what adaptations are unique for the owl in its...

What Adaptations Are Unique forthe Owl in Its Habitat?

We have been learning about different kinds of owls and theirhabitats. What adaptations can you think of that are unique forthe owl in its habitat? You will show what you have learned inyour drawing.

You should try to include the owl's characteristics such as itssize, body features, feeding habits and habitat, as well as thetypes of animals that are its prey.

Your drawing should also answer this question: If there are 12eyes, what would the owl’s family group consist of?

1 of 12What Adaptations Are Unique for the Owl in Its Habitat?

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What Adaptations Are Unique for the Owl in Its Habitat?

Suggested Grade Span

K–2

Task

We have been learning about different kinds of owls and their habitats. What adaptations canyou think of that are unique for the owl in its habitat? You will show what you have learned inyour drawing.

You should try to include the owl's characteristics such as its size, body features, feeding habitsand habitat, as well as the types of animals that are its prey.

Your drawing should also answer this question: If there are 12 eyes, what would the owl’sfamily group consist of?

Big Ideas and Unifying Concepts

Form and functionInterdependenceScale

Life Science Concepts

Evolution, diversity and adaptationsPopulations and ecosystemsRegulation and behaviorStructure and function

Mathematics Concepts

CountingDiagramsNumber properties, numeration and number sense

Time Required for the Task

Approximately 60 minutes.



Context

My first graders have continued their investigations involving animal adaptations through a four-week study of “Birds of Prey.” The major focus of our study involved owls of the Northeast andtheir respective habitats. The children investigated predator-prey relationships, habitats,adaptations, characteristics, life cycles, endangerment and human relationships with owls. Toenhance their understanding about the importance of owls, I used Outreach For EarthStewardship as a resource. This group brought a live, injured saw-whet owl into our classroomfor us to observe, which better illustrates ecological concepts and the effect of humanrelationships.

What the Task Accomplishes

This investigation demonstrates how children apply their observation skills by makingconnections with real wildlife (e.g., the owl that visited our classroom). They used scientificreasoning in classifying characteristics of several species of owls from a variety of resources,constructed predator-prey food chains and used their prior knowledge of eye adaptations tomake more sense of an owl’s adaptations in its environment. This task was assessedthrough a final drawing of a species of owl in its appropriate habitat, which answered amath/science problem-solving question. An interview with each student, recorded by theteacher, is included with the rubric, as are benchmarks for each of the four levels. We also haddiscussions about an owl’s value to humans as a “controller” of certain pests and spent sometime identifying factors that contribute to the endangerment of a wildlife species.

How the Student Will Investigate

The children began the unit on northern owls by brainstorming the question, “What do you thinkyou know about owls?” We saved this list to return to at the end of the unit to see what they hadlearned. This also helped me to determine what vocabulary they already knew/had beenexposed to and what ways I could build on their prior knowledge.

The owls that we focused on in-depth were the great horned owl, barn owl, barred owl, greatgray owl, snowy owl, and saw-whet owl.

Some of the questions that the children generated about owls to investigate were:

• Can owls really turn their heads all the way around?• Do owls see better than us in the dark?• Do all owls have the same call?• Do all owls hunt at night? What does it mean to be nocturnal?• Do owls only eat mice?• How do owls eat their food?• Which owl is the biggest? smallest?• Do owls live everywhere in the world?• Do owls have ears and where are they?



• Does the great horned owl really have horns?• If owls can fly silently, how do they do that?• Does an owl ever drink water like other birds?• Where do they put their nests?• Do owls have any predators?

During the four-week study, the children worked in cooperative groups to investigate each owl’scharacteristics, food preferences, habitats, life cycle and other particular features. We alsoreferred back to our question list as we worked. Students used library resources, large photosand nature videos for this research. The small groups shared their information with the class atthe end of the unit.

Interdisciplinary Links and Extensions

ScienceExtended investigations integrated with this activity might include an investigation of a variety ofbirds’ flight wings, beak varieties for food gathering, feet varieties and migration (we discoveredthat the saw-whet owl is the only owl in Vermont that migrates.) Ecological organizations (suchas the Vermont Institute for Natural Science in our area) are another resource to visit or bring tothe classroom for “Birds of Prey". The gifted-enrichment teacher in my school organized threesixth-grade students to do a skit for my first graders to illustrate the food gathering differencesbetween a bluejay and an owl.

Environmental pollution could be investigated using different substances that affect the naturaltexture of different kinds of feathers.

Any of the questions that students generated early in the unit could be used to extend thinking.For example, a question about how owls fly could lead into a unit of study on flight.

Drama/Music/ArtExtend investigations by having children work in partners to write songs or to make puppetpresentations of the information learned about different owls and their adaptations. The childrenmade beautiful pen and ink sketches of the saw-whet owl after observing it. These were savedfor a scrapbook about owls. Students also constructed feathered masks to use for their puppetpresentations.

MathematicsThe children created math problem-solving activities around pairs of eyes. Students couldgraph the position of eyes in different types of wildlife, or students could graph types of food-gathering adaptations for a variety of birds. Venn diagrams could be utilized to compare andcontrast bird characteristics, as well.

Since owls come in many sizes, scale drawings to show the different sizes of owl varietiescould also be created. Visual representations that depict how many mice an owl family mightconsume in one day, two days, etc., could also be created or acted out in the classroom.



Language Arts/Social StudiesSome of our favorite books that were integrated into our classroom included All About Owls, byJim Arnosky, Whooo Is It?, The Owl In The Tree, by Jennifer Coldrey, Owl in The Garden, byBernice Freschet, Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen, Owl Babies, by Martin Waddell and Buffy TheBarn Owl, by Jane Burton.

Children could investigate whether owls live on all continents and look at their habitats andchoices of prey. I have also used poetry as a successful tool to explore different themes and toconnect literacy with science.

Teaching Tips and Guiding Questions

I was constantly asking questions of the children as we proceeded through this owl unit, but Ispent an equal amount of time encouraging them to ask questions that they wanted to answerthrough their investigations. This provides more ownership for the children. The firstcharacteristics they noticed right away were the owl’s eye size and position, which indicated theuse of their prior knowledge from our earlier eye-adaptation investigation.

Some additional questions that were investigated throughout our unit were:

• How might the size of the owl relate to their choices of prey?• Why do you think the saw-whet owl is panting? Would it do this in the wild? When?• How is the beak of the owl different from the beaks of other birds?• How/why would an owl use its talons?• Does an owl perch differently from other kinds of birds? Do they have the same number of

toes? How is their toe function different from other birds?• Which owls prefer to nest in trees. How would this be a problem for an owl in a lumbering

forest?• Do you think an owl has any predators? Why or why not?• What would be found in the owl pellets? Were you surprised at what you found? Why?• How would an owl be a good example of “reduce, reuse and recycle” in the forest?

Concepts to be Assessed

(Unifying concepts/big ideas and science concepts to be assessed using the ScienceExemplars Rubric under the criterion: Science Concepts and Related Content)

Life Science – Structure and Function; Regulation and Behavior; Evolution, Diversity andAdaptations: Students identify characteristics of organisms (survival needs, environments,variation in behaviors, role in food chains, and life cycles) and observe, compare and categorizethe characteristics of a variety of owls. Students predict how the adaptations help the animals tosurvive in their particular habitats.

Life Science – Populations and Ecosystems: Students categorize living organisms aspredator or prey.



Mathematics: Students understand number sense, counting and grouping numbers.

Skills to be Developed

(Science process skills to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric under the criteria:Scientific Procedures and Reasoning Strategies, and Scientific Communication Using Data)

Scientific Method: Observing, predicting, classifying, reasoning, recording, communicatingand raising new questions.

Other Science Standards and Concepts Addressed

Scientific Method: Students describe, predict, investigate and explain phenomena.

Scientific Theory: Students look for evidence that explains why things happen and modifyexplanations when new observations are made.

Life Science – Structure and Function; Regulation and Behavior; Populations andEcosystems; Evolution, Diversity and Adaptations: Students describe and group animals bywhat they eat and where they live. Students understand that living things are found almosteverywhere in the world, see patterns in similarities and differences among living organismsand understand that they are interdependent. Students explain that each animal and plant hasdifferent structures that serve different functions in growth, survival and reproduction, that anorganism’s behavior evolves through adaptation to its environment and that how a speciesmoves, obtains food, reproduces and responds to danger are based in the species’ evolutionaryhistory. Students categorize populations of organisms by the function they serve in anecosystem and food web. Students understand ecological interactions with wildlife and thatspecies acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological adaptations, includingchanges in structures, behaviors or physiology that enhance their survival in an environment.

Suggested Materials

Provide and display a variety of accurate photos from nature magazines like Ranger Rick andAudubon. Local organizations, such as the Vermont Institute of Natural Science and OutreachFor Earth Stewardship, were resources that provided materials and ecologists for this unit. UpClose and Natural, has also produced a variety of videos on science topics. The greatestresource was, by far, bringing in a live owl for the children to study and observe.

Possible Solutions

The criteria that I used in assessing my first graders’ drawings included the following:

• Appropriate and accurate sequences (food chains, stages of owl growth).• Accuracy in details and scale (feather patterning, size of owl family members).• Actual objects vs. stereotypic drawings (real owl-face details vs. people’s happy faces or

cartoon-like creatures).



• Relationships between objects and realistic positions (body proportions of owl, talons,perching, size of prey to owl)

• Organization of drawing and neatness.• Accuracy of conclusions and details given during the oral interview with the teacher. (I also

listened for environmental attitudes.)

Task-Specific Assessment Notes

NoviceThis student’s explanation demonstrates some evidence of using prior knowledge. However,the information, reasoning and/or concepts grasped about the adaptations and habits of thisparticular owl are limited and lacking in detail. The prey is shown bigger than the owl, and manyfeatures of the owl are missing (no feathers, for example). All owls are depicted as the samesize, rather than as parents with offspring. This student does have the correct number of eyesfor the mathematical component.

The Novice student said:

“This is a barn owl. It has a happy face. My owl is in the barn. The food is the largest bird,maybe a bluejay. Lots of trees around the barn. My owl lives in the trees. It flies silently. Killtheir food.”

ApprenticeThis student is able to state some adaptations and information correctly. The size of the owlfamily is inaccurate (should be five to six offspring) but more realistic than what the Novicedrew. The prey, a mouse, is factually correct but is represented larger than the owl. The studentcould not identify the relationship of the largest bird. The math component was not correctlyrepresented with 11 owls, yet the student referred to three groups of four when interviewed.

The Apprentice student said:

“This is a saw-whet owl. I have three families with four each. They are getting prey. A mouse.Snakes are on the trees. Owls go in the holes to get prey. Saw-whet’s are little. (This is true –7’’ high) They live in trees. Hunt at night.”

PractitionerThis student demonstrates more accurate information and details of the great horned owlfamily. There is accuracy shown in size, body features, prey information, concepts grasped anduse of detailed explanations. However, great horned owls do not have this large a family(usually only two or three owlets are in a nest). Vocabulary used during the interview showsevidence of conceptual understanding.

The Practitioner student said:

“It is a family of great horned owls. It has big tufts of feathers on its head. The young owls arelearning how to fly and try to swoop down to catch their prey. Some baby owls are bigger than



others because some hatch sooner than others. They are after rabbits because great hornedowls are big. They are hunting at night because they can see really well. They can hear betterthan people. Talons grab the prey, but they kill with their beak, then swallow whole and spit outan owl pellet with leftover bones, feathers or fur. Their home is in a tree in the forest.”

ExpertThis student demonstrates clear reasoning and extended thinking in her drawing of the barn owlfamily. Barn owls often produce five owlets. Their hunting habits and habitat are accuratelypresented, as is the information describing the features of this owl and growth proportions to themother owl. The student demonstrates knowledge from prior class discussions about how owlshelp humans.

The Expert student said:

“I have a barn owl. It is nighttime because this owl likes to hunt at night, like most owls. This owlcaught a mouse with its’ talons. It will feed her five baby owlets in the barn. It will tear the foodwith its sharp beak. It has a face that looks like a heart. It catches its prey very quietly. It canhear a mouse’s heartbeat far away. Its face is white and the other feathers are white and brownwith a pretty pattern. It will sleep in the old barn during the day. Owls help the farmer get rid ofthe mice. We have to take care of owls because they help people.”



Novice



Apprentice



Practitioner



Expert



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