Bunny Boy or Bunny Girl?

We had a problem; lots of baby bunnies and limited cages.  Who do we bunk with whom? A wonderful Redeemer mom visited this week to show us how to solve our dilemma.  Her report:

I had such a fun morning with the 5th graders today! We learned how to determine the gender of a bunny and why it is important. The children learned:

1. Boy bunnies are territorial and if placed together it can lead to fighting
2. A boy and girl bunny placed together can produce babies.
3. Gender is easily determined with adult bunnies and more difficult with younger bunnies.
4. Some species such as cardinal birds and some ducks are easy to look at and determine gender. Bunnies require a bit more investigation especially with the younger, less developed bunnies.

We wrote down our findings and identified each bunny and its gender. As they develop a bit more in 2 weeks, we will investigate again to see if we were correct.

What amazed me the most is before we determined gender I asked each child whether they thought the bunny was a boy or a girl and in almost every case, they had guessed correctly. I was baffled by this because they have not been told if the bunnies are boys or girls before today. A possible theory could be that they notice different behaviors in the animals or physical characteristics and base their conclusions on that. However, 2 of the bunnies were impossible to tell apart, yet they still guessed the correct gender. From this, an additional more physiological theory developed. Possibly, the children’s instincts led them to their conclusion which could have something to with pheromones that exist that we are not aware of and yet help us determine who is whom.

As I watched the children holding and caring for the animals, I noticed their nurturing instincts. The children are compassionate, loving care takers of Redeemer’s little furry ones and now they know, based upon the gender of the bunnies, how to keep them even more safe.

opppps he is a boy

Thank God for all the little creatures and of course Ms. Keyburn for bringing this opportunity to Redeemer!



First conclusions, will check again in 2 weeks and see if we were correct
Youngest bunnies:
Dark gray - Asteroid - boy
Light gray - Twitch - girl
White with brown spots - Carmel - boy
White with black spots - Oreo - boy

Next Oldest:
Lighter gray - JJ - girl
Darker gray - Falon - girl

Lionhead bunnies:
Smaller - Clover - girl
Bigger/more fluffy/lighter - Emma the boy - boy

Minerals and Crystals

Mia and mica.

The fifth graders at Redeemer Lutheran learned about minerals and their properties when Mrs. Keyburn, the elementary science enrichment teacher, brought out many different kinds of rocks for the 5th graders to explore, study, and learn about. Some of the rocks she brought out were gneiss, feldspar, granite, and calcite. Ethan found a website that pronounces names of things outloud. Here's the website  http://howjsay.com/index.php?word=gneiss
Mrs. Keyburn explained where all these rocks were formed, and whether they were intrusive(underground formation) or extrusive(above ground formation).

  We looked at the crystal shapes in calcite, galena, halite, iron, feldspar, mica, and other minerals.  Then we identified minerals present in granite. 

Reported by Emily



Ainsley's rhombic dipyramid.      photo by Serenity

Land Down Under

The Land Down Under is a place where kids of all ages can play with friends, search for acorns, and play in the leaves.

 

Posted By : Travis

Note by Mrs. K:  I thought this would be a good time to introduce Together with All Creatures: Caring for God's Living Earth.  A Report on the Commission of Theology and Church Relations.  The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  April 2010.  All LCMS churches will have this on file.  I'll be writing brief excerpts from this publication with most of the posts.  Today's meditation:
God has called us to care for His Earth as creatures among fellow creatures in anticipation of its renewal in Christ and completion by the Holy Spirit.  (p. 2)

Guest post by Sam

 

 

As part of our nutrition study, we set up 3 centers today for taste-tests.  Palatable great nutrition is our goal!  This is what we did:

Natural Sweeteners
Honey, Agave, and Maple Syrup:  From insects, plants and trees.  We discussed which one was the sweetest and most pleasant.  Thank you God, for taste buds!

Quinoa, Red Beans and Seasoned Ground Chicken
Our version of the Bayou classic substitutes ground chicken for sausage, and quinoa, a high-protein grain from South America, for the rice.  Talk about your protein!  Mrs. Funderburg makes quinoa in apple juice for breakfast cereal for her boys.

Hummus
Ground garbanzo beans, sesame tahini and lots of garlic make for a fantastic spread on pita bread.

                Serenity shared her family’s hummus recipe:

Drain and rinse two cans garbanzo beans (preferably Bush's).

Dump in the Cuisinart.

Add heaping teaspoon of fresh garlic.

Add sea salt for taste.

Add one squeezed lime.

Add about 1/2 a cup of plain Greek yogurt (regular plain yogurt will work)

Pulverize until a nice, smooth paste.

Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper for taste! 

 

 

Mrs. Funderburg guides Sam through blog posting.

 

 

David is a Redeemer student who is from Korea. He is tasting quinoa.  He says it tastes fabulous.

Owl Pellet Investigation

The fifth grade class had the unique opportunity to investigate owl pellets today.  Working in pairs the students used tweezers and toothpicks and their gloved hands to pull the pellets apart and identify the different bones.  Each discovery led to excited calls across the classroom "look what I found, a . . . " and my favorite "hey, they got a better pellet than we did"

5th Grade is Corny

The fifth grade class spent time this morning dissecting flowers and getting hands on with corn.