Give a Hoot!

This week, we explored the amazing world of owls.

Owl Babies by Martin Waddel was one of our favorite books. We empathized with the way Sarah, Percy and Bill felt when their mom was gone. They tried really hard to be brave and take care of one another.  

We had owls' nests in which to play. Just like the nest in the book, they had twigs, leaves and feathers in them.

Our table game this week was "Give a Hoot". We had to follow the colorful trail with our owls and try to get them to their nest before the sun came up. When an owl made it to its nest, we had to give a "hoot". It was a cooperative game- we all had to work together to get the owls to their nest.

We used bingo markers to design spotted owl masks.

Whoo, whoo, who are you?

We had to check them out in the mirror!

 Owls have really good eyesight. We each had a pair of binoculars to help us see just like owls. Then, we went on a hunt for mice- a barn owl’s favorite food.

Owls have amazing hearing as well. We played a game called "Squeak!".

We took turns being the owl. The "owl" sat in the middle of the circle and closed his/her eyes. The rest of us put our hands behind our back. One of us was given a squeaky mouse. The "owl" had to listen for the squeak and guess who was the mouse just by listening. Real owls can hear a mouse squeaking from a long distance away!

Owls are known for their good memory (owls think a lot!). We played a memory game called "Kim’s Game" where we had to remember a group of items, and then figure out which one was missing when one was taken away.

We read Owl Moon by Jane Yolen- another one of our favorites. We learned that owls are nocturnal creatures. They sleep during the day and hunt at night.

We also enjoyed Lazy Ozzie by Michael Coleman about an owl that was too lazy to fly but very, very wise as they say all owls are.

An owl’s body is covered with feathers. In the book, Sleepy Owl by Marcus Pfister, the illustrator gave the owls colorful feathers.

We made owls of our own. We used paper of all colors and shapes.

At the easel, we painted with an owl's feather.

We chanted:

There’s a big-eyed owl,
With a pointed nose,
With two ears
And claws for toes.
He lives high in a tree
And when he looks at you-
He flaps his wings
And says,
Whoo, whoo, whoo!”

Owls eat small prey whole- bones, fur, and all. The parts that can’t be used for food are packed together into pellets- small, rather hard, rounded objects. Then, they regurgitate the pellets. We had pellets in a bag to look at through magnifying glasses. It was kind of like "I Spy". We looked carefully to see what the owl had eaten.

We went owling just like they did in Owl Moon, but because owls are nocturnal, we were pretty sure we wouldn't see an owl. We looked for signs of owls- owl pellets, nests, feathers, etc.