December 2, 2007

Dear Families,

Here’s an update from our last Four Winds lesson titled "Prey and Predator." Because our lessons are usually on a Thursday afternoon, I’m not able to summarize our lesson and put in our class newsletter each Thursday before sending out to you. In order to keep you informed, I either have to send the information in a newsletter a whole week after it occurred, or send it to you in a separate newsletter. Here’s the separate newsletter.

We learned much about both the hunted and hunter of the animal kingdom. Since our large, overriding Four Winds theme for this year is Structure and Function, we focused on what an animal needed to be able to do, or the body parts it needed to either protect itself or be able to catch the type of prey it needs to survive. First, we looked at the diets of several animals, and discovered that some animals are strictly plant eaters or herbivores, others are meat-eaters or carnivores, and there are even some animals that are both meat and vegetable eaters, so they get a special name, omnivores. Then we looked at what body parts and capabilities each type of animal needed in order to be able to catch and eat it’s prey. Some animals needed to be able to fly or jump high, and others needed very sharp claws and sharp fang-like teeth for catching fast-moving animals and tearing flesh. Some animals needed to be able to blend in with their background and be very still for long periods of time, while waiting for a meal to come along. Other animals needed strong, muscular legs to be able to move quickly in a high pursuit chase in order to catch food—a whole different meaning to "fast food." We reviewed what nocturnal means—having night vision and alert at night. We also learned a new term—at least new to me—crepuscular, relying in part on vision and most active at dawn and dusk. In small groups children were given a description of the prey they needed to catch in order to survive and then had to create and draw the imaginary animal that could catch and eat that prey. Some of the prey included: snake sunning on a stone, porcupine in a treetop, and bats hanging on walls of a cave.

Sarah Nussbaum (Matthew’s Mom) and Jennifer Mead (Ciara’s Mom) began our lesson with a play, and then led a flannel board story about a group of foxes and rabbits that took place over several season changes. The fox needed the rabbits for food in order to survive, but some harsh winters and low food supply in the summers, created a shortage of rabbits, which then affected the size of the fox families. We also saw that an over abundance of either fox or rabbits put stresses on the food chain in way or another, and that changes resulted in population of one species or another.

Here are some photos of our lesson, and many thanks to Jennifer and Sarah for making it happen for us!