animal and thus often seem much smaller than you would expect. Still, by considering its size first, you can often narrow down the possibilities. Continue reading Skull Sleuthing – Background

Skull Sleuthing – Activities

FOCUS: The shape and structure of skull and teeth are adaptations related to an animal’s food and way of life. The teeth and eye placement of carnivores differ from those of herbivores, omnivores, or insectivores. Much can be learned about an animal from its skull, for these are the bones that protect the brain and house the mouth, teeth, and sense organs – all of which are critical to its survival.

INTRODUCTION
Objective: To begin to explore and ask questions about teeth.

Have children feel their teeth with their tongue or look at their teeth in a mirror. Are all the teeth shaped the same? What are some differences they notice and what questions do they have about them?

TOOTHY GRINS
Objective: To observe our four different kinds of teeth and investigate how we use them.

Have children feel their teeth with their tongue, noticing that some are flat-topped and some come to a point. Some have one point and some have several points. Continue reading Skull Sleuthing – Activities

Skull Sleuthing – Puppet Show

Dinner Guest Dilemmas

Characters: Sally Squirrel, Molly Mole, Willy Weasel, Benjy Bear

Props: foods like corn cobs, apples, blueberries, clover

Sally Squirrel  I hope I have everything ready for my dinner party. My guests should be arriving any time now. (knocking sound) Here’s someone now!

Molly Mole  Hi, Sally Squirrel. Am I the first one here?

Squirrel  Yes, come right in, Molly Mole. May I offer you some acorn appetizers?

Mole  Acorns? Oh, no thank you, Sally. I can’t eat acorns. Continue reading Skull Sleuthing – Puppet Show

Skull Sleuthing – Standards

SKULL SLEUTHING ALIGNMENT WITH
NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

The activities in this unit help children understand the basic concepts in the Disciplinary Core Ideas listed here. You can use the following list as a guide for lesson planning. These Disciplinary Core Ideas are taken from Grade Band Endpoints in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Additionally, our activities give children opportunities to engage in many of the Science and Engineering Practices and reflect on the Crosscutting Concepts as identified in the Next Generation Science Standards. Continue reading Skull Sleuthing – Standards

Birds of a Feather – Background

In the fashion world of birds, anything goes. From crimson cardinals to loons in elegant black and white, from portly turkeys with rusty fan-tails to sky-diving falcons in steely gray, birds carry it off with panache. The diversity of birds is amazing, with 10,000 species worldwide living in habitats as different as tropical jungles and frozen tundra, and ranging in size from the tiniest hummingbirds to condors with ten-foot wingspans. Birds’ fashions may seem exotic, but they are also functional, adaptations for each bird’s particular environment and way of life. Continue reading Birds of a Feather – Background