Ms. Gentry's Class - October 19, 2007

NC Museum of Natural Sciences - Animal Tracks & Signs

Lilly
We went to a videoconference. It was in the distance learning classroom. Our teacher was on TV in Raleigh. We saw a real snake a real owl. It was so cool. In my group we learned about squirrels. If the acorn has a little hole, then a flying squirrel ate it. If the acorn was crushed up, then a gray squirrel ate it. These are signs. I learned a lot about animal tracks and signs.

Avery
Last Friday, we went to a video conference. It was in the distance learning classroom. A video conference is where there is a person on the TV that can see you and talk to you. It was about animal tracks and signs. Our group had bear scat. We got to feel snake shed. Bear scat is a sign, not a track. From the bear scat, you could see what he or she ate. Also, we got to hold wood from a beaver. I scared my partner because she held the bear scat not knowing it was poop. I hope we go again.

Sarabeth
I went to a video conference in the distance learning classroom on Friday. It was about Animal Tracks and Signs. I took a field trip to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. But I did not really go to the museum. I had so much fun that day. I did not want to leave this room, but I had to anyway. This was my first one all year. It was so fun. It was great!

Sam
Last Friday, we went to a computer conference. That’s where we go to the distance learning classroom. There’s a person in Raleigh who teaches us from a camera wired to a satellite that transports it here. We touched bear poop. But my group had a raccoon track. We also touched snake skin. There was a group with a gall. We got to see a rat snake. We also saw an owl. There was a group with a crushed nut from a gray squirrel and a nut that had the top eaten off by a flying squirrel.

Valorie
Last Friday, our class went to the video conference. My group was about little flys. I learned that when the mama fly lays it’s baby egg on a stem, it makes a kind of sphere. When the babies are grown, they leave the stem. The lady in Raleigh showed a real snake. We got to touch the real snakeskin. She showed us a real owl. Then it was time to go. I hope I get to do it again.

Essence
Last Friday my class and I went to a video conference. My class and I had to raise our numbers to ask questions. My class and I were on camera. My group had nuts and pinecones and a gray squirrel. Our group had a sign. A squirrel left a nut for a sign. I learned this animal, the gray squirrel, crushes the nuts to eat it. A flying squirrel only eats the top. A fox squirrel eats half of the nut. I want to do this again.

Yusif
Last Friday, I went to the distance learning classroom. I was in a video conference and I was talking about the gall to a lady in Raleigh through a little camera. I saw her on the big TV. The gall had a baby fly inside it, but the baby already pooped out of the gall. I read a book about a gall that was inside the basket. That was the real gall and the book was very entertaining and cool. I want to go there again sometime soon.

Will
Last Friday, my class and I went to a video conference and we learned about animal tracks and signs. I had a lot of fun there in the distance learning classroom. My group had little pieces of nuts and a pinecone. Katie’s group had bear scat. Itzel’s group had a raccoon’s footprint. Sarabeth’s group had a gall ball. A gall ball is where a mother fly has had a baby. Then the baby goes to the center and makes a ball.

Olivia
Last Friday, our class went to a video conference. It was in the distance learning classroom. I was in a group with numbers 11-15. If a nut is chewed off the top, it is a flying squirrel. If the nuts are crushed, it is a gray squirrel. Plus if a pinecone is chewed, it is a gray squirrel and a fox squirrel. Other things that we saw were a snake and an owl.

Shay
My class went to the distance learning classroom on Friday. I had bear scat. I think he has been eating blue berries. There were seed in the scat. I learned bear scat is new if the grass is green underneath. I know if the grass is brown that the scat is owl scat. I had fun.

Jeremy
My class and I saw a video conference on Friday. We were talking about animal tracks last Friday in the distance learning classroom. As a science project, I was in the owl group. I had a sign of an owl and mouse. And that owl can gobble their prey and spits out the bone of their prey. Owls eat small animals like mice, baby birds, and cats. Owls can turn their heads left and right, far away. Owls like to sleep in the day in the trees. It stays still until food comes.

Itzel
Last Friday, my class went to a video conference. We were in groups. We had a raccoon footprint. We had this little glass so we could look at the raccoon footprint up close. The teacher showed us an owl and a snake. Then the other groups showed what they had. Next it was time to leave. We said bye to the teacher.

Katie
Our class went to a video conference. We could see a lady on a TV screen. We had to raise our cards that had numbers on it. My number was five on my card. She talked to my group first because we had a smaller number.

Jahsae
Last Friday we went to a videoconference. We went to the distance learning classroom. We learned about animal tracks and sign. Our group had bear skat. It had been eating blueberries. The paper said if the grass is still green under the skat, the skat is fresh and the bear is still nearby. If the grass is brown, the skat is old and the bear has moved on. It took a minute for the lady to hear us. The pictures where the bear aid his skat looked old, so the skat we had was old. It was a model, not real. The lady let us see a real own and a snake. Then we passed around the snake skin that had been shed by a snake. That’s the end of my story.

Cason
Last Friday, my class went to a video conference. We learned about a raccoon. They are mammals. We got to see a real snake. We got to see an owl. My group had a raccoon print. The raccoon can open a trash can and a door. We saw a lady in Raleigh. It was a science museum. I had fun. We said thank you.

Nycara
My class and I saw a blacksnake and a screech owl. The lady was in Raleigh and my group was about an owl. An owl swallows birds, snakes and rats. Then they spit the bones out. My animal group was a sign. My class loved it. So did my teachers. We went on Friday.