February 17th, 2010

We have explored hibernation and migration in our animals in winter unit. Today, we started talking about adaptation. Some animals neither migrate or hibernate, they stay in one place and have to find ways to survive through the winter. We thought some animals might grow extra fur, store up blubber, and store food in the spring to eat in winter.

To find out which animals in our community "stay" for winter and find ways to adapt, we went on an adaptation exploration!

We first brainstormed a list of safety rules to remember on our hike.


We first chose which tools we were going to use during our adventure. Some scientists chose a clipboard, paper and pencil, some chose binoculars, and some chose magnifying glasses.



We explored all over campus. We had buddies and we were responsible for keeping each other safe.


We noticed several squirrels. We used our binoculars/magnifying glasses and clipboards to observe and record the squirrels. We noticed the squirrels were looking for nuts. They were also running though the trees to look for a hole or branch to rest. Several squirrels were chasing each other all over campus! We practiced moving quietly and carefully to get super close to the squirrels.





We found nuts and a pinecone that we thought could be a food source for the squirrel in winter.

We found mushrooms. We thought some animals could eat mushrooms for food to survive the winter.

We also heard with our ears birds calling in the trees, and we noticed a bird's nest as well! We were shocked to realize that not all birds migrate!



It was Mia's fourth birthday today. Happy birthday, Mia!


At afternoon centers, we used our animals in winter vocabulary words and sorted them on our word wall by the first letter of each word. For example, hibernation went in the "H" category. This helps us not only expand our vocabularies, but also helped us with letter recognition and making the connection between letters and their sounds.