Owl Inquiry Day!

We have had lots of wonders about owls, porcupines, mice, and owl pellets as we read aloud Poppy, our chapter book by Avi.

Since we had so many wonders and questions, we had an Owl Inquiry Day!

Room 408 loves Research Workshop! We started by brainstorming lingering questions we had about owls:

We reviewed all our sources and started our research by studying photos, reading books, or researching on our ipads on PebbleGo and Epic.

We also explored an owl skull...

...and weighed owl pellets on a balance.

We made connections and collaborated about our learning.

Of course, we always recorded our new learning!

We gathered together to share our learning and answer our questions.

Finally, the time came that we have all been waiting for: dissecting owl pellets! We found it morbidly fascinating.

We found lots of cool bones inside, along with a *lot* of fur.

When we found a bone, we used a diagram to help us identify what kind of bone it was and what kind of animal it came from:

The owl inquiry has been one of our favorite days, so far!🦉

Our First Inquiry!

  We have been learning about the life of the researcher, Jane Goodall.

For our first inquiry, we started wondering about Jane by looking at some photographs.

We started to have lots of questions.

We started thinking about how we can learn from various sources. Some great ways to learn are through photographs, PebbleGo, and books. Each of us started learning about Jane by choosing how we were going to start our own research.

Declan, Delilah, and Braxton comparing research of similar findings.

They were so excited to have all found information about Jane's chimpanzee stuffed animal!

Kendrick is recording his research off of PebbleGo.

Braxton found out that she lived in a tent.

Mason found the same thing in a National Geographic magazine!

Piper is being told that she can confirm her prediction that she thought she liked animals, because Braxton found a magazine cover that said, "Animal Scientist and Activist."

Franklin is focused in his research.

Asher recorded so much research, his clipboard is full!

Delilah and Mason are comparing information across lots of print sources.

So many great conversations happen as they share their research with each other.

We got together as a big group to share and compare our findings about Jane.

Everyone was so proud of all our hard work as researchers!

We then read the book The Watcher, which told us more about how Jane accomplished her dream to work and study with chimpanzees in Gombe, Africa.  We also got some of our questions answered!

Jane was not only a researcher, but also a writer.  She kept piles and piles of research in her tent when she was working with the chimpanzees.

We learned that one of her favorite chimp companions was named David Greybeard.

However, after many years Jane realized that the chimpanzees she loved were in danger of becoming extinct.  She realized that the best way to help the chimpanzees was to share their story with the world.

Jane Goodall is an excellent example of the 3 A's:  Activism, Awareness, and Aid.  When we do our inquiries this year, Room 408 will keep these 3 A's in mind.

This is a National Geographic video that we watched so we could see Jane in action:

What inspires you about Jane Goodall?