Winter in the Woods

We had some beautifully warm weather last week. The temperature was in the 40s and so I decided to take my science classes outside in the woods for a little snowshoe hike. It took us awhile to get the snowshoes on over our big boots, but once we were all strapped in, off we went!

As we trudged through the snow, we looked for animal signs such as tracks and scat. We also played a game of predator/prey. The predators were wolves on snowshoes and the prey were moose (on snowshoes) and deer (not on snowshoes). Deer aren't native to our area and so their feet are not adapted to walking in deep snow. It was fairly obvious by the number of "dead" deer that snowshoes really help keep you on top of the snow. Minnesota mammals with wide feet are better adapted to our snowy conditions.

Lovely Larva

We are now studying the phylum arthropoda in 5th grade science class and that includes the insects. Today each student got their own little mealworm to study. Mealworms aren't actually worms, but the larval stage of a common insect. (I am keeping the identity of the adult insect a secret from the kids, so it will be a little more surprising when it happens.)

The kids decorated a paper cup "home" for their larva and gave it a name. We will spend the next few weeks observing our little guys, taking measurements and waiting for the big metamorphosis change.

These larva are actually a common food in many cultures. I ordered "Larvets" from a company - they are toasted and flavored mealworm snacks. You can find them here: http://www.hotlix.com/insect_candy/larvets.html

I always eat a few to show the kids they are edible and then I challenge my class to try one for themselves. This year almost every kid tried one and many ate two. Who can resist a barbecue flavored worm? Yummy!

DARE

This is Hill City Police Chief Jeff Madsen who teaches our DARE classes every Thursday. In case you didn't know, DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. These weekly classes teach the kids about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Even more importantly, the kids get to spend some quality time with a police officer who really cares about them. Jeff is an amazing guy who truly loves kids.

We will end the DARE program sometime in April with a fun celebration at school and an awesome field trip. We are so lucky to have Jeff Madsen in our room each week.

Class Election

It was election day today. My class elects officers four times a year. These class officers "run the show" and have a tremendous amount of responsibilty in the classroom. Today the candidates took down all their campaign posters and gave speeches telling us why they would make a great class president, vice president or secretary. I was amazed at the quality of the speeches. They really care and put a lot of effort into the race.

Congratulations to Amber, Shawn and Hannah for winning this election. They are going to do a great job

Marvelous Mollusks

We are studying the mollusk phylum of invertebrates. This group includes snails, clams, octopi and squid. So today we dissected squid. Yes, you can find whole squid at your neighborhood grocery store. The box is labeled calamari, but they are entire little squid - complete with beady eyes and gooey guts.

It took a little while for the kids to get up the courage, but once I demonstrated the procedure they had no problem tearing the cute little heads off. Then it just got cool - ink sacs complete with a "pen" (actually a feather-shaped internal structure used to support the body as it swims). The best part was dipping the "pen" into the ink and writing their names on their papers.

We also got to look at some internal parts under the dissecting microscopes. Everything looks more interesting when it is blown up 30 times bigger!

Tomorrow I am making calamari with the body tubes we cut apart today. I bet almost every 5th grader will try it!

Amazing Annelids

Annelids? Okay, we're talking about ordinary earthworms...but annelids are their scientific name. The fifth graders are working on an animal unit in science class and we have started with the invertebrates.

On this day the students spent some time observing their worms and then they designed an inquiry science experiment to explore worm behavior. Here are some of their experiments:

This group designed a maze and timed the worms as they crawled through it. They sprayed one worm with water and kept one dry to see which would be faster.

In this experiment the students are discovering if worms like cold or warm temperatures. The lab tray contained a pile of snow and a warm paper towel.

This student designed a black cylinder to see if the worm preferred dark or light areas.

Can a worm untie itself from a knot? This student found out!