Birds, and Celebration of Learning

The Whales are Ornithologists! This week we started our unit of study on birds. At the beginning of the week the Whales asked what makes a bird a bird? We looked at different birds characteristics such as beaks, ability to fly, and feathers. Ultimately, we learned that feathers are what makes birds; birds. Birds are the only animal with feathers. The Whales looked at two different types of feathers. We looked at contour feathers and down feathers. The Whales noticed that contour feathers would be better for flight. The Whales noticed that compared to the contour feathers, down feathers are lighter and softer. Down feathers are used to keep birds insulated (warm and cool).

The Whales studied the beaks of birds. We talked about chisel, strained, seed-eating, nectar-eating, spear, and tweezer beaks. Working in groups, the Whales practiced what it would be like to have each beak. The stations were set up to resemble each beak. At the chisel beak station, Whales took turns hammering nails into a wood round. At the strained beak station, Whales used clips to try to catch insects from the water. At the seed-eating station, the Whales used pliers to pick up and crush seeds. At the nectar-eating station, Whales used pipettes to get nectar out of a hummingbird feeder. At the spear station, Whales used tongs to dive into the water to catch fish. At the tweezer beak station, Whales had to used tweezer to pick up corn, and insects. After our stations, we talked about how important it is for birds to have certain beaks depending on what they eat. If a bird eats seeds but had a nectar-eating beak, they wouldn’t be able to crush seeds. If a bird fed on nectar but had a seed-eating beak, they wouldn’t be able to reach the nectar.

There was so much to celebrate at Celebration of Learning. It is amazing to see all of the growth from the Whales. On Friday, the Whales had a conversation of how they felt during Celebration of Learning. The Whales felt so proud to show off their newest published books, their weather reports, their must do tables, artwork, and more. We are so proud of them all!