Jordak Elementary School third-graders are continuing their study of animal adaptations by seeing if they can adapt to different conditions like animals do.
Animal Adaptations
Jordak Elementary School third-graders are continuing their study of animal adaptations by seeing if they can adapt to different conditions like animals do. In order to help with this, teacher Barb Tropf set up several stations around the CCLC Science Lab for scholars to explore.
At one station, they dropped items into a cup using their own eyes, which represents binocular vision used by predators. Then, they put on a new set of eyes, or toilet paper rolls attached to goggles, that gave them monocular vision like herbivores. Scholars then tried to drop items into the cup again, but had to adapt to their new eyes to complete the task.
Another station demonstrated how animals use their hands/paws to gather food. Students were given dish gloves with spoons attached and they had to try to gather their food, which in this case was marbles. Scholars shared that they had to stand differently or move differently in order to adapt to their new hand and gather their food.
Other adaptation stations included webbed feet to show how they make water move, blubber gloves to give scholars a sense of how it keeps animals warm in cold water temperatures, and oily duck, which utilizes a cotton ball to represent feathers and demonstrates what happens when feathers are dry versus filled with oil.
Bonnie Plants Success
Jordak Elementary School loves the Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program. Every spring, teacher Barb Tropf sends her third-graders home with cabbage plants from Bonnie Plants to grow over the summer. Everyone is always so excited to hear about the scholars who have success the following fall. This year Hope H. turned her small plant into a 2.8 pound cabbage for her and her family to enjoy.
