Summer SAVY Session 4, Day 4, Animal Adaptations (Gruchot)
Day 4: Dear SAVY Families,
WOW! What a fun, engaging day that we had at SAVY Session 4: Animal Adaptations. I think your scientists will agree that today was the best one yet!
We started the morning by rotating through adaptations stations. Using the animal flashcards, students had to find a common adaptation between the animals seen on the group of flashcards. Some of the groups of animals were much easier to find a common adaptation than others. Then, scientists had to read adaptation clues about an animal to try and determine what the animal was. Scientists did an amazing job figuring out the mystery animals and using the clues provided to back up their thinking. Scientists really enjoyed getting to collaborate with each other to learn more about the animals that they were tasked with analyzing.
Next, scientists were thrilled that we were going to become specific scientists for a few hours: paleontologists. Paleontologists are very well known for being scientists that study fossils! Scientists were amazed to see how much they knew about the fossils we looked at, simply by analyzing the appendages and possible adaptations still visible on the fossils. We then had the opportunity to make our own fossils. We looked at fossil models and created a visual of what the animal may have looked like. It was very interesting to see how the scientists saw their animals in different ways: each with diverse body coverings and adaptations!
After ORA, we started by observing our mealworms. Scientists were excited to see how much the mealworms had changed in just two days of thriving in their plastic cup habitats. Unfortunately, some had to learn about the cycle of life because not all mealworms made it, but this made for a great discussion and connection to natural change. Next, we asked another question: Do mealworms prefer wet or dry environments? Scientists discussed a way that we could answer this question through experimentation, wrote a hypothesis, and then conducted their experiment. Finally, we discussed the findings as a class to answer our questions. Once again, this was great practice in completing the scientific process with integrity.
To end our day, we started on our culminating project. Students will have the chance to show off everything that they have learned at SAVY this week by creating their own critter. Today, we introduced the project and chose a habitat that our created creature will live in. Choosing a habitat was the first step because it determines what adaptations the critter will need to survive. Students began brainstorming the adaptations that their critter will need in preparation for making and displaying their critter tomorrow.
Discussion Questions:
- How do fossils teach us about change?
- What adaptations are still visible on fossils? Which are not?
- How did your mealworm change?
- Was this how you predicted it would change? Where is your created critter going to live?
Tomorrow is our last day of SAVY Session 4: Animal Adaptations. It is sure to be an inspiring display of scientists’ achievements this week! I am really looking forward to it, and hope that your scientists are too!
Sincerely,
Miss Gruchot 🙂