 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Today's lesson provided by owl stomachs
By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE HERNANDO -- Janet Tuggle carried a very intriguing-looking plastic bag. It was filled with small aluminum-wrapped packages. The Forest Ridge Elementary School students knew what they were getting, and as Tuggle began to hand out the owl pellets, the children erupted in a chorus of e-e-e-w-w-ws. The pellets, something akin to hair balls coughed up by cats, were from a science supply house and had been treated for bacteria, so they didn't smell. The students worked in pairs, unwrapping the pellets, weighing them and measuring their lengths. The size of the pellet, Tuggle said, could help them determine the type of owl that regurgitated it. It did not take very long before the e-e-e-w-w-ws changed to o-o-os as the fourth-graders began to pick the pellets apart, exposing the contents. "Look at the neat bone we found!" exclaimed Nathan Molinero. "We found a rib," said Codie Letchworth. "Look at that big beak, dude," Grace Landers said to a classmate. "Holy shomoly! We have two skulls!" said Alana Worthington. "Oh, cool, I think I found a claw!" she said. "Holy crud!" exclaimed her science partner, Klye Vitale. "It's a jaw!" Alana said. All around the room, the children were bubbling with enthusiasm as skulls, femurs and vertebrae were plucked from the pellets. The lesson was part of the monthlong unit on animals, Tuggle said. "It's our third year of the owl pellets," which were bought with a grant secured by curriculum specialist Dianne Riordan. "It gives us time for science." The bones the students found belonged mostly to voles, tiny rodents popular with domestic cats as gifts to their owners. Apparently, they are popular with owls as well. The children grouped the bones and made displays that were exhibited at zoo day the following afternoon. During zoo day, the children displayed projects they had completed about a wide variety of animals. The choices of topics ranged from common critters, such as cats and hamsters, to more exotic elephants, Tasmanian devils and blue-crowned conures. Nothing topped the pellet dissection, though. It's a lesson Tuggle said the children don't forget.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Citrus Times Editorial |
