Students at Sunset Heights are still having a lot of fun with the new FOSS science curriculum.
Teacher Denise Vulgamott’s 3rd grade students recently started work on the Structures of Life unit. Her students are looking at different environments where organisms live.
“These are in a card pack that goes with FOSS science,” she said. “My students were to pick a card, read about that organism’s adaptation, what kind of food it would eat, what predators they needed to stay away from.”
In Vulgamott’s class, they have two crayfish: Jeckle and Hide.
Her students are studying about what type of environment they would live in.
“[The students] know that the crayfish eat 1-3 times a day,” Vulgamott said. “They only like spring water. They like to be in the dark. They can only be out of the water for 1-2 minutes at a time. [The students] are taking very good care of them.”
Next, students began looking at other types of habitats, including the forest.
“One of my students was studying about the striped skunk,” she said. “He was looking at the kind of organism he is, which is a mammal. Next, he would write down what a skunk would eat. Then, he was to look on the back of the card to see the adaptation a skunk uses to protect itself. As we all know, it is the lovely smell it gives off.”
The other groups were looking at other organisms from different habitats, Vulgamott added.
Below are photos of her students:
Webster City Community Schools 