My students need 6 owl pellet kits to dissect in order to better understand food chains, 6 packs of forceps to aid in the dissection, and 2 boxes of vinyl gloves.
Do you remember how much fun it was--even if you might have gotten a little grossed out--to do school dissection projects? My 183 fifth grade students have never had this opportunity. Dissecting owl pellets will be fun and will allow the students to better understand food chains and our ecosystem.
My students attend a Title I school with an 87% free/reduced lunch rate.
My students are eager to learn and enjoy learning by doing; however, my school system has limited funds for hands-on projects, especially costly science activities. Currently, the earliest opportunity students have to do a dissection project in our system is in seventh grade. I know my fifth grade students would both enjoy and learn from a dissection project, but we don't have the roughly $400 needed to fund the project.
My Project
Today's students need inquiry-based, hands-on learning experiences more than ever. By dissecting owl pellets, my students will have the opportunity to learn about food chains and our ecosystem. Students will learn basic dissecting skills useful in future science classes and will learn about owls as birds of prey and the foods they eat. As students examine and study these regurgitated pellets of bones, teeth, feathers, fur, and other indigestible substances from birds, mice, and other creatures of prey the owl has consumed, they will learn far more than they could ever learn by reading or listening to me teach. They can even match bones they find with skeletal diagrams of common owl prey. I can sense my students' excitement as I am writing!
I want my students to enjoy learning, to practice scientific inquiry, and to better understand the world's ecosystem.
Having the opportunity to dissect owl pellets will help make these goals a reality. Without your help, my students will not have this experience. Please help make this learning happen!
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