Wildlife Encounters: Animals That Burrow

We have been learning a lot about rocks and minerals and how they contribute to the soil, which we will study even further when we learn about plants. To help us learn a bit more about what animals can do for our soil, Krista from Wildlife Encounters brought us 6 different animals who help the soil all around the world!

The first animal Krista brought out was Monster the Black and White Tegu. Tegus like to eat snails and mollusks with their shell-crunching jaws. Because the Tegus have such a powerful jaw, they are able to break down the shells much more quickly than the Earth can, and they deposit the nutrients from the shells directly into the soil! Tegus live in South America in tropical and subtropical climates. 

The second animal Krista shared with us was Butch the Madagascar Ground Boa Constrictor. Butch was a bit feisty, and he likes to dig holes in the ground that are big enough for his body. This provides channels for water to get deep into the soil and it also aerates the soil. Like all snakes, Butch has a very small brain and only has a memory of about 7 minutes, so they run solely on instinct!

The next animal that Krista brought out was very, very silly! His name was Sid the Salmon-Crested Cockatoo and he showed us some of his crazy dance moves and even imitated a fire alarm! Cockatoos, like many birds, eat nuts and seeds from trees and deposit the bits and pieces that they don't digest all around their environment., which brings nutrients to the soil and causes new trees and plants to grow. Sid's species also happens to be on the critically endangered list, so it is important to preserve and protect their natural habitat on the Moluccas Islands.

Krista then brought out Daffy the Flemish Giant Rabbit. Despite only being a few months old, Daffy is already 23 lbs.! Daffy likes to eat all sorts of plants (especially plants from vegetable gardens!) and she deposits the nutrients for these plants throughout the soil in her surroundings. Daffy's species is originally from Europe and was later brought to the U.S.

Krista also shared a very shy animal with us named Nibbles the Patagonian Cavy. Nibbles also is an omnivore (a plant eater) who deposits nutrients into the soil from the plants he eats. Nibbles is a relative to the guinea pig and can run up to 40 mph! His species lives in South America. We learned that if animals have eyes on the side, they like to hide. Eyes on the front, they like to hunt!

Rex the African Spurred Tortoise can usually be found in the Sahara Desert. Rex has great arms and claws for digging, which helps to bring air and water deep into the soil, just like Butch! Rex can dig holes so big, that three adults could fit inside by standing on one another's shoulders! Rex is only 25 now, but he can live to be over 100 years old. The rings around his shell tell us about how many growth spurts he has had, and he could grow to be as big as the black carpet he was standing on!

After the presentation, Krista let us pet Monster, Rex, Butch, and Daffy. Monster's skin felt like a football and Daffy was very fluffy. Rex went on an adventure all around Mrs. Healey's room! 

Thank you to Wildlife Encounters for bringing such a meaningful learning experience to our classroom! We truly appreciate having the opportunity to do some hands-on learning with some very cool animals! 

Rockin' Out

This week, we started our exploration of rocks for science. At the beginning of the week, we wrote about and shared what we already knew about rocks:

Did you know...

• rocks can be very big or very small
• sand is made of tiny pieces of rock
• some rocks are smooth and some are bumpy
• some rocks have crystals inside
• there are different types of rock--igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock (we learned this in our nonfiction reading!)
• some rocks have Micah
• lots of things are made with rocks

We also came up with a list of questions we still had about them:

We are wondering...

• Are some rocks harder than others?
• How do rocks get smooth?
• What kinds of rocks have crystals?
• What kinds of rocks are shiny?
• How many years does it take for a rock to become clay?
• What kinds of rocks have fossils?
• How far into the ground do you need to dig to find rocks with fossils of dinosaurs?
• What are rocks made of?
• How far do you need to dig to find diamonds?
• What kinds of crystals are in rocks?
• How many types of rocks are there?

While we can find many of the answers to these questions by looking in our nonfiction books and doing a bit of online research, we can also find some answers by doing a bit of exploring ourselves! We went on at rock hunt outside of our classroom to begin collecting some specimens on Wednesday:

On Thursday, we talked about different ways we could sort our rocks. After brainstorming lots of ideas for how we could sort our rocks, we each chose our own sorting method and came up with categories to sort our rocks into. After sorting our rocks, we went around the room to see how others chose to sort theirs:

We will continue to do some more exploring with our rocks and other rocks next week!

Blasting Geodes

This week, we learned about a special kind of sedimentary rock called a geode. Geodes are created when a cavity forms inside of a rock and other materials seep in to take its place. On Wednesday, we got to break open our own geodes and see what was inside!

First, we put on our safety goggles. Then, we placed our geode inside of a sock (to keep the pieces from flying away) and we got to work with some hammers and mallets to blast them into pieces! 

We found so many cool crystals and minerals inside!

Some of us think we may have even uncovered a few diamonds :) 

Science Magic- Exploring Soil with Ms. Arnold

For this week's Science Magic experiment, we headed over to 2AA to explore soil with Ms. Arnold! During our science talk, Ms. Arnold asked us which material would hold water the longest-sand, soil, or rocks? Many of us hypothesized that soil would hold water the longest, so we put our theory to the test.

To test our hypothesis, we took turns pouring water through sand, soil, and rocks that were sitting on coffee filters above a cup and we timed how long it took for the water to run through it. We stopped timing after the last drip on each material we tested.

After testing each material, we discovered that rocks held onto water for the longest amount of time! According to Science Clarified, soil is made up of about 50% solid material and 50% space, with 90% of that solid material being rocks and minerals. Many of us thought it would be interesting to test these materials again to see which one would hold the most water. Perhaps you could try it at home!