Harry Russell's Woods & Wild Animal Research

It was a beautiful week, despite the winter storm we had last Thursday and Friday.  In the beginning of the week it was about 60 degrees -  perfect weather for a nature hike.  We arranged to go to Harry Russell and take a hike to look for signs of Ohio's wild animals.  Each adult escort received a clipboard with the list of things we were looking to find.    

We found many signs of wild animals including: animal tracks, animal droppings, bird and squirrel nests, a beehive, nuts, birds, feathers, and much more.  Take a look our friends on their hike.  

Bird nest

Squirrel nest

Deer Print

Beehive

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we arrived back to school, we documented on two different lists of animals in our Exploration Lab Journals.

We began researching our Ohio wild animals, and started to make a plan for our study.  As mentioned last week, we have for groups of students each studying one of the following: skunks, squirrels, coyotes, and bluejay's.  Each group met and began looking through books to find facts about these animals.  

Our friends studying skunks decided to make a "cheer" for skunks.  They called out "Gooooooooo SKUNKS!"  

Mrs. Garrabrant got in contact with "Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.  They loaned us some amazing materials.  They gave us several field guides including birds and amphibians of Ohio.  Each of the field guides came with a resource CD.  In addition, they gave us several animal pelts of Ohio's wild animals.  All of these animals were not harmed when collecting the pelts.  They were able to give us a pelt of a skunk, squirrel, and a coyote.  The students were amazed to see and feel the pelts. 

 

Students wanted to know if the skunk pelt smelled, but it didn't. 

Lastly, on Thursday, one of my students from a couple years ago came to visit.  She read a book about skunks and a book about coyotes.  The children were all amazed to hear Madison read so fluently.

I hope everyone enjoyed the snow this weekend.  Take care and have a beautiful and warm week!

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Ohio's Wild Animals

Although it was a two day school week, we were still able to get a lot accomplished.  We worked together to generate a list of questions we had about Ohio's wild animals.  Many of the students wanted to learn about animals habitats, the types of food they eat, and how they prepare themselves for winter.  

Last week we made a list of some of the "Wild Animals of Ohio."

 This week, the students voted to select 4 Ohio wild animals of which they would like to study.  It took some time to vote but we were finally able to narrow it down.  To our surprise the students chose: coyotes, skunks, squirrels, and birds.  Then later in the day all the students chose which animal they would like to personally study.  We made sign-up sheets for the students.  Now we have  4 complete groups of "zoologist" students that will each study their own animal.  

Each zoologist group will be responsible for coming up with their research topic for each animal; how they are going to document their learning; and how they are going to present their learning.  

 We also talked about the words "study" and "research."  We made a list of many different ways that we can learn more information about a specific topic.  

Here is the list we came up with.

This coming week we are going to be taking a trip to Harry Russell's Woods.  We will be exploring the woods to look for animal habitats, animal tracks, and other traces of wildlife.  Students will also begin using our "I Wonder" time to make a plan, and to begin researching their animals.  We look forward to sharing our information with all of you at our "Ohio's Wild Animal's Museum" open House."  You will get more information about this in upcoming emails and letters!

Have a fantastic week and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Mrs. Julie Atkin 

Special Visitor "Winks"

Friday we had a special visitor.  This special visitor named "Winks" the squirrel was cleared to visit our school under the conditions that this animal was vaccinated, stayed in her cage and that the children were not to touch her in any way.  This visitor is friend from Mrs. Garrabrant's class, and is taking care of a baby squirrel that fell from a tree.  Sadly, her fall ended in her loosing a toe on one of her back feet.   She didn't have enough time to get well and prepare for the winter, so she is being kept in captivity until she fully recovers. 

Since we have been talking about Ohio's wild animals, this squirrel was a great way to get the conversation started about how she would have needed to prepare for winter if she was living in the wild.  We talked about how this animal is still a wild animal even though it lives at a humans house and is treated like a pet.  She was born in the wild and is potentially going to be released back into the wild. 

When the children got their first glance at "Winks" they couldn't help but smile and become VERY excited.  They came up with some great questions for its owner and we learned a lot.  

The students were thrilled to meet this squirrel.  This experience has made them even more excited to learn more about the wild animals in Ohio, and how they prepare for winter.  

I look forward to sharing more about our new study in the future!

Mrs. Atkin

Friendship Feast

This week was our Family Friendship Feast.  The students were extremely helpful with preparing for this exciting event.  Below you will see some documentation panels that we made to display our work.  These panels were displayed at the feast, and are now displayed in our classroom.  If you missed them at the feast, or weren't able to make it,  take a look at our process!

In addition we created table decorations that said "Give Thanks" on both the front and the back sides. 

 Thank you to those that brought in cans of corn for our feast.  We also used some of the hand picked green onions from our garden to give the corn some flavor.  

Students made labels for the items we made in our classroom. 

 Carrot cake cookies at our feast.  (The carrots were also hand picked from our garden at school.) 

The tables were set with beautiful decorations, and the feast was ready to begin.

We welcomed friends to our feast with our beautiful signs. 

 The students from all three classes sang a couple songs to kick off our feast.

At our feast we had A LOT of food.  Thank you for bringing all the yummy food!

AND... a lot of yummy desserts.  

 

 

 Our count was about 170-180 people that joined us for our feast.  What an amazing turn out!

Thank you again for joining our feast!  Here is a picture of all the teachers that had a hand in planning and making the feast happen (alongside the children).  We were joined by our superintendent Dr. Clifford.  Our principal Ms. Hall was busy at the moment and couldn't make the shot.

We had plenty of turkey, bread, potatoes, green beans, and fruit left over so we decided to feast with all the students the following day.  Mrs. Gore moved all the furniture to one side of her room and all three classes squeezed in so we could feast together.  ALL the children had a great time!

Thank you again for joining us at our feast.  Also, thank you for sending in apples and cans of corn to help us prepare food for our feast.  We hope you enjoyed our feast as much as we did.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy your few days off.  

Take care,

Mrs. Julie Atkin