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We set our sights on smaller bodies of water this week and explored ponds! On our nature walk, we ventured to little Alley pond and found some insect larvae in the water. We also took water samples to further investigate when we got back to our classroom. So many animals call the pond their home! Some live in the water and some make their home around the water's edge. Today, we spotted some ducks and turtles near the surface!
We learned about more Heroes of the Environment today! Ms. Karen told us about Melati and Isabel Wijsen, two sisters from Bali who launched Bye Bye Plastics, in an effort to stop plastic pollution in the oceans! Did you know single use plastics can cause a lot of harm to ocean wildlife. We repurposed plastic bags and made them into really cool bracelets! We wrapped up this fun day with some surfing!! Well, we couldn't really surf but we used our imagination. Cowabunga!
Week 3 of Summer Science Kids ended with us being animal scientists for the afternoon! We each chose and animal to research and present facts on. We were inspired by today's hero of the environment, Allie Boyer. Allie was in 4th grade when she started Purses for Primates, an organization that raises money for the care, protection, and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned orangutans! Hearing about what these young environmentalists have accomplished really inspired us to realize, you're never too young to make a difference!
We wrapped up the week with some seriously cool sea creatures! Ms. Bonnie helped us create our own jellyfish during craft time with tentacles and everything! Did you know sea jellies float? We did some hands-on experimenting with different items to see if they would sink or float. First we made predictions and then we compared them to our results and recorded them on a chart. We really enjoyed when Ms. Bonnie brought in some colored spaghetti and we pretended it was squishy seaweed!
We had a frog-tastic time today learning about amphibians and the rainforest! We examined a model frog skeleton and discussed adaptations we see that help a frog survive! Frogs are fantastic jumpers so, naturally, we had to see if we could jump as far as a bullfrog! Later we learned about a local hero of the environment named Justin Sather, a 10 year old from Westchester. Justin started the Million Letter Campaign to help preserve the rainforest in Ecuador and help save the frogs. For each letter Justin receives, his family donates $3 to the rainforest campaign. We wrote 12 letters today to send to Justin and help preserve the rainforests of Ecuador!
Oh my! Look at those mollusks! Kindergarten Kids learned about the 3 main groups of mollusks today! Mollusks are a large group of animals that includes slugs, snails, clams, and octopus! Kiddos were captivated observing local land snails and made connections to their marine relatives. Do you have a favorite mollusk?
Today in Alley Pond Pioneers we learned all about owls! Did you know owls have special feathers that help them fly silently through the night sky? They're owl-fly fascinating! Owls are predators and that means they hunt for things like mice, rats, and shrews. The fur and bones of their prey cannot be digested so owls have a strategy for that! They eject all the undigestible parts in a neat little pellet. We got to dissect REAL owl pellets today! Slowly pulling them apart revealed several rodent bones and skulls in each pellet! Check out this video of us during the dissection!
Today was another egg-citing day at APEC! We explored a variety of different nests that birds construct and how those nests protect the young inside. We pretended to be egg-stravagant birds of paradise and invented some dance moves before egg-sploring some models of real bird eggs! Had enough egg puns? We didn't think so! We wrapped up the day with a classic egg-drop challenge. This STEM activity got us thinking of creative ways to protect an egg from breaking in a fall. Every single one of our eggs made it! Hooray!
Today's focus was environmental hero, Alex Lin, a teenager who advocated the importance of recycling! We enjoyed a book about recycling while outside in the park and we helped sort items that can and cannot be recycled - it's amazing how many things can be recycled! Our craft was a blast from the past! We used something called CD's to make tops! Ms. Karen says people used to listen to music with CD's but that sounds silly! We can't wait for tomorrow!
We continued our week of sea exploration with marine mammals! Fish aren't the only critters that live underwater. There are plenty of mammals that live in the ocean but breathe air from the surface! We practiced our graphing skills by making a chart to see what everyone's favorite marine mammal was. Did you see our fun whale craft?! We even included a blowhole so our whale can come up for air!
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