The terrific third graders have been busy focusing on Birds and The Mouse and the Motorcycle these past few weeks. With our bird unit underway, we had four super fun lessons with Jamie from the Harris Center on beaks and feet, migration, and looking at the birdwatching data we have collected. The children dissected owl pellets and discovered the diet of owls. Also, they went out birding, listening to bird songs. During Reading Groups, the children read and discussed non-fiction texts about birds, learning all about their adaptations, habitats, and diets. As a guest speaker, Zach Pease visited and shared his extensive nest collection! Thank you to Zach for coming! Thank you to Mrs. Pease for sharing her Bird Bingo and Forrest for sharing his Bird Memory. The children loved learning the names of some fancy birds through enjoyable competitive games.
The class is incubating chicken eggs to learn about bird life cycles organically. The children wonder about the process, and each has a question they will answer using the Scientific Method. The children monitor the eggs daily to ensure the correct incubator temperature and humidity. They also learn about the chicks' appearance in the egg each day. The whole school is enjoying the project by guessing how many eggs will hatch. Fingers crossed!
The class plays a daily trivia game about The Mouse and The Motorcycle to challenge their comprehension and recall facts from the story. The children love the story, and they either read it themselves nightly or listen to the staff read to them. They like to report who read the chapter the night before!
