Owl Pellets

This was one of those great days of teaching that reminds me why I love being a teacher!  

The 6th graders came in at the end of the day, so I decided to do a quick overview of local birds with the kindergartners naming them off for the older students.  

Then I did a lesson on owls.  I did a PowerPoint slideshow teaching them about the owls of South Dakota where I displayed a photo and played the song/call of each owl.  They quickly learned that not all owls hoot.  I also showed some photos of the prey that owls eat.  I told them what I knew about each one and I threw in some experiences that I've had with owls.  

Then I told them about how owls cannot digest the fur and bones of their prey, so they cough it up in the form of a pellet.  Next, the older kids paired up with a kindergartner and they dissected an owl pellet.  Then they compared the bones that they discovered to that on a chart.  We found that most of the pellets had rodent bones and one had eaten a bird. 

I imagine that you are thinking that this is gross, but kids seem to find it fascinating and so do I.  It is a good learning experience because it teaches them about anatomy, the food chain and it gets them thinking deeper and piecing the puzzle together.  Its a bit like being a detective.  The students were all actively engaged in the activity and having great conversations about what they were finding.  Like I said...this is what teachers love to see!

The cousins got to work together today.

Little brother and big sister are in a group with a friend.

There were lots of good questions being asked today.

Some of them made a good friend!

They glued the bones to a piece of paper.

They compare the bones to the bone sorting chart.

Twenty-five active learners!