Owl Unit Study Resources
Thursday, August 22, 2013 at 5:00AM
If you've never done a unit study about owls in your homeschool, you MUST. It's such fun!
A homeschool day at a local nature center was all about Birds of Prey - more specifically owls.
We were fortunate enough to see a wonderful Birds of Prey demonstration, followed by owl pellet dissection, and then visiting several injured birds of prey.
We are big fans of Interest Led Unit Studies around here, and while we have joined Classical Conversations this year, I can still tell that we will have time for some quick and enjoyable unit studies throughout the year.
I wanted to share with you how we put together this little unit study.
*This post cotains affiliate links
I'm stressing to you -- it was EASY! There's no need to knock yourself out.
After doing a lot of interest led learning for the past four years I've reached a conclusion:
5 Ingredients for a Successful Interest Led Study
- student inspired/requested
- little or no written requirements
- a fun field trip
- great books
- documentaries
With that being said, here is how we approached a simple unit study about owls.
Owl Pellets
While we received our owl pellets (which are basically the regurgitations from an owl that contain a lot of cool rodent bones) at the nature center, you can also purchase a student owl pellet kit.
The Notebooking Fairy even has a notebooking page to go alongside your owl pellet dissection.
Our guide gave us a nifty little bone chart and told us all about the owl pellets and how the owls use a "tornado" to produce the pellets inside their body, then basically throw them up for our enjoyment.
It is really fun to get this little furry mass and crack it open - then use a toothpick to pick out the bones.
You might get lucky and find a shrew skull, and if you're even luckier there will be little teeth attached.
COOL.
After coming home from the field trip the kids of course were still interested in owls.
Additional Owl Resources
- Owl Moon - you can't study owls and not read this book!
- Owl: Fun Facts for Kids - a Kindle download - great little book!
- Avian Vomitologist - an episode from Dirty Jobs all about the lucky guy that collects owl pellets
- National Geographic Wildlife Wonders, Owls - The Silent Hunters
- DIY Clay Owl
- Draw owls - such a great printable from The Graphics Fairy
*All of these resources and more can be found on my Owl Unit Study Pinterest board.
Enjoy!
Have your kids had a successful interest led unit study lately? Tell me about it!
Reader Comments (4)
Actually, a cheaper site for the owl pellets is http://www.sciplus.com/p/OWL-PELLETS_48706 I've been wanting to do this with my kids since that Dirty Jobs episode, so I have been searching for the best prices on the pellets.
Thanks for the info to make the unit study easy.
Interest led unit studies are really what we do most! I love the five key components that you mentioned above:) My girls don't even mind the writing part of a unit study and will do quite a bit of writing when it is not imposed upon them...I think that's key for us. When they are pursuing a topic of interest, I make sure to find all sorts of cool resources to complement their studies and then give them my enthusiasm and attention when they share what they are learning. That's it! It's such a gentle, yet meaningful approach to learning. And then the end result is great research, organization, and writing skills by the time they are in middle school!
Owl Moon is one of our favorite books!! I agree, big thumbs up for owl pellets dissection :)
Yeah! for Owl Unit study...My big kids (8th & 11th graders) did an owl unit study about three years ago. We did the pellet dissections and the kids loved it! I think it's time for another one, and now we can include the 1st grader! Thanks for sharing!