Dissecting Owl Pellets
Fiction:
Owl Moon, Poppy
Nonfiction:
Sattler, Helen Ronly. The Book of North American Owls. Clarion, 1995.
Owl Pellet Analysis
Materials: owl pellets, toothpicks, bone sorting chart
Procedure: After reading Owl Moon. Discuss what owls eat. Show an owl pellet to the class and ask what it is. Describe regurgitation and why owls do it. Pass out owl pellets to students and allow them to dissect the pellets. Once all the hair, and bones have been separated, have the students identify the animals that the bones belong to using a bone sorting chart. Once identification is complete, have students conclude about the types of prey and the number of prey eaten. (some pellets have more than one skeleton.)
Fiction:
Joseph and his Little Overcoatand any of Denise Flemings' books
Read Joseph and his Little Overcoat. Discuss recycling and reuse.
Materials: old newspaper, electric blender, large pan, wire screen, water, cornstarch, stirrer, wax paper, rolling pin
Procedures:
1. Tear a page of used paper into small pieces. Place it in a large pan. Add enough water to cover the paper and soak for 10 minutes.2. While the paper is soaking, mix one-fourth of a cup of water with about one-eighth of a cup of cornstarch. Stir until the cornstarch dissolves.
3. Pour off the water in the pan that was not absorbed by the paper. Put the paper in a blender. Add the cornstarch and water mixture. Cover the blender. Run the blender on high for two minutes.
4. Put the screen over the pan. Pour the material onto the screen. With your hands, spread it out so that it is flat and thin. Cover the material with wax paper. Use a rolling pin to squeeze out the excess water. CAREFULLY remove the wax paper.
5. Allow the new paper to dry completely. This may take a day or two. GENTLY peel it from the screen. Try writing on it. Write down what happens.
6. Look at Denise Flemings book(s). Discuss how she creates the images in her book by creatively making paper from recycled color paper.
Science
and Literature Activities