Animals in Winter 

Hibernation   

  Hibernation Day

The room was transformed into caves and we did quiet activities, such as reading, in our caves for most of the morning.

We check the temperature on our thermometer every so often to see if it is time to wake up. Has it gotten warm enough yet?

Time For Hibernation

(Frere Jacques tune)

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Big black bear, big black bear?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In a log, in a lair.
 

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

Hanging bat, hanging bat?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In a cave is where I'm at.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Garter snake, garter snake?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In the mud, in a lake.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Toad and frog, toad and frog?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In a pond, near a log.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Meadow mouse, meadow mouse?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
in a field, near a house.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Turtle friend, turtle friend?
Time for hibernation.
What is your location?
In the stream, till winter's end!

Just as bears have to use their sense of smell to find food when they wake up , we crawled around the room sniffing for our food after we woke up. Popcorn (on paper towels) was scattered in various places throughout the classroom.

We played a hibernation rhyming game. We pretended to sleep. The teacher said two words. If the words didn't rhyme, we stayed asleep.

But if the two words rhymed, we woke up!

We made our own bear caves by folding brown construction paper in half twice. Then we overlapped the two ends and glued them together to form a triangle.  We cut an opening for the cave entrance and glued some fiberfill or cotton balls around it. We also put some bushes around the opening. We sculpted bears from Crayola model magic and used a marker to color them brown (after they dried). Then we put our bears in their caves.

Migration

We're standing in the North (there's a sign posted nearby) and it's cold out!  We learned that some animals migrate when it gets cold.

Geese make a V formation when they fly south to migrate.

The geese take turns being the leader at the point of the V because that is the hardest job, flying against the wind.

The geese can easily find food in the south (but I doubt they find a box of goldfish crackers for their snack!)

Active Animals

Animals that stay active in winter have to find food. The teacher hid food in the water table and buried it in pretend snow.

We had to dig out our food just as the animals would.

We read a book about animal tracks in the snow and saw pictures of different animal tracks.This is difficult to see, but animal footprints have been pressed into Crayola model magic to look like footprints in the snow.

These footprint impressions can also be placed under paper and rubbed with the side of a crayon to make the footprint. After we practiced making the rubbings, we made one on story paper and wrote about it.

Animal Tracks

http://www.bear-tracker.com/