The 5th graders at Peaslee Elementary School and their teacher Ms. Miranda were excited to welcome teacher-naturalist Danielle Fredericks and some Drumlin Farm residents to their classroom last Wednesday to see the intricate parts of the food web up-close.
To start off the visit, Danielle helped the students become part of their own food web. Standing in a circle, each student was given an index card with one element of the food web written on it. Starting with the sun, the students passed yarn across the circle to the next “step” in the food web. From the sun to an oak tree, from the oak tree to a squirrel, from the squirrel to a red tailed hawk, from the hawk to a mouse, and so on. By the end, the web of yarn was so intertwined that is would have been impossible to remove one piece and maintain the web, showing the importance of each organism to the others.
Once freed from the web, the students sat in circle around a tarp and plexiglass barrier anxiously awaiting the firsts animal guests—15 mice! Squeals of delight filled the air as the babies darted under the leaves spread across the tarp, demonstrating their instinct to hide from predators. Several students noticed that a few mice had red eyes instead of brown ones, which gave Danielle the perfect opportunity to talk about variation.
The kids were able to get an even closer view as Danielle walked around holding one mouse in a tennis ball container. To Ms. Miranda’s relief, all 15 mice made it back to their carrier, and the students were ready for the next guest.
Moving up the food chain, Danielle sat in a chair to hold the corn snake in her lap. Though corn snakes are not native to Massachusetts, they are similar to the milk snake, which is a native species. Mouths open wide, the 5th graders learned that while humans are limited by the joint of their jaw bone to the skull, snakes can detach their jaws. This adaptation allows them to swallow their prey (like mice) whole. Brave students were able to stroke the tail of the snake as Danielle walked around the circle, showing of the snake’s cold scales.
Finally, Danielle presented a red-tailed hawk. Though this particular hawk is blind in one eye, the students marveled at a hawk’s ability to see mice from half a mile away! Once it has spotted prey, the hawks sturdy wing allows it to dive quickly enough to catch even a moving animal. Danielle passed around a hawk wing for the students to feel, giving them a sense of how a hawks adaptations allow it to survive at the top of this chain in the complex food web.
What an exciting day for the Peaslee School 5th graders!