WooHoo, the ZOO!!

A mere two weeks after our bundle-up-super-chilly field trip, we decided to end our school year with a trip to the Abilene Zoo. Temp high for that day? 100 degrees. Yep, that's Texas for you!

Everyone got a chance to feed the giraffes. 

The kids were so excited to feed the fish. There are tons of them! Plus, we saw water snakes and turtles hanging out with them, too.

We waited and watched our peacock friend for a long time, hoping to get a glimpse of his feathers spread out wide, but no such luck. 

Afterwards, we stopped at Abilene's splash park. It was the perfect way to cool off with those rising temps. 

And a perfect way to end our school year!

Field Trip to State Park

It was cold. 40 degrees and windy, but the kids never complained! We began our field trip with Ranger Bryce and he led us down the trail to the Bird Blind.  

On our way he talked about geocaching and he let the kids discover one of the geocaches hidden on the trail.    

Konner's eyes lit up when he discovered the geocache!

We arrived to the bird blind and saw many species of birds.  The Thrashers, Black Cow Birds, Red Winged Black birds,  Robins, House Wrenchs,  and Doves all put on a show at the feeders.  

 Ranger Bryce told us many interesting things about birds and answered the kids questions.  He said that birds can not sense spiciness and can eat the seeds of a jalapeno.  If they get stickers in their feet they can pull them out with their beaks.  He also said that the Black Cow bird laid its egg in other birds nest and was considered a pest.  Each bird had a different shaped beak and could be seen eating seed in a different way. As we were watching for birds, several bunnies made themselves known hopping close to the Bird Blind.

On the way back down the trail Ranger Bryce cut open a cactus to show how much moisture was stored there.  Despite the weather, the field trip was an excellent field study for our little bird enthusiasts. 

Fish and Birds ~ Week 3

 

Fish and Birds - Week 2

We saw the world through the eyes of birds this week at Brandy's house. She read them this colorful pop-up book about birds and explained many of the attributes God has given to the birds.

She talked about their eyes being monocular instead of binocular. The kids tried to see what that was like by trying to catch a ball with one eye closed.

The kids got to feel some real bird feathers, first dry, then wet. They felt a wet towel to see how little water the feather holds in comparison. 

They got to pass around a real bird's nest. And I can't remember why Brandy had this umbrella. I believe it was raining that day. ;) 

Brandy had stations set up for the kids to see how different birds used their different types of beaks. Which type of "beak" is easiest to do which task?

Fish and Birds - Week 1

Now it's time for our last unit of the year: birds and fish. Jenny had the kids sing our Creation Song, adding our verse about the birds and fish. The kids took turns reading from the Bible about Day 5.

She then read a couple books about birds, followed by a group effort of creating an acrostics about birds. 

The kids then got to make bird feeders to take home. We hung ours in our tree and caught a bird or two nibbling on it. 

Some were a little confused about who the snack was for. 

Then Jenny read a few more books about fish, this time and we got to create another acrostic. 

A little craft of homemade playdough...

Jenny made the kids birds nest and fish water for a snack. The kids weren't all sure about that drink, but it was yummy!

Sun, Moon, and Stars - Week 5

Cheri did her lesson at the park this time. The kids always love that. She gave them a lesson on the birth and life of a star. The kids held a black plastic sheet to represent space. The two sparkle balls represent 2 hydrogen attracted to each other to create a star.

Then Miss Cheri showed them some pictures of star nurseries, a nebula.

 We learned a little about gravity. The kids tried to guess which ball had more gravity.

Then, of course, we had to try tossing our big ball. The kids did this a few times. It was too fun not to.

We talked about photons and how light particles travel. So we then had a relay race with the big ball as a traveling photon.

Here's where the kids got to create their own star nursery...

Sun, Moon, and Stars - Week 4

To go along with our sun, moon, and stars theme, Theresa did a lesson on astronauts. First, she taught the kids a few facts about rockets and astronauts.

Then we gave her a countdown for the take off of a rocket. Make sure those rocket boosters come off! She told them about all the stages the rockets go through to get to the moon.

Then we had our astronaut training. The kids had to pick up the playdough with a robot arm and open and close a latch with astronaut gloves on.

Time to shoot off a rocket. All the kids had a blast with this project. I think they would have done it all day if we would let them. Even the little ones got a turn.