Saint Andrews Discovery

Hibernation, Migration, and Adaptation

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Animals in Winter

When the weather gets cold, the animals start to prepare for winter!

In the fall, some animals start to change their behavior to get ready for the colder months.

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Over the course of two weeks we discussed the following:

Some animals will eat and eat and get fat and plump so they will be ready

to sleep through the winter (HIBERNATION). These animals will go through changes

during their hibernation - their heart rates slow, their body temperatures lower, and they rest.

We named animals that hibernate such as: bears, skunks, chipmunks, snakes, hedgehogs, etc

Other animals begin to move south to warmer areas where there is more food (MIGRATION).

We learned Canadian Geese travel in groups, forming a "V" shape so that they stay together, travel safely, and take turns leading the group. They will stop to eat and rest along their journey

and will return to their summer homes after winter is over.

We also learned some whales migrate from Alaska to Mexico.

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And lastly, some animal's bodies and behaviors change - their fur thickens, the prepare winter beds and dens, and they store or bury food for their winter. Some animals that adapt for winter

include: squirrels, deer, bunnies, fox, even my own cats! We talked about

many ways they adapt and how it helps them survive.

In Centers, we had our very own bear cave, an arctic center with penguins and whales and polar bears, a STEM activity where the children had to try to balance cups into a shape of a tree or a square, and other winter related centers.

Popcorn!

This week the children got to venture downstairs with Miss Marion and Miss Ann to do a special, fun lesson all about popcorn and a little about the First Thanksgiving.

The first thing we did was explore a kernel of corn with four of our five senses (this was important because we were later going to explore a popped kernel of corn with our five senses).

We talked about how it looked, felt, and what it was - and how many things corn is in that we eat. We discussed how corn grows and that popping corn is different from the sweet corn on the cob we eat at a picnic.

We had to think about HOW does a small, hard, light corn kernel turn into a larger, fluffy, white piece of popped corn. We learned about a story the Native Americans told their children (ask your child!) and then we learned the REAL secret behind popping corn: a tiny droplet of water inside the little kernel! When heated, it steams up and pushes open the outer kernel shell and the inside (white starch solidifies and) comes out and forms a piece of popcorn we can eat!

We had to demonstrate how this was done and of course, we had to TRY the popcorn ourselves! The children loved this part. We talked about how water, when heated, steams - changing from a liquid a gaseous state and then we popped our corn kernels in the popping machine. Of course, a long time ago, Native Americans and other cultures did not have popcorn machines or microwaves so we discussed some of the ways they popped corn over their fires.

The children LOVED the popcorn (all except our youngest friends who had a slightly different lesson) and we discussed how it smelled, tasted, looked, felt, and sounded when it POPPED!

This was a special FUN lesson for the kids right before Thanksgiving! They enjoyed it.

Just see how much fun they had...

You put the oil IN

And you start to GRIN

Put the corn in the POT

And you watch it get HOT

SIZZLE, SIZZLE, SIZZLE, SIZZLE, SIZZLE,

POP!!!

The children waited to see the STEAM - the water heating into a gas!

Here are some books we looked at and discussed...

And not very scientific but very festive...

Our youngest scientists did not do the popcorn lesson (since popcorn isn't the safest snack at their young age) so we came back to the Discovery Room and talked about turkeys, animals in winter, fall leaves and fall weather. The children were able to put leaves on a fall tree, add feathers to a turkey, and search and bury acorns just like the squirrels are doing to prepare for winter!