Bird Brains

No, I didn't bring any real bird brains into my classroom, but we did have a gizzard, owl pellets and lots of feathers. In science my 5th graders are currently studying the vertebrates. We spent a few days on mammals and now we are learning about birds. Today each group went through 6 stations to learn more about these amazing creatures.

In this station the students compared a flight feather to a down feather and looked at them under a microscope.

This station taught the kids about a bird's gizzard. They got to take a close look at a turkey gizzard and then grind up some dried corn.

In this station we compared a moose leg bone to a chicken leg bone.

A student disected an owl pellet in this station. We found all kinds

of cool mouse bones inside the mass of hair.

In this station a student had to match a tool for a use. Each tool simulated a different bird beak. In this picture a student uses a nutcracker to crack a peanut which is like a grosbeak opening a seed with its wide, strong beak.

At Hill City School we are fortunate to have many mounted animals available to us. In this station the students compared and contrasted three different kinds of birds: an owl, a pheasant and a wood duck.